Marla McCowan

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Marla McCowan is the Director of Training, Outreach and Support with the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission.  Marla works with trial court funding units to facilitate implementation of new continuing legal education requirements for over 2,000 attorneys accepting assigned criminal cases in Michigan.  Marla also supervises a team of statewide Regional Managers who provide ongoing assistance to court systems to comply with the MIDC’s standards for indigent defense.  Prior to joining the MIDC, Marla served as a public defender at the appellate level for over sixteen years at the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office, nearly four of which included overseeing training for indigent defense practitioners around Michigan in her capacity as the Manager of SADO’s Criminal Defense Resource Center and Training Director at SADO.  While at SADO, Marla represented clients in cases in a variety of stages of appeals and post-conviction proceedings in Michigan and federal courts, including an argument in the United States Supreme Court.  Marla graduated from Eastern Michigan University (B.S. ’94) and University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (J.D. ’97).  She is a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation, a member of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, a member of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, a member of the National Association for Public Defense, and a member of the Michigan Women Lawyers Association.  Marla was nominated to be part of Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2018 class of Women in the Law and was voted “Woman of the Year” by her peers that year and was a recent recipient of the State Bar of Michigan’s “Champion of Justice” award (Sept 2019).

Marcela Westrate

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As Executive Director of the Michigan Campaign for Justice, Marcela led the successful effort to reform Michigan’s public defense system resulting in the MIDC’s creation. Marcela managed the Campaign’s coalition of more than 70 organizations and worked with members of the media to bring attention to the problems plaguing the state’s indigent defense system. She is an attorney with a wealth of legislative knowledge and experience. Marcela served as legal counsel in the Michigan House of Representatives and advised Democratic members on judiciary and corrections issues.

Loren Khogali

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Loren Khogali joined the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission as Executive Director in 2018. Prior to joining MIDC, Loren served as an attorney for 13 years with the Federal Public Defender Office in Detroit, advocating on behalf of persons charged with federal crimes at the trial, appellate and post-conviction stages. During her time at the Federal Defender Office, she participated in the development and leadership teams for the court’s reentry and alternative to prison programs. Loren earned her B.S. and B.A. from Western Michigan University in 1998 and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 2003. She serves on the board of directors for MI Voices, as a member of the State Bar Criminal Jurisprudence and Practice Committee and on the steering committee for Advocates and Law Enforcement for Police and Community Trust (ALPACT). In 2021, Loren was appointed to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court’s Justice For All Commission in her capacity as Executive Director of MIDC.