Chris Leibig, Cary Citronberg, Phoenix Harris, Brad Haywood, and Laurel Roberson present

November 5-7, 2018. In the ninth of series of lectures at foreign law schools by Alexandria criminal defense attorneys, Chris Leibig, Cary Citronberg, Phoenix Ayotte, and Laurel Roberson travelled to Lisbon Portugal for three days of events at NOVA law school, from November 5-7. They were joined by Brad Haywood, the Director of the Arlington County Public Defender’s Office. – a former Alexandria public defender who has travelled with the group several times. The event was hosted by Lisbon Law Professor Barbara Brito. Various iterations of the same group have conducted similar programs in Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Berlin, Bulgaria, Trinidad, Jamaica and the Bahamas since 2012. The program consisted of a mock trial and jury selection with the students as jurors, and various lectures, including a presentation on the opioid crisis in the U.S. and the death penalty. Public Defender Haywood spoke about the mission of indigent criminal defense in the U.S. Portugal abolished the death penalty in 1911, has no mandatory sentences, a small prison population, and a low crime rate. The country recently legalized the simple possession of all drugs. The groups hopes to travel again in the Fall of 2019, possibly to Sicily or Romania.