FDAP is delighted to announce the addition of five new board members: Rebecca Arons, Maleaha Brown, Susan Champion, Mark Taylor, and Meaghan Thomas-Kennedy, who are profiled below. We are privileged by the willingness of these individuals to volunteer their time, energy, and wisdom to support our mission to ensure an equitable and compassionate system of justice for our indigent clients. This class of new board members includes individuals whose personal and professional lives have been marked by a deep commitment to justice.
Please join us in welcoming Rebecca, Maleaha, Susan, Mark, and Meaghan to the FDAP Board of Directors, and thanking them for their service.
Rebecca Arons
Rebecca Arons is a former FDAP panel attorney who teaches Legal Research and Writing at UC Hastings and directs the school’s Legal Writing Resource Center. Before law school, she worked as a criminal defense investigator on capital cases. Rebecca has also worked as a legal writing coach at several San Francisco law firms and taught Legal Research, Writing, and Analysis at USF School of Law. She received her JD from the USF School of Law, where she was the Managing Editor of the Law Review.
Maleaha Brown
Maleaha Brown is an Associate Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. From 2016-2021, she worked for legal aid offices in Texas and Los Angeles. Her legal aid work (and also her law school clinic work) involved family law cases, giving her experience with a population very similar to the population FDAP serves: low-income individuals with traumatic backgrounds. Maleaha also had prior board experience, having served as board chair for Ms. JD.
Susan Champion
Susan Champion works as a post-conviction attorney at Stanford Law School’s Three Strikes Project. In addition to working with students and providing direct representation to indigent clients at the Three Strikes Project, Susan has also dedicated her professional career to reforming California’s sentencing practices through policy advocacy and impact litigation. Notably, she worked on the successful campaign to overturn some of the most egregious aspects of California Three Strikes law through Proposition 36 (2012). Susan also has extensive board and volunteer experience, primarily for organizations that aim to expand reentry services throughout the state.
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor is the Youth Outreach Coordinator for Cal Poly Humboldt’s Project Rebound. Mark was sentenced to 26 years to life for a crime that occurred when he was 23 years old. Sentencing reform and extensive rehabilitative programming helped Mark earn his release after 21 ½ years of incarceration. Mark earned six Associate of Arts and Science degrees while he was incarcerated. Upon his release Mark earned a Bachelor of Social Work Degree (BSW) from Cal Poly Humboldt, graduating with honors. Mark was recently accepted into Cal Poly Humboldt’s Master of Social Work (MSW) Program and aspires to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Mark also facilitates courses for the Prison Arts Collective (PAC). Before joining Project Rebound, Mark worked as the Northern Regional Manager for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition’s Hope and Redemption Team. Mark is a staunch advocate of criminal justice reform and has dedicated his life to helping others surmount the challenges of being free.
Meaghan Thomas-Kennedy
Meaghan Thomas-Kennedy is a competition lawyer with more than a decade of experience representing clients in the technology, healthcare, and consumer goods industries facing antitrust, consumer protection, and other trade-related claims arising under federal and state law. She has served in a pro bono capacity representing indigent clients largely in immigration and constitutional law matters. She is also a board member for a small independent school in Oakland, where she is the chair of the board’s development committee and co-chair of the JEDI (Justice Equity Diversity & Inclusion) committee.