Alison Shames joined Vera in January 2008 as the associate director of Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections. Most recently, Alison worked in Sydney, Australia, where she served as executive officer to the Committee of Criminal Justice CEOs in the attorney general’s Department of New South Wales. Before that, Alison was the state copyright manager for the state of New South Wales. From 2002 through 2005, Alison was corporate counsel for Fairfax Media, one of Australia’s largest media companies. Alison also worked for several years as a corporate associate with a law firm in San Francisco. Immediately following law school, Alison clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Vance in New Orleans. Alison has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from New York University School of Law.