Keli Cochran

Personal Introduction

We are who we assist. Work with an attorney who has a disability, and has learned how to navigate through the systems that are impacted by the School to Prison Pipeline, personally and professionally. Ms. Cochran has a decade of community development and lobbying to service prisoners and returning citizens community in New York State (NYS), and was instrumental in the drafting and passing of the HALT Law (A02500/ S01623) and the current Rights Behind Bars bill now has also been officially introduced in the assembly here. The bill numbers for both houses are now A8364/S7772. During her legal career she practice in District of Columbia and Maryland specialized in special education, social security assistance, EEOC claims, as well as prison disciplinary law in NYS and Massachusetts. Furthermore, her lived experience growing up in a kinship foster/adoption home, her siblings entered into both the juvenile and the adult prison system. She had a bird's eye view of the need for legal representation and wrap-around services such as mental health assistance and mentorship for clients and families alike. She quickly recognized that without access, early intervention, trauma-informed models, and transparency, the school-to-prison pipeline will always be prevalent. Be represented by an attorney who has been where you child is, your family is, and lives with the challenges and and the triumphs of living with a disability.