JODI SiegeL (SHE, HER, HERS)
Executive Director
Jodi Siegel has been an attorney with Southern Legal Counsel since 1985, and became its Executive Director in July 2004. A predominant portion of Ms. Siegel’s responsibilities at SLC is in representing individuals with disabilities in a variety of forums. She has litigated class and individual actions involving federal constitutional and statutory actions under the Federal Civil Rights Act, the Federal Rehabilitation Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. She also has presented extensively to various groups on special education and other issues.
Siegel was an Adjunct Professor for Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law Center teaching a Masters Level program in Special Education Law from 2006-2018. She has been the Director of SLC’s Education Advocacy Project since 1999, which is funded by The Florida Bar Foundation to provide state support and train, support, mentor and co-counsel legal service/aid lawyers and advocates to increase and improve special education advocacy. She is a Past Chair of the Board of Directors and Past Treasurer of the national organization The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), whose mission is to improve the quality and quantity of legal assistance for parents of children with disabilities. She coordinated the 2003 and 2004 national conferences for COPAA, and has been active on the Conference Design team since then. She is a Past Chair of The Florida Bar Public Interest Law Section.
Siegel is a member of The Florida Bar, the U.S. Middle, Northern and Southern Districts of Florida, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She received her B.A. in 1982 from New College (Honors College of University of South Florida), Sarasota, Florida; and a J.D. in 1985 from the University of Florida College of Law, Gainesville, Florida. She was the Senior Research Editor for one semester and Senior Student Works Editor for two semesters with the University of Florida Law Review.
SIMONE CHRISS (SHE, HER, HERS)
Director of Transgender Rights Initiative
Simone Chriss is a civil rights attorney, and the Director of the Transgender Rights Initiative, at the non-profit public interest organization Southern Legal Counsel (SLC) in Gainesville, Florida. Chriss graduated from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she received her J.D. with honors. Chriss developed the organizations’ Transgender Rights Initiative in 2017 to fill a gap in access to justice for the transgender community in Florida by systemically providing assistance in areas such as access to legal name and gender marker changes, obtaining accurate IDs, protection from discriminatory laws and policies, representation in accessing a safe and affirming school and work environment, and more.
Chriss utilizes federal impact litigation to challenge discriminatory laws and policies that infringe upon the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, and is currently leading multiple federal lawsuits against the state of Florida, including Dekker v. Weida, Case No. 4:22- cv-00325 (N.D. Fla. 2022), successfully challenging the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration’s (AHCA) discriminatory ban stripping access to gender-affirming healthcare from all Florida Medicaid beneficiaries; Jane Doe v. Surgeon General Ladapo, Case No. 4:23-cv-00114 (N.D. Fla. 2023), successfully challenging SB 254 and the Florida Boards of Medicine rules banning doctors from prescribing medically necessary gender-affirming care to minors and imposing restrictions on transgender adults; Wood v. Fla. Department of Education, Case No. 4:23-cv-00526 (N.D. Fla. 2023), challenging the Florida law known as “Don’t Say Gay” that prohibits transgender teachers from using their affirmed pronouns; and Claire v. Florida Department of Management Services, 4:20- cv-00020 (N.D. Fla. 2020), challenging the state of Florida’s blanket exclusion of gender-affirming care in all health insurance plans offered to state employees.
Chriss was selected by the National LGBTQ+ Bar as one of the “40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40” in 2022. She recently received the first ever “Presidential Citation” from the Florida Psychological Association in recognition of her tireless work seeking to protect the rights, mental health and wellbeing of transgender individuals in Florida; and was invited to be a faculty member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to provide a keynote speech for the AAP’s Section on LGBT Health & Wellbeing at the 2025 National Conference. Chriss has received the “Outstanding Recent Alumni Award” from the University of Florida Levin College of Law; the “Fearless Children’s Lawyer Award” from the American Bar Association (ABA); the "Equality Defender Award" from the Rainbow Democrats; the “Allan H. Terl Civil Rights Award” from the Public Interest Law Section of The Florida Bar; the “Exceptional Community Impact by an Individual” Award from the Pride Community Center of North Central Florida; the “Voice for Equality” award from Equality Florida; the “Advocate of the Year” award from Spektrum Health, and more.
Chriss is a member of The Florida Bar, the U.S. Northern, Middle, and Southern District Courts of Florida, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She is also a member of the National LGBTQ+ Bar, and a member of the Executive Council of the Public Interest Law Section (PILS) of the Florida Bar.
CHELSEA DUNN (SHE, HER, HERS)
Legal Director
Chelsea Dunn joined Southern Legal Counsel as an attorney in July 2018 and previously served as the Director of the Decriminalizing Poverty Project, leading SLC’s efforts to end the criminalization of poverty by challenging governmental laws and policies aimed at arresting rather than housing people experiencing homelessness. Prior to this, she helped establish SLC’s Healthy Kids Medical-Legal Partnership with UF Health, which seeks to resolve the health-harming legal needs of some of Florida’s underserved children. She also litigates cases involving the rights of persons with disabilities and special education cases.
