BOSTON, Sept. 28, 2016—Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley last month named an experienced prosecutor to help oversee his unique training program, and he’s hit the ground running.

Conley named Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Brandt the deputy chief of training, a responsibility that Brandt will hold in addition to his current assignment in the DA’s Appellate Division. Brandt will work with Assistant District Attorney Donna Jalbert Patalano, a former defense attorney who now serves as the DA’s chief of professional integrity and ethics, to train newly-hired prosecutors in the policies and procedures of the state’s busiest prosecutor’s office and provide more focused training opportunities for members of the DA’s Superior Court trial teams.

Boston Police command staff address an incoming class of Suffolk County prosecutors during a two-week “boot camp” training program overseen by District Attorney Dan Conley’s new Deputy Chief of Training, Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Brandt. A veteran trial lawyer with experience at every level of Massachusetts court procedure, Brandt joins Chief of Professional Integrity & Ethics Donna Jalbert Patalano in helping Suffolk prosecutors develop their skills on an ongoing basis.

On Friday, Brandt concluded the first half of a two-week “boot camp” for newly-minted assistant district attorneys who will take up assignments in Chelsea District Court and the Central, Dorchester, Roxbury, and West Roxbury divisions of the Boston Municipal Court. And this week, he joined Patalano at the John Adams Courthouse to lead dozens of prosecutors assigned to Superior Court trial teams in an in-depth training on using forensic evidence fairly, accurately, and professionally. Guest speakers included professional criminalists, Conley’s chief homicide, sexual assault, and gang prosecutors, and others.

A Suffolk prosecutor for nearly eight years, Brandt is a former staff supervisor at Chelsea District Court and also served in the Narcotics Case Integrity Unit – the team that identified thousands of prosecutions affected by the malfeasance of former Department of Public Health chemist Annie Dookhan, provided defendant and docket information for each one to the Massachusetts Trial Court and defense bar, and assessed the state of the evidence to achieve the best and fairest result in each case.

Past in-house trainings have been led by retired Washington, DC, Detective Jim Trainum, recipient of the 2009 Champion of Justice Award from the Innocence Project; Dr. Vincent Schiraldi, a juvenile brain development researcher at the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; domestic violence threat assessment expert Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell of Johns Hopkins University; Judge Peter Lauriat, associate justice of the Superior Court; and others.

In addition to his post-conviction work before the state’s highest courts, Brandt is a veteran trial lawyer who has served as an instructor at the Boston Police Academy and mentored participants in Massachusetts’ six-county Advanced Trial Training Program.

Prosecutors assigned to Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley’s Superior Court trial teams visited the John Adams Courthouse for a training seminar on the fair, accurate, and professional use of forensic evidence in criminal practice. The event was organized by Assistant District Attorney Donna Jalbert Patalano, a former defense attorney who now serves as the DA’s chief of professional integrity and ethics, and Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Brandt, the DA’s new Deputy Chief of Training.

“Nick earned a reputation for excellence in his district court assignments, as a superior court prosecutor, and in post-conviction work before the state’s highest courts,” Conley said. “By emphasizing ethics and integrity in every training for new prosecutors and more experienced lawyers alike, he’ll help make the state’s most in-depth prosecutor training program even more effective.”

Although Massachusetts has no continuing legal education requirement for attorneys once they pass the bar exam, Conley’s training policy mandates that all Suffolk prosecutors continue their professional development by earning at least 12 CLE credits per year, regardless of their position within the office. Some training opportunities are mandatory, such as those addressing cooperation agreements and Conley’s policy of presumptive disclosure of Brady material; others allow prosecutors to hone their skills in particular fields of prosecution, such as child abuse and domestic violence.

“The question we ask ourselves is not what’s merely necessary, but what’s in the interests of justice,” said Conley, who this summer advocated before the National District Attorneys Association for weaving ethics and integrity into every training opportunity for prosecutors nationwide. “When it comes to prosecutor training, we believe the answer is a robust continuing education program that informs and inspires our lawyers. I’m proud to have ADAs Patalano and Brandt helping to implement that program.”

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.