our People
Our union represents the over 600 attorneys at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office. Our members proudly serve as essential workers in the 35 criminal courthouses throughout Los Angeles County.
Our Board is composed of public defenders from every designated grade of experience within our office, practice in courthouses throughout the county, and represent clients in our office’s three major practice areas – adult felonies, adult misdemeanors, and juvenile.
President
Garrett Miller
Treasurer
Lydia Marquez
First Vice President
Brooke Longuevan
Secretary
Alex Trantham
Second Vice President
Ruby Mejia
Deputy 1 Director
Zoë Juarez
At-Large Member
Avneet Chattha
Deputy 2 Director
TBD
At-Large Member
TBD
Deputy 3 Director
Jessica Arteaga
Deputy 4 Director
Karl Fenske
Leadership
Garrett Miller
PRESIDENT
Garrett Miller has been a Deputy Public Defender for 10 years and is currently assigned to Central Felonies. He graduated from Pepperdine Law School and has worked in criminal defense for his entire career. He previously served as a board member and as a member of the Political Legislative Action Committee (PLAC) for Local 148. As Local 148’s new President, he looks forward to leading the board in fiercely advocating for clients and colleagues.
Brooke Longuevan
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
Brooke Longuevan has been a public defender for over five years. Brooke earned a B.A. from the University of Utah and a J.D. from University of San Francisco School of Law. Prior to becoming a deputy public defender, Brooke clerked at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office and as a post-bar law clerk here in Los Angeles.
Ruby Mejia
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT
Ruby Mejia has been a Deputy Public Defender since 2008 and is currently assigned to Central Felonies Trials. She received her B.A in American Literature from UCLA and attended USC Gould School of Law for her J.D. She was one of the original organizers for Local 148 and was a member of the negotiations team for the local’s first MOU. She also served as secretary on the union’s first Board of Directors. Ruby is a proud public defender and union member. She continues to zealously fight for justice both for her clients and her colleagues.
Lydia Marquez
TREASURER
Lydia Marquez joined the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office in 2006. She earned a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law. She began her career at Danning, Gill, Israel and Krasnoff, LLP and later joined the Children’s Law Center. There, she represented parents and children in dependency court proceedings and found hertrue passion – advocating for clients who were often underprivileged and vulnerable.
She is eager to serve on Local 148’s Board, promoting just and equitable working conditions for her Public Defender colleagues.
Alex Trantham
SECRETARY
Alex Trantham became a public defender in January of 2020 and is currently representing youth at the East LA Courthouse. She earned a B.A. from UC Berkeley and a J.D. from UCLA Law. Prior to becoming a public defender, she worked as an investigator at the Public Defender Service in D.C. She also is a member of our Political Legislative Action Committee (PLAC). Alex very much enjoys helping our lawyers be as able as possible to give everything they can to help our clients and fight the criminal legal system.
DIRECTORS
Zoë Juarez
DEPUTY I DIRECTOR
Zoë Juarez is a DPD I. She received a BFA from Pratt Institute in 2012, but after being drawn to advocacy more than the arts, she earned a JD from UCLA School of Law with specializations in Critical Race Studies and Public Interest Law and Policy. She looks forward to fighting for clients by fighting for colleagues as a Local 148 Board member.
TBD
DEPUTY II DIRECTOR
Coming Soon
Jessica Arteaga
DEPUTY III DIRECTOR
Jessica Arteaga has been a Deputy Public Defender since 2016. Before joining the Public Defender’s Office, she worked as an associate attorney at a private criminal defense firm. Jessica received her undergraduate degrees from California State University Long Beach and attended Southwestern Law School for her J.D. She joined Local 148’s negotiation committee in 2022 and looks forward to serving as a board member.
Karl Fenske
DEPUTY IV DIRECTOR
Karl Fenske is a DPDIV who has dedicated his life to service. The last 20 years he has worked as a Deputy Public Defender. BS in Speech (RTVF) from Northwestern University and JD from Pepperdine School of Law. He wants you to know you are not alone. He knows you joined this public defender office to serve your community to the utmost of your ability. He will fighting for you to have all the resources our clients deserve to have brought to bear on their case. He will fight for our office to maintain parity with the DDAs. He hopes to bring our entire office to parity with the DA in terms of total resources allocated.
Members At large
Avneet Chattha
MEMBER AT LARGE
Avneet was born in Punjab, India, and immigrated to Los Angeles in 1996. He completed his education at Cleveland High School, then proceeded to earn his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington followed by a law degree from Loyola Law School. Prior to his role as a public defender, Avneet worked in civil rights with the Law Office of Carol Sobel. He takes pride in being a Union Board Member, drawing inspiration from his parents who were union members during his childhood.
Jessica Arteaga
MEMBER AT LARGE
Coming Soon