Mentor Shawnta Albro

Shawnta Albro is a Senior Assistant Public Defender in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. In this role, Shawnta handles cases from the preliminary hearing through the appeal process. Shawnta works on criminal cases of all nature.

Shawnta is from State College, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Penn State University in 2013 and graduated cum laude from American University Washington College of Law in 2017. Shawnta focused her career on indigent defense starting in law school, where she interned with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, the Alexandria Public Defender Office, and the Northern Virginia Capital Defender Office.

After graduation, Shawnta became a Junior Attorney with the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center. She went on to work as an Assistant Public Defender with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore City, where she represented thousands of clients in both District Court and Circuit Court. Shawnta then went on to work as an Assistant Public Defender with the Dauphin County Public Defender’s Office.

Shawnta became interested in indigent defense based on negative interactions that her family members had with the criminal legal system. She began this work to change the negative image that some people have of Public Defenders and to fight on behalf of those who need it the most.

Shawnta currently resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with her partner and their two-year-old son.