Jon directs Vera’s New Orleans criminal justice reform work. This involves facilitating an alliance of criminal justice agency leaders in making the system more fair and effective, and providing information to local community and civic organizations, on request. Jon helped open the office in the spring of 2008, having begun at Vera in 2002 with efforts to improve public defense systems and serving as senior counsel to the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, among other roles. Prior to joining Vera, Jon was a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society's Criminal Defense Division in Manhattan and law clerk to Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. from New York University. Before law school, Jon was a carpenter in New York City and in Decatur, New York.