Jon M. Sands is the Chief Federal Public Defender for the District of Arizona. He serves as the chair of the Federal Defender Sentencing Committee.

Sands graduated magna cum laude from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1978, with an undergraduate degree in history. He received a J.D.

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 with honors from the University of California at Davis Law School in 1984. From 1984 through 1985, he was a law clerk

Law clerk

A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Law clerks are not court clerks or courtroom deputies, who are administrative staff for the court. Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who...

 for Judge Mary M. Schroeder

Mary M. Schroeder

Mary M. Schroeder is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.- Education :She received her B.A. from Swarthmore in 1962 and her J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1965, one of six women in her class...

 of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.