Christine Mari Palma Start is a Deputy Public Defender with the Solano County Alternate Public Defender. She proudly represents indigent individuals charged with crimes from arraignment through jury trial and post-conviction. Christine is featured as one of nine women criminal defense lawyers in Andrea Lyon’s newest publication, The Feminine Sixth: Women for the Defense, a book that probes the non-fictional accounts of women criminal defense lawyers across the country.

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As the Visionary Founder of the Pinay Powerhouse Conference and with the help and leadership of her sisters-in-law and co-founders of the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC), Christine organized and led the country’s first-ever inaugural women’s conference focused on the empowerment of Filipina attorneys and aspiring attorneys as leaders in law.

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Christine is Immediate Past President of FBANC and currently serves on the Advisory Board of FBANC. Christine is also the Co-Committee Chair of the Women Lawyers Network for the National Filipino American Lawyers Association (NFALA), Co-Director of the Minority Bar Coalition of the Bay Area, Vice-Chair of the Women’s Committee for the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, Advisory Board Member to the Public Interest Law Foundation of the University of San Francisco School of Law and sits on the Racial Justice Committee at her place of employment.

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Christine is also a proud leadership and life coach for women and runs her own business, FireStarter Coaching. She is a devoted certified yoga and social justice teacher and practitioner. Christine is excited to be teaching a yoga class with her sisters-in-law at this year’s conference!

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Christine was recently recognized as a “Best Lawyer Under 40” by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) in 2017. Also, in 2017, she was honored with the Minority Bar Coalition’s “Unity Award” for working in a unified manner to advance the cause of diversity in the legal profession.

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Christine received her B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law where she was honored with the “Pursuit of Justice Award” of her graduating class. In 2015, the Solano County Public Defender and Alternate Defenders’ recognized Christine with the Thurgood Marshall “Intricate Planner and Defender of the Poor” Award.