EFF is very pleased to announce the newest staff attorney to join our legal team, Hanni Fakhoury. Hanni is an experienced criminal defense attorney, who will focus on the intersection of technology and criminal law and join our Coders' Rights Project, which protects programmers and developers engaged in technology innovation and research.

Prior to joining EFF, Hanni worked as a federal public defender in San Diego. In less than four years, he tried fourteen felony jury and bench trials and argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals four times, winning three reversals. While in law school, Hanni worked at the federal public defender's office in Sacramento, where he obtained acquittals in one jury trial and two bench trials.

We're excited to have someone with so much hands-on trial experience to help with the important criminal legal work we do at EFF. Security and encryption researchers help build a safer future for all of us using digital technologies, yet too many legitimate researchers face serious legal challenges that prevent or inhibit their work. Additionally, we are seeing increasing incursions into privacy rights with warrantless searches of digital devices and electronic records as well as efforts to stretch the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act beyond what was intended by lawmakers. There is a lot of work to do to promote privacy, innovation, and the rights of curious tinkerers and hackers on the digital frontier, and Hanni brings important tools and experience to this fight. Welcome Hanni!