As Director of Planning and Government Innovation, Megan works with government officials and people affected by the justice system to develop innovative solutions to problems in the administration of justice. Vera operates demonstration programs to refine and test some of these innovations. She first joined the Institute in 1992 as a lawyer and Skadden Fellow at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, then a Vera demonstration project testing a new model for representation of indigent people. In 1994 she was awarded a White House Fellowship which took her to Washington, DC. Megan returned to Vera a year later to plan the Appearance Assistance Program, an alternative to detention for people in immigration removal proceedings, which she directed from 1996 to1998. She became director of planning in June of 1999. She has a BA in political science from Brown University and a JD from New York University Law School. Before going to law school, Megan was a New York City Urban Fellow.