Education Overview

The Kentucky Public Defender College is one of the top public defender training programs in the United States. The depth of our experience and expertise is apparent both in curriculum design and course delivery. Our faculty are among the best trainers in the profession.

Upcoming CLE events open to all criminal defense attorneys.

Jeff Sherr is the Manager of the Education and Strategic Planning Branch of the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy.  Jeff has been with the DPA since 1994, starting first as a law clerk, then working with the Juvenile Post Dispositional Unit, then in the trial division with the Stanford Field Office, and now in Frankfort with the education staff.  Jeff graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1995. Jeff is a faculty member for the National Criminal Defense College, Clarence Darrow Death Penalty College, Southern Public Defender Training Center and other state litigation institutes.  He has presented at NLADA Annual Seminar and NLADA Train the Trainer. He is currently co-chair of the National Alliance of Indigent Defense Educators. In addition to regularly training public defender litigators and trainers, Jeff has trained public defender leaders for nationally and for many individual defender states and offices. He is the editor of the DPA’s online journal, The Advocate, and The Small Group Coaching Handbook: Tips and Techniques for Criminal Defense Education.  Jeff also has an extensive background in theatre having studied with the National Shakespeare Conservatory and the University of Kansas.

Glenn McClister is a Staff Attorney with DPA’s Education and Strategic Planning Branch. Glenn received his J.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1997,and for eight years worked as an Assistant Public Advocate in Somerset, Kentucky. Born in Chicago, Glenn attended a protestant seminary for two years after receiving his A.A. degree and then, like his father and brother, became a preacher. Five years later, he quit to pursue graduate work in philosophy. After completing the requirements for an M.A., he then spent two years as a professional actor, getting the chance to play the lead in "Two Gentlemen of Verona" on the stage of the Globe Theater in London, during a summer program there. After having secured a talent agent on 88th street in New York and spending a great deal of time unemployed, Glenn joined the 101st Airborne Division when Desert Storm began and served for two-and-a-half years. After digging ditches in a Kentucky state park for a year, Glenn went to law school, where he won the College of Law Faculty Cup at graduation. In addition to his duties as an advocate, Glenn also spends a great deal of time training public defenders throughout the nation. He has been on the faculty of Missouri's public defender training and has trained public defenders in Pennsylvania for the last five years as well.