Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr.

Professor Ron Sullivan is a leading theorist in criminal law, criminal procedure, trial practice and techniques, legal ethics, and race theory. He is the Jesse Climenko Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Director of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute and the Harvard Trial Advocacy Workshop.

Professor Sullivan has merged legal theory and practice in unique, cutting-edge ways throughout his career. He is sought out to represent clients in complex and high-profile cases, including: New England Patriots Aaron Hernandez (acquitted in a double murder); the family of Michael Brown in Ferguson (wrongful death claim); a client in a residential mortgage-backed securities fraud case (acquittal). In 2017, Professor Sullivan served as Special Prosecutor in the prosecution of Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, who ultimately resigned.

In 2014, Professor Sullivan was recruited to design and implement the nationally renowned Conviction Review Unit for Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson. As part of this effort, he implemented culture change within the ranks to establish a meaningful conviction integrity unit and bring about justice for the wrongfully convicted. Since its launch in 2014, the Conviction Review Unit has exonerated and freed 26 wrongfully convicted men and women.

Professor Sullivan has served as Chair for the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee for then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and subsequently served as a member of the National Legal Advisory Group for the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign. Later, he was appointed as Advisor to the Department of Justice Presidential Transition Team.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Professor Sullivan created a system to solve a criminal justice crisis: thousands were incarcerated in and around New Orleans without representation, and all official records were destroyed in the hurricane. Professor Sullivan designed an indigent defense delivery system that resulted in the release of thousands of wrongfully incarcerated inmates.

Professor Sullivan has been recognized by Huffington Post as “The Man Who Dealt the Biggest Blow to Mass Incarceration,” noting that he won the release of more wrongfully incarcerated persons – over 6,000 people – than anyone in U.S. history.

Before joining Harvard’s faculty, Professor Sullivan taught at Yale Law School, where he won an award for outstanding teaching after his first year. He previously served as Director of the D.C. Public Defender Service and spent several years in private practice at two major D.C. law firms, where he specialized in white-collar criminal defense and complex commercial litigation.

Professor Sullivan has provided legal commentary for CNN, Fox News, PBS, and all other major networks. He has been quoted in the nation’s leading newspapers and periodicals, and he has testified before the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

Professor Sullivan is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College and Harvard Law School.

Mina Quinto Malik, Esq

Mina Quinto Malik is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and most recently served as the Deputy Attorney General for Public Safety at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. With a dedicated staff of approximately 110 employees, she oversaw all matters for Attorney General Karl Racine involving criminal, juvenile, domestic violence, mental health, special victims, diversion courts, restorative justice, victim services, and special projects and litigation.

As part of AG Racine’s 21st century, progressive prosecution mindset, Ms. Malik strategically effected managerial changes and implemented culture change from within, including expanding restorative justice to young adults, implementing alternatives to prosecution, focusing on decarceration for juveniles and adults, and launching the Attorney General’s first Special Victims Unit designed to take a holistic approach in sexual assault cases for both the offender and victim.

Ms. Malik also served as the Executive Director of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, the nation's largest police oversight agency, where she implemented transformational change. There, she led a staff of 200 employees responsible for investigating and prosecuting allegations of police misconduct against members of the New York City Police Department, including the high-profile cases of Eric Garner, tennis pro James Blake, and Atlanta Hawks player Thabo Sefolosha.

Under her leadership, Ms. Malik and her team transformed the organization at all levels, including enhanced investigations and training, more proactive prosecutions, greater data collection and analysis, improved reporting on policing issues, and increased community outreach. To increase transparency and make the agency’s wealth of data available to the public, Ms. Malik also launched the interactive Data Transparency Initiative, the first of its kind implemented by a police oversight agency.

Prior to her work in police accountability, Ms. Malik served as Special Counsel to Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson. As a member of the Executive Staff, she assisted the District Attorney in the day-to-day operations of the office consisting of 1,200 employees, and advised him on the restructuring and reorganization of the agency, the newly created and nationally renowned Conviction Review Unit, personnel matters, talent acquisition, policy issues, and wrongful conviction cases, including People v. David McCallum.

Ms. Malik also served as a prosecutor with the Queens County District Attorney's Office, where she practiced as a trial and appellate attorney. Her concentration was in Special Victims, where she oversaw the investigation, prosecution, and litigation of child homicides, child physical and sexual abuse, adult sex crimes, human trafficking, domestic violence, and elder abuse. Ms. Malik has tried cases ranging from assault to murder, and has written and argued appellate briefs on a variety of criminal issues before the appellate courts of New York.

Ms. Malik began her career in public service and criminal justice as a Criminal Investigator for the venerable D.C. Public Defender Service. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Bates College, and her Juris Doctor from The American University - Washington College of Law.

Thomas U. Kim, LTC, USA (Ret.)

Thomas Kim has over 20 years of experience as a senior executive across government, military, for-profit, and not-for-profit sectors. Prior to co-founding SMK, Mr. Kim served as the First Deputy Chief for the City of Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability (formerly the Independent Police Review Authority “IPRA”), where he led the agency’s CPD’s officer-involved-shooting (OIS) & DV investigations, implementing strategic recruitment; developing and spearheading a new training program for all staff; coordinating homicide investigator training in collaboration with the Chicago FBI; and implementing rigorous investigations and proper protocols while tactically transforming office culture.

Before his appointment in Chicago, Mr. Kim served as the Chief of Investigations for New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, overseeing the New York City Police Department's use-of-force and abuse-of-authority investigations. There, he restructured the 110-member Investigations Division, led a strategic staff overhaul, and spearheaded the first CCRB Training Academy, a rigorous in-house training program designed to strengthen investigations of police misconduct and brutality cases.

Before his work in police accountability, Mr. Kim served as Superintendent and Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ), with statewide responsibilities including Internal Affairs. There, he was the principal architect of transformational change in the Department, launching a new recruitment process and training program, implementing decarceration measures, closing juvenile detention facilities, and shifting from the correctional model to a case management system. During his leadership, Mr. Kim oversaw compliance with the Department's federal consent decree and spearheaded a new juvenile release unit focused on community engagement and support, resulting in a drastic reduction in technical violations and recidivism rates.

Mr. Kim also served in the United States Army, fulfilling various roles, including conducting numerous confidential investigations and serving on ARCENT's (Army Central Command) Sexual Assault Review Board. While deployed overseas and assigned to ARCENT’s Combined Operations and Intelligence Center, Mr. Kim was critical in identifying and assessing military gaps, which allowed him to design and implement a combined operational process between different branches of service.

Mr. Kim also served as a change agent/executive and chief architect of successful organizational re-engineering at MHALA, Thresholds, Beacon, and ABTC. He is credited with transforming organizational efficiency and achieving significant fiscal improvements. Mr. Kim previously served as President and CEO, COO, Vice President, and Interim CEO, including at an organization where the Board tasked him with cleaning up internal issues & risks, transforming the organization, and helping recruit a new CEO.

Mr. Kim is a graduate of the Army Officer Basic Course, Military Operations & Intelligence Course, Captains Career Course, Army SARC/SHARP course, ILE, Dispute Resolution Course, and Lead Homicide Investigator Course. He earned a B.A. from California State University, a Clinical MSW from Loyola University Chicago, an MBA from Marylhurst University, and is a graduate of Executive Education at the Wharton School. He also attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School’s M.Div. program while he served as a volunteer youth/English Ministry Pastor at Korean-American Churches.