Glen Blake
glen-blake@utulsa.edu
Deputy Public Defender and Director of the Public Defender’s Clinic
Blake is the deputy public defender at the Tulsa County Public Defender’s Office and focuses the majority of his time on creating systemic changes to improve the criminal justice system in Tulsa County and statewide. Glen is a founder and current advisory board member of Project Commutation, which began in 2018. In this role, he has worked with hundreds of incarcerated individuals in pursuing commutations of unjust and excessive prison sentences, as well as paroles. He is also an adjunct professor at The University of Tulsa College of Law, where he directs the Public Defender Clinic. Glen is a graduate of TU and TU Law.
Kaitlyn Mortazavi
krs6570@utulsa.edu
Schusterman Staff Attorney
Mortazavi is the Schusterman staff attorney at the TU Legal Clinic. As a student, she completed two semesters at the TU Legal Clinic, where she developed a passion for assisting the underserved communities in Tulsa with their legal needs. After graduating from The University of Tulsa College of Law with the highest honors and passing the Oklahoma Bar Exam in September 2021, she joined the clinic’s legal team as the Tulsa Immigrant Resource Network (TIRN) legal fellow. During that time, she worked on family law cases for immigrant families with children under age 8. In 2023, Mortazavi accepted the position of Schusterman staff attorney and now focuses on assisting immigrant families.
Logan Hartz
logan-hartz@utulsa.edu
Buck Colbert Franklin Legal Fellow
Logan Hartz is the B.C. Franklin Legal Fellow. He grew up in northern Indiana before joining the United States Marine Corps. After five years, he left in 2018 to attend Northern Michigan University, obtaining a degree in history. In 2021, Logan graduated summa cum laude from NMU with a perfect 4.0 GPA and earning multiple awards. After graduating from NMU, he attended The University of Tulsa College of Law, where he spent a semester in the B.C. Franklin Legal Clinic, successfully taking an adverse guardianship case to trial, restoring fundamental parental rights to his client. After graduating from TU Law with Highest Honors in 2023, Logan accepted a two-year fellowship as an attorney in the B.C. Franklin Legal Clinic, the same clinic where he had once been a student. He is the proud dog dad to his Goldendoodle, Oakley.
Janna Gau
janna-gau@utulsa.edu
Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law
Janna Gau is the visiting assistant clinical professor of law for the Terry West Legal Clinic. Janna has more than 25 years of private practice litigation experience, representing clients from the private and public sector in the defense and prosecution of claims before state, federal, and administrative tribunals. Janna has extensive experience in cases involving civil rights, constitutional law, securities and banking law, and professional licensure and liability.
Alex Gavern
alex-gavern@utulsa.edu
Assistant Clinical Professor
Alex Gavern is the assistant clinical professor for the Buck Colbert Franklin Legal Clinic. Professor Gavern’s advocacy focuses on community focused legal services, immigration, criminal, and family law. From 2021 to 2024 Professor Gavern was the Director of Legal Services at YWCA Tulsa. Prior to moving to Oklahoma, Gavern worked in private practice as an associate at Kolko & Casey PC in Denver, Colorado. He started his legal career the pro-bono coordinator and staff attorney for the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. He received is bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and earned his Juris Doctor from Michigan State University College of Law.
Elijah Johnson
ejj9293@utulsa.edu
Director of Tulsa Immigrant Resource Network
Johnson is the director of the Tulsa Immigrant Resource Network (TIRN). He grew up doing manual labor in the heat and cold, depressed by the wages but blessed by the richness of perspective and hardworking skill of his immigrant companions in the car wash, the packing plant, and the orchard. Exposure to immigrant stories of struggle, sacrifice, and striving under terrible pressure cracked his heart. From the fissure grew his interest in immigration law.
Johnson, his partner, and their children have been setting down roots in Tulsa since 2017. He has the privilege of directing TIRN, which creates greater access to legal and nonlegal processes and benefits for noncitizens, through direct legal representation and community outreach, education, and organizing.
John Paul Bloese
jcb1530@utulsa.edu
TIRN Fellow
Bloese currently serves as a TIRN fellow. A Tulsa native, he is a first-generation American son of a Cuban refugee. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Oklahoma where he majored in multidisciplinary studies with an emphasis on international area studies and international enterprise studies. Following graduation from OU, Bloese served as a social worker at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS), where he forged a passion for serving the most vulnerable in our community. After six years at OKDHS, he spent a short period in the private sector, working for two locally-owned small businesses. In 2019, Bloese decided to pursue his long-delayed goal of attending law school. He felt a calling to help those like his family who had suffered human rights violations and experienced the struggle of immigrating to a foreign land. Bloese graduated with honors from TU Law in May 2022 and began working as a TIRN fellow, serving Tulsa’s immigrant community.