As we reflect on our first five years of impact at the Last Prisoner Project, we are thrilled to share an exciting new development: Norman L. Reimer has joined our Board of Directors! Norm is a transformational leader in the fight for justice and he will play a key role in shaping our vision for reuniting families, rebuilding lives, and reimagining drug policy.

Norm Reimer has devoted his career to the defense of the accused and reform of the justice system.  As a criminal defense attorney, he has represented accused individuals at the trial and appellate level and in state and federal courts for four decades. As a reformer, he leads efforts to reform misguided policies and practices that fuel mass incarceration, overcriminalization, and disparate impact.

Norman’s noteworthy achievements include co-founding the John Adams Project in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union to provide attorneys trained in capital defense to represent the accused in the military commission proceedings at Guantanamo Bay, and leading a collaboration among several groups during the Obama administration to establish  Clemency Project 2014, a cadre of volunteer lawyers, which secured the commutation of long federal prison sentences for 894 individuals, including more than 300 who were serving life sentences. 

Norm is currently Of Counsel at Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C., where he continues his criminal defense work. His previous positions include serving as Executive Director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, CEO of Fair Trials, and President of the New York County Lawyers’ Association. He also served as an Adjunct Law Professor at New York Law School, where he taught trial practice. 

Norman earned his B.A. and J.D. from New York University.