Kira Fonteneau
Kira Fonteneau (born February 23, 1976 in Detroit, Michigan) is an attorney, president of the ACLU of Alabama, and former head of the Jefferson County Public Defender's Office.
Fonteneau is the daughter of Leroy and Deborah Fonteneau. She graduated from Indian River High School in Chesapeake, Virginia in 1994 and completed her bachelor of arts in government at the University of Virginia in 1998. She worked in operations management at Wachovia Bank for four years before enrolling in law school at the University of Georgia. She completed her juris doctor in 2005 and began her legal career in the Birmingham office of Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete. She opened her own Fonteneau Firm in 2006 and married triathlete Omar Fraser on December 22 of that year.
In December 2012 Fonteneau was appointed by the Alabama Office of Indigent Defense Services to head the newly-created Jefferson County Public Defender's Office, also called the Community Law Office, serving indigent defendants in the 10th Judicial Circuit of Alabama. During her tenure Fonteneau worked to insure that all persons arrested in the county would get a bail hearing within 72 hours and to eliminate charges for calls made from jail to her office. The office worked to connect clients with substance abuse and mental health treatment services.
Fonteneau's contract was renewed for three years in October 2015, but she was fired from her position in July 2016. The cause of her dismissal was never explained. She returned to private practice with Allen Arnold in the firm of Fonteneau & Arnold, which expanded into the Five Points Law Group.
Fonteneau has frequently appeared on "Fox 6 Legal Lines" and is a member of the Alabama State Bar Board of Bar Commissioners and the National Legal Advocacy Subcommittee of the American Diabetes Association. She is an alumna of the 2015 class of Leadership Birmingham.
In early 2019 Fonteneau was chosen to succeed Mark Lester as president of ACLU of Alabama.
| Preceded by: none |
Jefferson County Public Defender 2012 - 2016 |
Succeeded by: David Luker |
References
- Faulk, Kent (July 21, 2016) "Jefferson County Public Defender departs: Did she resign or was she fired?" The Birmingham News
- Budhwani, Dannial (August 25, 2017) "Legal veterans form new law firm in Birmingham." Birmingham Business Journal
- Hrynkiw, Ivana (January 9, 2019) "Former Jeffco Public Defender to lead ACLU of Alabama." The Birmingham News
External links
- Kira Fonteneau at 5pointslaw.com
- Kira Fonteneau at Linkedin.com