Emilee has a long history of zealous advocacy on behalf of her clients. Emilee’s passionate and creative practice earned her a reputation as a dogged and fierce advocate. Emilee began her career in the Richmond Public Defender’s Office, where she served as a Deputy Public Defender. Emilee excelled in defending those facing sexual assault allegations, drug distribution, murder and other violent crimes. Emilee has handled thousands of cases in the Richmond area courts.

A Passion for Defense

As a result of her excellent work, Emilee was selected to join the elite Office of the Capital Defender for Central Virginia to defend death penalty cases. For several years, Emilee defended the “Worst of the Worst” cases and she never had a single client sentenced to execution. While in the Capital Defender Office, Emilee honed her passionate and creative practice and further developed her skill at defending complex criminal offenses. Emilee’s excellent advocacy ultimately contributed to the abolition of the death penalty in Virginia.

Emilee was then recruited to create the first statewide Conviction Integrity Unit by the Attorney General for Virginia. The CIU was designed to identify, evaluate and investigate claims of wrongful conviction. Emilee worked diligently to free wrongfully convicted Virginians through the pursuit of relief in post conviction legal actions, such as petitions for habeas corpus and petitions for writs of actual innocence. She worked closely with the Governor of Virginia’s administration to secure pardons and other post-conviction relief for people who had been unjustly convicted.

Recognition

In 2020, Emilee was named to Style Weekly’s “Top 40 Under 40” for her work defending people wrongfully charged with crimes in Richmond.

Emilee joined the Ram Law Firm in 2022 so that she could continue to pursue justice for her clients both at trial and in post-conviction proceedings.

Education

Emilee grew up on Long Island, New York, and earned a Bachelors of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, in 2006. Emilee then attended The T.C. School of Law at the University of Richmond, where she served as an editor for the Journal of Law and Public Interest and earned her Juris Doctor in 2009.