SAN MARCOS, TX (December 7, 2022) — Neighborhood Defender Service (NDS), which has signed a contract with Hays County to open a public defender office, is currently recruiting staff members, including a Senior Trial Attorney, Staff Attorneys, Investigators, a Social Worker, Client Advocate, and Office Assistant.
NDS Hays County will provide holistic legal representation including social work and client advocacy services to individuals accused of felonies and misdemeanors in Hays County.
Full job descriptions are available at the Neighborhood Defender Service website at http://u84.158.myftpupload.com/careers, and interested applicants are encouraged to send their resumes and a cover letter to texashiring@neighborhooddefender.org.
Jeff Hohl has been appointed Supervising Attorney of NDS Hays County. Meenu Walters is the Managing Attorney of NDS Texas. Two other attorneys have been hired so far for NDS Hays County, and interviews are continuing.
NDS Chief Executive Officer Rick Jones states, “We thank the Commissioners for putting their trust in Neighborhood Defender Service and we look forward to bringing excellent, high-quality public defense to Hays County.”
Neighborhood Defender Service is a pioneer in providing holistic public defense services. The organization has been providing services in Harlem and Northern Manhattan since 1990 and in Detroit and Wayne County since 2019. In January 2022, NDS opened NDS Texas, with offices in San Antonio and Houston, to provide criminal defense representation to individuals arrested through Texas’ Operation Lone Star program.
NDS, established in 1990, is known nationally and internationally for its innovative, community-based, holistic public defense practice. With offices in New York City, Detroit, Houston, and San Antonio we have pioneered the holistic model to address problems plaguing public defense. NDS clients have an entire team fighting on their behalf, including criminal and civil attorneys, family defense attorneys, advocates, social workers, investigators, paralegals, law school and social work interns, and pro bono attorneys. NDS deploys all these resources on behalf of our clients, addressing the underlying issues that bring them into contact with the criminal legal system.
BIOS
MEENU WALTERS
Meenu Walters leads Neighborhood Defender Service’s programs in Texas. She will provide oversight of and guidance to the NDS Texas Hays County Public Defender’s Office.
Meenu did her undergraduate work at both the University of Houston and Baylor University, and earned a J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1999. She serves on the Board of Directors of the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
From 1999 to 2011, Meenu was an Assistant District Attorney in Bexar County. She has also been an Assistant Public Defender for the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases; Chief Public Defender for Atascosa, Wilson, Karnes, and Frio Counties; and had her own private defense firm for nine years, during which time she handled criminal cases in Hays and other counties in South Central Texas. She joined NDS in January 2022 as Supervising Attorney for NDS Texas’s Operation Lone Star program, which has offices in Bexar and Harris counties, and is now Managing Attorney.
Meenu has lived in Texas for 44 years. She currently lives in the Helotes area with her husband and two teenage children.
JEFF HOHL
Jeff Hohl will serve as the Supervising Attorney for the NDS Texas Hays County Public Defender’s Office. Jeff attended the University of Arizona for undergraduate work and obtained his B.S. in Business with a minor in Marketing. He earned his J.D. from South Texas College of Law-Houston in 2010. After graduation, Jeff coached mock trial teams for South Texas and worked as an Adjunct Professor, teaching trial litigation skills at South Texas.
From 2011 to 2018, Jeff worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Montgomery County handling all types of misdemeanors and felonies. In 2018, Jeff opened a law practice, handling mainly criminal defense in multiple counties including Montgomery, Harris, Bexar, Comal, Kerr and San Jacinto. Jeff became a member of the NDS San Antonio team in April 2022 as a Senior Trial Attorney and currently serves as the Interim Supervising Attorney.
Jeff has lived in Texas for 22 years. He and his wife, Crystal, live in the Helotes area and have two children.
CONTACT:
Shannon Anglero
Chief Advancement Officer, Neighborhood Defender Service
(347) 852-3443