Chelsea came to SLC from the Child and Family Law Division of Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), the Massachusetts Public Defender’s office, where she worked as a Supervising Staff Attorney, representing indigent parents and children in dependency cases. During her seven years with CPCS, Ms. Dunn was frequent presenter in a number of trainings, including trainings to certify Massachusetts practitioners in dependency and termination of parental rights cases.
Ms. Dunn is a member of The Florida Bar, the three Florida federal district courts, and the Eleventh Circuit, as well as a member of both the Massachusetts and Virginia State Bars. She obtained her J.D. from the University of Richmond School of Law in 2009, where she graduated magna cum laude and received the Nina R. Kestin Service Award for contributions to the school, community, and legal profession. She served as an editor for the Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest, in which she had two comments published. After graduating from law school, she spent two years clerking for Senior Justice Harry L. Carrico of the Virginia Supreme Court. Chelsea received a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Sociology at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
Daniel Marshall (he, Him, HiS)
PRO BONO DIRECTOR
Daniel Marshall joined SLC in 2022. He is a civil rights attorney who has focused his legal career advocating for criminal justice reform and its impact on prisoners, their families and the community. He has litigated numerous criminal, federal civil rights, and state public records cases, including dozens of jury trials. He also has lectured on numerous issues, including prisoners’ civil rights, Florida’s “Stand your Ground” law, medical marijuana, and issues concerning the elderly and criminal law, as well giving presentations in a number of schools in the community.
After earning his J.D. degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law, Dan worked at the Office of the Public Defender in West Palm Beach, Florida for nearly nine years handling felonies, misdemeanors, juvenile delinquency, and appellate cases. After leaving the public defender’s office, Dan has worked at several organizations focusing on criminal defense and civil rights litigation.
Dan is admitted to practice in all Florida state courts, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida, the Eastern District of Michigan, the District of New Mexico and the District of Columbia. In a prior life, Dan worked as a spacecraft engineer at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., as part of the team that controlled one of NASA’s science satellites. He graduated cum laude from Colgate University with a B.A. in physics and astronomy.
J. MAGGIO (HE, HIM, HIS)
ATTORNEY
J. Maggio joined SLC in 2025. He has worked as an attorney in election law, voter-protection, felony rights-restoration, municipal law, and criminal law. J. has lived in Gainesville since 1997 and has continually been involved in social-justice issues: including labor organizing, housing reform, local politics, and racial justice.
After receiving his J.D. and Ph.D. in political science from University of Florida, Maggio worked as legal researcher for a local think-tank and then became a tenured professor of political science for twelve years at St. Johns River State College. J. is heavily published in prestigious journals and continues to adjunct at Santa Fe College. He is considered an expert in the areas of American political government, political post-structuralism, and post-colonialism. J. is happily married and enjoys cinema, literature, music, and baseball.
Devin Branch (he, him, his)
attorney
Devin joined SLC in 2025. He graduated from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, cum laude. While there, he won the Book Award in Legal Writing; was on the Florida Trial Team; worked in the Public Defender Clinic; was Treasurer of the American Constitution Society; and was Secretary of the UF Environmental and Land Use Law Society. He received a CELTA certification for teaching ESL from the University of Texas, and earned a B.A. in Classical Studies with a minor in English from the University of Florida.
Devin is admitted to practice in Florida state courts as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida. He has previously worked as a Legal Intern for the Law Offices of Stacy A. Scott, Eighth Circuit Public Defender, as well as for Thomas Keel & Laird in Denver. Outside of brief stints traveling, Devin has lived in Gainesville since 2006, and enjoys a round of disc golf, practicing the uilleann pipes, or just spending time in nature with his partner and his dog.
Deborah Gowen (she/her/hers) attorney
Gowen joined the Southern Legal Counsel in 2025. She represents clients fighting for their rights in cases involving Social Security disability (SSDI/SSI) and Medicaid. Gowen has represented people with disabilities for more than fifteen years, fighting for access under the ADA, as well as for disability benefits. Previously, Gowen worked as a public defender, and directed a nonprofit holistic law practice working to end the cycle of poverty and incarceration.
Gowen holds a BS in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia School of Law, where she was also on the Editorial Board of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law. During law school she was awarded a Governor’s Internship, an Equal Justice Foundation Fellowship, and a NAPIL Rural Legal Corps Fellowship. Gowen also taught law students for a number of years in both the civil and criminal clinical programs.
Gowen is licensed to practice law in Florida and Georgia and admitted to state and federal courts in both states, as well as the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a member of the National Association of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives. She spends her free time running, cycling, and SCUBA diving, and when time permits, visiting her home away from home in Costa Rica.