Sam Allison-Natale is a public defender, organizer, and the Executive Director of Litigation at Kansas Holistic Defenders. Raised by two public defenders in West Palm Beach, Florida, Sam began his legal career shortly after college during Occupy Wall Street, which motivated him to become a movement lawyer. He graduated from NYU School of Law in 2015 and joined the Bronx Defenders as a staff attorney, where he learned to practice the holistic defense model. Sam moved to Kansas in 2018 and worked for three years at the Law Firm of Bath & Edmonds.

Sam’s approach to public defense is rooted in organizing for a better world, and Sam fights for his clients inside the courtroom and out. In addition to working as a defender, Sam serves as a board member of the Kansas Coalition to End the Death Penalty, People’s Owned and Operated Collective Housing (POOCH), and the Ecumenical Campus Ministries. Before starting Kansas Holistic Defenders, Sam organized with the #CloseRikers campaign, with the National Lawyers Guild, the Democratic Socialists of America, and as Legal Counsel for the Justice Collaborative during the early stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic.