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Shawn Nolan
Chief, Capital Habeas Unit
Shawn Nolan is the Chief of the Capital Habeas Unit in the Fed eral Community Defender Office for the Eastern district of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He has been a public defender for thirty-one years, since his graduation from Temple University School of Law in 1989. For the majority of his legal career, Mr. Nolan has handled capital cases exclusively. In 1989, he joined the staff of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, where he worked as a trial attorney in state court for thirteen years. In 2002, he began work in the Capital Habeas Unit; in 2006 he was made a supervisor in the Unit, and in 2012 was named Assistant Chief of the CHU. He was promoted to Chief of the Unit in February 2014, and he currently directs the largest Capital Habeas Unit in the country. Mr. Nolan has also lectured nationally and locally on capital habeas and Guantanamo-related litigation.