Navigating Public Record Requests: Minimizing Barriers to Client Records

Collecting and accessing records is a vital part of mitigation investigations, enabling defense practitioners to construct a complete and accurate narrative of a client’s life history. However, gaining access to these records can present significant challenges. Practitioners can utilize public record laws, which grant access to records held by federal, state and local agencies.

Presented by David Cuillier, director of the Joseph L Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida, this webinar will provide defense practitioners with an overview of freedom of information laws, practical strategies for securing access to records, and effective methods for overcoming barriers encountered during the request process.

This webinar will be recorded. CLE credits are not available for this seminar; however, a letter of attendance will be provided upon request to Mary at [email protected].

Advancing Real Change, Inc. is dedicated to providing specialized training and resources on mitigation for criminal defense practitioners. Please note that attendance for this webinar is limited exclusively to defense practitioners. To register for this event, click here.

Speaker Bio

David Cuillier, Ph.D., is director of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida, which conducts research and education in freedom of information. Before entering academia in 2006, he was a newspaper reporter and editor in the Pacific Northwest. He is co-author of “The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records,” a member of the National Archivist’s federal FOIA Advisory Committee, former president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, founder of national Sunshine Fest, and has trained more than 15,000 people in acquiring public records during the past two decades. He has testified before Congress three times regarding the Freedom of Information Act, and has published dozens of research studies on freedom of information.