Geoff Burkhart (he/him)
Geoff is the Executive Director of the Texas Fair Defense Project. He previously served as Executive Director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. There, under his leadership, the State of Texas doubled its public defense budget and doubled the number of public defender offices. Geoff previously served as Deputy Director at the ABA Center for Innovation, Project Director and Counsel at the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, assistant appellate defender at the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender, law clerk to Justice James Epstein, and counsel at a small firm. He is a graduate of Xavier University, Loyola University Chicago, and DePaul University College of Law, where he was Editor in Chief of the DePaul Law Review. Geoff taught appellate advocacy at Loyola University School of Law. He also served a term as President of the 20,000-member National Association for Public Defense. Geoff is an Eagle Scout. He has been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Economist, and the Atlantic.