Taylor Kohles is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office, helping fulfill their mission of holistic and client-centered criminal defense.  She has been with the Public Defender since 2016, the majority of which she's worked on Post Conviction cases. She handles all of the office’s Franklin cases, in addition to preparing parole eligible clients to go before the parole board. Taylor believes strongly in UnCommon Law's unique, trauma-informed model for working with clients serving lengthy prison terms and has trained numerous Social Workers in other Public Defender Post-Conviction Units using this standard. A few years ago, she co-founded a monthly meeting of post-conviction Social Workers across the state to mentor and support their transition into this field. In addition, she has presented at several post-conviction conferences and training with the Office of the State Public Defender, the California Public Defender Association, and Parole Justice Works. Taylor is an Oakland native who received her Bachelor's Degree from UC Berkeley and her Master of Social Work from Cal State East Bay.