About the Co-Chairs
Pamelya Herndon
Pamelya Herndon currently serves as the President/CEO of the KWH Law Center for Social Justice and Change, a nonprofit law center focused on providing access to justice for low and medium-income individuals with an emphasis on advocating for the rights of women, children and families with children.
Pamelya is a graduate of the Howard University School of Business and the University of Texas School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in the states of New Mexico and Colorado. She is also licensed as a Certified Public Accountant.
Pamelya is a 2019-2021 W.K. Kellogg Fellow. She serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union and as First Vice President of the NAACP, Albuquerque Branch. She is a member of the Council of the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. In addition, she has been appointed to the ABA Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence. Pamelya serves as the State Chair of the AAUW Public Policy Committee where she leads the organization in advocating for a variety of social justice issues to help raise the well-being of women, families, and children.
Pamelya was instrumental in the establishment of a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) Program known as CU SAFE. The mission of the Program is to provide access to financial resources for survivors of domestic violence to help survivors live their lives without abuse. Pamelya has been recognized as the Public Lawyer of the Year by the Public Law Section of the New Mexico State Bar, as the Lawyer of the Year by the Albuquerque Bar Association and she has been featured in Essence Magazine, an international publication, as one of the outstanding lawyers providing policy and advocacy legal services to low income individuals. Pamelya occasionally hosts community focused programs on KUNM Public Radio, an NPR Affiliate in Albuquerque, NM.
Keeshea Turner Roberts
Originally from Lynchburg, Virginia, Keeshea Turner Roberts graduated in 1996 from Hollins University located in Roanoke, Virginia. Prior to law school, Keeshea worked as a family/child caseworker and court advocate at the YWCA-Domestic Violence Prevention Program in Lynchburg, Virginia. She attended the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law graduating in 2002 with a Juris Doctor and a certificate in Public Policy.
Following law school, Keeshea worked in various legal settings including clerking for four judges on the DC Superior Court, and litigating family and public benefits cases on behalf of indigent DC residents at Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP). While at NLSP, Keeshea rose through the ranks from temporary staff attorney to managing attorney for a neighborhood office. She was a sought-after family law and practice expert and was a frequent instructor and guest lecturer at area law schools and other DC Bar related programs.
In 2017, Keeshea also ventured into academia. She began the journey by working at Rising for Justice as a supervising attorney in the Criminal and later the Housing Advocacy and Litigation Clinics. At RFJ, Keeshea taught students housing and criminal law practice areas as well as supervised the litigation of cases at DC Superior Court. In addition to her duties as a supervising attorney, Keeshea also was the co-director of the Civil Protection Order Project (CPOP). CPOP was the brainchild of Moses Cook, the former Executive Director of RFJ and Keeshea. CPOP is the first of program of its kind that provides litigation and mediation services for respondents (also called “defendants” in most jurisdictions) in domestic violence cases.
Currently, Keeshea is an adjunct clinical law professor and supervising attorney at Howard University School of Law’s Fair Housing Clinic (FHC). Keeshea’s legal scholarship centers on representation unpopular clients to achieve due process and racial equity.