Welcoming Our First Class of Public Defenders at Reduct

Earlier this year, we posted a job for our first Public Defense Engagement Lead at Reduct. The response was incredible. We received so many amazing applications that we ended up hiring not just one engagement lead, but our first "class" of three former public defenders to join the team.

This incredible trio, who you'll get to know soon, are all deeply passionate about supporting public defenders as they fight for justice across the United States. We couldn't be more thrilled to welcome them to Reduct. Their lived experience as public defenders means we can now provide an entirely new caliber of training and support to our customers. They don't just understand your work; they've been in the trenches themselves. This expertise will also be invaluable as we build out support for more organizations as a part of CLIP (our Criminal Law Innovation Program.)

With former public defenders on the team, we will also be able to go above and beyond to support the needs of our public and criminal defense customers. Our product team is already better educated in the nitty-gritty realities of what happens when defending a client, and we are excited to see this deeper understanding reflect in our product.

Without further ado, here are Maya, Maya, and Jeff!

Hi, I’m Maya and I’m beyond excited to be joining Reduct as the new Public Defense Engagement Lead!

Before this, I was a trial attorney at the D.C. Public Defender Service where I spent most of my waking hours fighting for the most vulnerable members of our community. I worked alongside attorneys, investigators, social workers, and many support staff members who dedicated their careers to fighting for their clients’ freedom. It was the kind of work that changed me forever.

I also experienced firsthand how much of a public defender’s time is swallowed up by things that aren’t actually lawyering. Hours upon hours spent organizing and digesting body-worn camera footage. All-nighters before trial spent clipping body cam instead of memorizing my opening. Waiting for weeks until the in-house translator could get to my client’s interrogation video.

From the courtroom to legal tech

I first heard about Reduct from colleagues who knew I had been thinking a lot about how technology could transform public defense. When I saw what Reduct was doing, I immediately understood how revolutionary their product could be.

Reduct makes viewing and working with video evidence so much faster and easier. You can search transcripts, clip the exact moments you need, translate videos into a language you understand, and collaborate with your team securely.

It’s the kind of tool I wish I’d had when I was litigating cases. It would have saved me countless late nights and helped me catch critical details earlier. More importantly, it would have helped me give my clients even better representation.

Why this matters

In public defense, time is everything. The faster you can surface the key facts, the more time you have to actually use them. That’s why Reduct’s mission clicked for me. It’s not just about making review easier. It’s about giving public defenders their time back, and giving their clients the best representation possible.

My role is to connect with public defenders across the country, understand their pain points, and make sure Reduct is solving the problems that matter most. I’ll be at conferences, doing trainings, and working side-by-side with offices to get the most out of the tool.

If you’re a public defender, investigator, or anyone working on the criminal defense team, I’d love to hear from you. What’s the one thing that would make your work easier tomorrow? Let’s talk about how Reduct can help you get there.

Reach out to me at maya.reisman@reduct.video.

Hi, I’m Jeff, and I’m excited to be joining Reduct. For me, this feels like a natural addition to work I’ve been doing my whole career—bringing my skills and experience to public defenders to give their clients the best representation possible.

For over 25 years, I’ve been training and working with public defenders all over the country. My focus has always been on giving defenders the tools and skills they need so they can spend their energy where it really counts: sitting down with clients, building trust, and thinking deeply about their cases. I know how much of that time gets swallowed up by all the other stuff that isn’t actually defending clients. That’s why joining Reduct made so much sense—it’s a way to keep fighting for that same mission, just from a different angle.

Why Reduct

What stood out to me about Reduct is simple: they work with public defenders and the criminal defense community. Not prosecutors. Not law enforcement. That commitment makes a big difference. And it’s not just talk—they’re constantly checking in with defenders, listening to what people need, and rolling out updates quickly. I’ve also been really impressed with how creative they are—tools like Videoboards give defenders a new way to tell their clients’ stories and make the facts of a case clear and compelling.

Looking ahead

At the end of the day, technology shouldn’t replace the heart of this work—it should give defenders time back. More time with clients. More time to prepare. More time to think. That’s the kind of time that changes cases and changes lives.

I’m excited to bring my background in storytelling, training, and public defense into this work with Reduct, and connecting with defenders about how these tools can make their jobs just a little bit easier—and their advocacy even stronger.

Hi, I’m (also!) Maya, and I’m thrilled to be consulting for Reduct as part of the new PD squad!

I represented over a thousand clients as a public defender, and have stood with clients in some of their most vulnerable moments; from sitting in the back of a police vehicle with a child being brought in for questioning all the way to watching a judge grant an expungement motion, I have seen it all. Serving as a defender—the last possible barrier between the power of the state and the client you are trying to protect—is more than a career, or even a calling: it is an identity.

Reduct is one of the only companies thinking about how to give defenders tools to work efficiently and creatively to mount a sophisticated defense. We are here listening, innovating, creating, iterating, and doing this work to streamline and support your work–THE work. We are proud of the partnerships we’re building and passionate about continuing to make your crucial job easier. Email me at mayad@reduct.video if we can brainstorm ways to help your team work smarter, and teach people how Reduct can give trial prep an energizing jolt of awesome.