Public Defense Advisory Board

Current board members

Chris Carney

Chris Carney, partner in the firm Carney Gillespie PLLP, is an experienced criminal defense lawyer, a former public defender, and a professor of mental health law at the University of Washington School of Law. Along with attorneys from the ACLU of Washington, Disability Rights Washington, and the Public Defender Association, he helped litigate Trueblood v. DSHS, a constitutional challenge to the length of time individuals with mental disabilities spend in jail waiting for court-ordered competency evaluations. He currently serves on the executive committee implementing statewide reforms mandated by the class-action suit. Mr. Carney won the "Champion of Justice" award from the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in 2015. He represents a nonpartisan organization active in King County that focuses on mental health issues.

Chris Petroni

Chris Petroni represents the King County Bar Association on the advisory board. He has served as Chair or Interim Co-Chair of KCBA's Criminal Law Section since its inception in early 2024. Chris is a staff attorney at the Washington Appellate Project, where he represents indigent persons on appeal from criminal judgments, dependency actions, and other proceedings in the Washington Court of Appeals and the Washington Supreme Court. He also serves attorneys practicing in Division One of the Court of Appeals and the counties within it on the Washington State Family Defender Appellate Strike Team. Prior to serving as a staff attorney at WAP, Chris was an associate at the Seattle office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He graduated from UC College of the Law SF, formerly UC Hastings College of the Law, with a concentration in criminal law. He worked as a high school science teacher and teachers' union official before attending law school.

Kevin Hollinz

Kevin Hollinz is a staff attorney at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of immigrants through direct representation, systemic advocacy, and community education. Kevin works in the Naturalization/Citizenship unit and focuses on assessing and mitigating the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Prior to working at NWIRP, Kevin volunteered with the Seattle Clemency Project and at TeamChild’s juvenile records sealing clinic. Kevin received his JD and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jackie Walsh

Jackie Walsh (she/her) is a member of the Washington and California State Bar Associations. Washington State and Federal Courts have appointed her as learned counsel on capital cases at the trial level. As learned counsel, she, along with her team, has successfully obtained less than life sentences through plea negotiations in capitally charged cases, convinced federal and state prosecutors not to authorize the case as capital and has convinced the United States government to dismiss a triple homicide indictment in a potential capital case. She has presented at national and international conferences on various aspects of capital defense representation. The Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers honored Ms. Walsh with the President’s Award in 2005 for
her distinguished service to the criminal defense bar. In 2014, she was added as resource counsel with the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project. In 2023, the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers presented its highest award, the William O. Douglas award, to Ms. Walsh in recognition of her extraordinary courage and commitment in the practice of criminal law. She represents the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on the Public Defense Advisory Bord. 

Sara Rankin

Sara Rankin, a law professor at Seattle University School of Law, is a national expert on legal and policy issues relating to people experiencing homelessness and deep poverty. Her research and teaching explore the impact of homelessness on marginalized groups, including people of color, immigrants, and people with disabilities, as well as the intersectionality of homelessness and incarceration. Sara is the founder and director of the Homeless Rights Advocacy Project at Seattle U’s Korematsu Center, where she works with law students to advance the civil, constitutional, and human rights of unhoused people. She is also co-founder and co-chair of the Third Door Coalition, an alliance of Seattle researchers, service providers, and business leaders advancing permanent supportive housing as the most humane and cost-effective solution to chronic homelessness. Sara regularly partners with national and local leaders in homeless rights advocacy, presents across the nation on homeless rights issues, and writes extensively on the criminalization of homelessness and the need to find nonpunitive responses to chronic homelessness. She received her JD from New York School of Law and a master’s in education from Harvard.

Shrounda Selivanoff

Shrounda Selivanoff is the public policy director for Children’s Home Society, where she works to support policy development that can improve outcomes for disenfranchised and marginalized families. Prior to her position there, she worked as a social service specialist in the Parents Representation Program at the Washington State Office of Public Defense, providing advocacy for parents who were facing a state dependency proceeding, assisting parents with visitation, and providing other critical support to traumatized families. Ms. Selivanoff has dedicated her professional life to supporting families facing dependency proceedings, promoting strength-based programs, acting as a mentor and advocate, and helping to reduce the barriers to family reunification.

John Strait

John Strait is an associate professor of law at the Seattle University School of Law and a national expert on public defense and ethics. Mr. Strait has served on the Washington Supreme Court’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, the King County Bar Association’s Campaign Ethics Committee and the Washington State Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct Committee. He also chaired the Seattle Port Authority’s Ethics Advisory Committee. He represents the Washington Defender Association.

George Yeannakis

George Yeannakis is a managing attorney at the Washington State Office of Public Defense where he works to improve the delivery of indigent defense services throughout the State. George was a public defender in Seattle for over 20 years with The Defender Association and Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons where he supervised the juvenile offender unit. He was lured from public defense to establish the Youth Advocacy Clinic at Seattle University School of Law. After leaving the University he held the position of Special Counsel at TeamChild, a civil legal services firm in Seattle. At TeamChild he worked to enhance the quality of juvenile defense in Washington and the nation through training, leadership development and technical assistance. George Yeannakis represents the Washington State Office of Public Defense on the Public Defense Advisory Board.