UBONG E. AKPAN is an Attorney Advisor at the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, Defender Services Office Training Division in Washington, DC. Her work focuses on criminal defense, immigration consequences of crimes, and trial and appellate advocacy. Prior to joining the Training Division, Ubong served as an Assistant Deputy Public Defender at the New Jersey Public Defender’s Office Camden Region, one of the busiest criminal trial courts in New Jersey. Ubong also served as a Research and Writing Attorney for the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and was the immigration resource attorney for the office, providing in-depth immigration analysis and research in the defense of noncitizen clients. In that position, Ubong challenged illegal reentry prosecutions through motions to dismiss and on appeal to the Third Circuit. Prior to government service, Ubong was a trial and appellate attorney, practicing criminal and immigration law, representing clients before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Ubong began her legal career as a litigation associate at two large law firms and as a judicial law clerk at the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
