Overview
Work History
Education
Faculty And Lecturer
Training
Timeline
Generic

Joy Zuccarello

Philadelphia,PA

Overview

8
8
years of professional experience

Work History

Senior Mitigation Specialist

Phillips Black, Inc.
10.2017 - Current
  • Led numerous post-conviction investigations in Pennsylvania, in state and federal court, resulting in exoneration and release of multiple clients sentenced to life without parole.
  • Conduct investigation, coordinated reentry, prepared clients, and developed packets in support of clemency, parole, and commutation for individuals sentences to life without parole, including under Miller V. Alabama.
  • Successfully led investigations resulting in the releases of two women sentenced to life without parole as juveniles in Missouri and Arkansas.
  • Conduct internet, social media, and other digital investigations, monitor and capture social media in a forensically sound manner.
  • Extensive experience representing female clients and clients belonging to subpopulations of the 2SLGBTQ community, using a trauma informed approach with sensitivity to the varying needs and experiences of these individuals.
  • Research and educational development in areas of complex trauma, sexual abuse, cultural competency, racial bias and inequities, police and prosecutorial misconduct, mental health, intellectual disability, fetal alcohol syndrome, and delusional disorders.
  • Develop investigation plans; conduct, oversee, and strategize investigations.
  • Identify, research, collect, distill, and analyze life history and other records; conduct close review of complex and detailed records, including medical, mental health, law enforcement, military, Department of Corrections, social services, and education records.
  • Assist with consultations and presentations to individual capital defense offices regarding digital investigations, techniques and tactics.
  • Prepare comprehensive social histories through client interviews, interviews with multigenerational family members, professionals, and other witnesses.
  • Identify and coordinate development of case strategies with regard to expert assistance, work closely with mental health and forensic experts in developing and conducting evaluations and assessments and generating reports.
  • Develop affidavits and declarations; produce compelling mitigation narratives.
  • Conducted extensive investigation and records collection in over a dozen jurisdictions, including Texas, Wisconsin, Utah, Arizona, California, Arkansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Iowa, and New Mexico.

Education

B.A. - Sociology

University of California, Berkeley
08.2016

Faculty And Lecturer

  • National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), Faculty & Lecturer, August 2024 - Co-facilitate workshops for trial and post-conviction capital defense teams, advising re investigation planning, litigation strategy, client management, and team building; Presented plenary lecture: Recognizing Signs and Symptoms of Mental Illness and Trauma Informed Interviewing
  • Twenty-Second National Seminar on the Development and Presentation of Mitigating Evidence in Capital Cases, Lecturer, 4/24/25, Building a Gender and Sexuality Sensitive Team: Best Practices for Defending Clients who Identify as Women, Transgender, and/or Queer
  • Twenty-Second National Seminar on the Development and Presentation of Mitigating Evidence in Capital Cases, Lecturer, upcoming, 7/18/25, Representing LGBTQ2S+ Clients


Training

  • Capital Case Defense Seminar, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice & California Public Defender Association, Monterey, CA, 02/14/25 - 02/17/25
  • Twenty-First National Seminar on the Development and Presentation of Mitigating Evidence in Capital Cases, National Habeas Assistance and Training Project, Philadelphia, PA, 02/22/24 - 02/25/24
  • Capital Case Defense Seminar, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice & California Public Defender Association, San Diego, CA, 02/15/24 - 02/19/24
  • Defense-Victim Outreach Training, Defender Services Training Division, Savannah, GA, 09/06/23 - 09/10/23
  • Capital Case Defense Seminar, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice & California Public Defender Association, Monterey, CA, 02/17/23 - 02/20/23
  • Twenty-Seventh Annual National Federal Habeas Corpus Training Seminar, Training Division, Defender Services Office, Administrative Office of the US Courts, Philadelphia, PA, 08/04/23 - 08/07/23
  • Representing Transgender and Non-binary Clients, Advancing Real Change, 04/06/21, via Zoom
  • Working with Female Clients, Advancing Real Change, 04/20/21, via Zoom
  • Capital Case Defense Seminar, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice & California Public Defender Association, San Diego, CA, 02/14/20 - 02/17/20
  • Twenty-Fifth Annual National Federal Habeas Corpus Seminar, Training Branch, Defender Services Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, 08/20/20 - 08/22/20, via Zoom
  • Seventeenth National Seminar on the Development of Integration of Mitigation Evidence, Training Branch, Defender Services Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Philadelphia, PA, 03/05/20 - 03/08/20
  • Advancing Real Change, Webinar Series, via Zoom, 07/07/20, Countering Antisocial Personality Disorder and other Prejudicial Labels; Sean O’Brien and Kathy Wayland., Understanding Mild Intellectual Disability with a focus on Misconceptions and Assessing Adaptive Functioning; James Patton., Assessment Process for Adaptive Functioning; James Patton.
  • Twenty-Fourth Annual National Habeas Corpus Seminar, Training Branch, Defender Services Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Pittsburgh, PA, 08/08/19 - 08/11/19
  • Federal Death Penalty Strategy Session, Training Branch, Defender Services Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Tampa, FL, 11/07/18 - 11/09/18
  • Capital Case Defense Seminar, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice & California Public Defender Association, Monterey, CA, 02/16/18 - 02/19/18
  • Mitigation Skills Bootcamp, Gulf Regional Advocacy Center (GRACE), Houston, TX, 08/07/17 - 08/10/17
  • Capital Mitigation Skills Workshop, UMKC School of Law and the Training Branch, Defender Services Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Kansas City, MO, 01/12/17 - 01/15/17
  • Fundamentals of Legal Investigations, UMKC School of Law, Kansas City, MO, 01/17/17 - 05/12/17
  • Court Appointed Special Advocate Training, Alameda County CASA, Berkeley, CA, 08/01/12 - 10/31/12
  • Eighth National Seminar on the Development and Integration of Mitigation Evidence: Mitigation Narratives, Training Branch, Defender Services Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Chicago, IL, 03/31/11 - 04/01/11
  • Fourth National Seminar on Mental Health and the Criminal Law, Training Branch, Defender Services Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, New Orleans, LA, 01/13/11 - 01/16/11

Timeline

Senior Mitigation Specialist

Phillips Black, Inc.
10.2017 - Current

B.A. - Sociology

University of California, Berkeley

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