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
Amy Loeliger
First Vice President
Brooke Longuevan
Secretary
Meredith Gallen
Second Vice President
Ruby Mejia
Deputy 1 Director
Paul Adkins
At-Large Member
Avneet Chattha
Deputy 2 Director
Alex Trantham
At-Large Member
Jessica Arteaga
Deputy 3 Director
Drew Havens
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.
Amy Loeliger
TREASURER
Meredith Gallen
SECRETARY
Meredith Gallen has been a public defender for over five years and currently represents clients in adult felonies. Meredith earned a J.D. from UCLA School of Law with specializations in Public Interest Law and Policy & Critical Race Studies. Prior to becoming a public defender, Meredith worked as a legal fellow at the Prison Law Office in Berkeley, CA, and as a staff attorney at both the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project in Washington, DC and the Post Conviction Assistance Center in Los Angeles, CA. Meredith is very proud to co-chair the Union’s Political and Legislative Action Committee (PLAC).
DIRECTORS
Paul Adkins
DEPUTY I DIRECTOR
Alex Trantham
DEPUTY II DIRECTOR
Alex Trantham became a public defender in January of 2020 and is currently assigned to misdemeanor trials at the Compton 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 very much enjoys trying to help our lawyers be as able as possible to give everything they can to help our clients and fight the criminal legal system.
Drew Havens
DEPUTY III DIRECTOR
Drew Havens has been a Deputy Public Defender since 2017. He currently works at the Inglewood courthouse serving clients accused of felony charges. Before joining the Public Defender’s Office, he worked as a staff attorney for Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers. Drew graduated with honors from Boston College and Georgetown University Law Center. At Georgetown, Drew worked in Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and was awarded the Clara Shortridge Foltz Award for extraordinary dedication to indigent defense. Since 2022, Drew has led the campaign to bring Eyvin Hernandez home from Venezuela. Eyvin is a public defender and member of Local 148 who is being wrongfully detained by Venezuela. Drew serves on the steering campaign for the Bring Our Families Campaign. Drew has been active in Local 148 since our initial organizing campaign in 2018.
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
Coming Soon
Jessica Arteaga
MEMBER AT LARGE
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.