Our Board

Zara has been an attorney at Public Defender Services of Lane County since 2018. Prior to working at PDS, she spent three years clerking for the Oregon Supreme Court and the Western District of New York. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 2015 with the twin goals of returning to Oregon and becoming a public defender. Zara likes to spend time with her partner, her daughter, and her two rescue Chihuahua mixes.

Chris was born in Portland, Oregon in 1948. He attended Madison High School in Portland, and University of Oregon for college and law school. Chris was admitted to Oregon Bar in 1974. He was in private practice for his first three years out of law school, and then, in 1977, he became a founding member of Public Defender Services of Lane County, where he practiced as a public defender until his retirement in 2015. Chris is now retired and an inactive member of the Oregon State Bar. However, he remains “Of Counsel” at Public Defender Services of Lane County, and he is a member of the Very Little Theatre Board of Directors. In his spare time, Chris likes to garden and spend time with Suzanna, his wife of more than 50 years. Chris is also owned by Betty, the cat.

The natural beauty and outdoor recreational opportunities of the Pacific Northwest compelled Scott to relocate to Vancouver, WA in the mid-1980s. Hiking, mountain biking, XC skiing and travel remain some of his major pastimes. Along the way, Scott helped parent and raise two daughters, both of whom now regularly provide training and learning opportunities.

Scott credits his dad, Ned, for his interest and passion for racial justice. Ned was a disc jockey at a black-owned R&B station in Atlanta, GA for more than twenty years. He modeled equal treatment for all people every day of his life.

Scott has served on a few non-profit boards over the years, including Portland Audubon Society, Friends of Trees, Tears of Joy Theatre, and Tualatin Riverkeepers.

Shaun started practicing law with her father Bob McCrea in 1983. Father and daughter tried criminal cases (ranging from murder to child pornography, drugs to DUII) in state and federal courts throughout Oregon for over 30 years, when Bob retired. Shaun continued practice until October 2016 when she became the Executive Director of the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (OCDLA). Shaun has taught trial skills at the University of Oregon School of Law, at OCDLA’s Trial Skills College and continues to lecture on trial skills and criminal defense topics.

Shaun is a past president of OCDLA, served five years as a director of the National Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (NACDL), served as the Ninth Circuit Representative to Defender Services Advisory Group (DSAG) 1999-2008 and as the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Representative for the District of Oregon (1997-2008). In 2016 Super Lawyers named Shaun in the top 25 women lawyers in Oregon and in 2018 she received the James M. Burns award in criminal law from the Oregon Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.