Kobie Flowers, partner at Brown, Goldstein & Levy and former federal public defender, presented at a panel workshop titled, “Thriving as a Private Attorney of Color in Federal Practice” at the 2023 SUSTAIN seminar. This is the first time the Federal Public Defender Training Division put on a seminar for attorneys of color and by attorneys of color. The three-day virtual seminar, held from January 18 to January 20, assisted attorneys of color as they endeavor to sustain long-term, thriving legal careers in federal criminal defense. Kobie presented on the panel alongside four other lawyers of color.
This year’s sessions centered on three themes: “defending as our authentic selves,” “sustaining oneself in court and the office,” and “progressing in one’s career as an attorney of color.” The seminar offered attendees opportunities to hear from various speakers and moderated panels and participate in roundtable discussions and workshops.
Kobie is recognized nationwide for this trial acumen and firsthand courtroom experience. With over 20 years in the courtroom, he has litigated cases at both a federal and state level throughout the United States and internationally in military commissions in Guantanamo Bay. Kobie’s unique insight into federal trial practice comes from a career spent building cases for the government as a federal civil rights prosecutor and in fighting the government’s efforts as an assistant federal public defender. Kobie represents the wrongly accused and the wrongly convicted as he works to end 50 years of mass incarceration and over 150 years of police brutality.