Keith Grant has been with the Lake County Public Defender’s Office since 1992 and is the Public Defender’s Senior Supervisor, responsible for the coordination and litigation of complex cases and for all training conducted for all employees (legal and otherwise) in the Office. Keith is also serves as Attorney Coordinator for the Public Defender’s Conflict Unit, overseeing assignment of private attorneys contracted to accept cases where the Public Defender must withdraw due to conflicts of interest. In 2017, Keith was certified as co-handler for Simba, the first and only trained Facility Dog placed in a Public Defender office in the United States. Previously, Keith served as the PD’s Chief of Special Defense, and before that as Felony Division Chief and before that as the Misdemeanor Division Chief. Before becoming an administrator, Keith was a line-assistant in the Public Defender’s Office, Felony Division, for nearly 10 years. During Illinois’ use of capital punishment, Keith was a Certified First Chair before the Illinois Capital Litigation Trial Bar. Keith graduated from Ripon College in 1984 and NIU College of Law in 1987. Prior to becoming an Assistant Public Defender, Keith was a prosecutor with the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, assigned to the First Infantry Division. In 1996, Keith deployed to Europe as a Trial Defense Officer with the Army Reserve in support of Operation Joint Endeavor, the Bosnian peacekeeping mission. Keith is a Past-President of Lake County’s Jefferson Inn of Court; Past-President of the Lake County Bar Association; and fourth-term President of the Illinois Public Defender Association. Keith formerly chaired the Lake County Bar Association Criminal Law Committee and is a frequent lecturer at LCBA seminars as well as seminars for the IPDA, Cook County Public Defender’s Office, the Office of the Appellate Defender and other organizations. He is published in the LCBA Docket magazine and in several IICLE criminal trial practice manuals. He has served as a primary organizer of the Annual LCBA Criminal Law Seminar since 2002. He is an appointed member of the Illinois Supreme Court Pretrial Practices Task Force and Co-Chair of that Task Force’s Guidelines Committee.