Marisa joined Vera’s New Orleans office in March 2010 as a senior program associate. Prior to joining Vera, Marisa spent three years as the policy and legislative analyst for a city councilmember in Oakland, CA, researching and advancing legislation on a wide range of issues, including public safety, criminal justice, environmental health impacts, and economic development. Previously, Marisa was the Equal Justice Litigation Fellow at the Impact Fund in Berkeley, CA, developing class-action litigation. She then spent a year working on death penalty appeals for California’s Office of the State Public Defender. Marisa earned her BPA from the University of San Francisco and her JD from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of the California Bar.