Kevin

Kevin Coker is our CEO. As an attorney, he zealously represents clients charged with state crimes while advancing RJ’s mission of ending mass incarceration. Kevin is passionate about empathy, equity, and justice in our society. He executes a holistic and client-centered model for indigent defense by collaborating with clients and the entire RJ team to provide expert legal service. Kevin leads with a servant’s heart and places our client’s interests and freedom as his top priority. 

Kevin’s passion for social justice work was developed while he was a student at Morehouse College, the alma mater of Martin Luther King, Jr. His journey to indigent defense began with an internship at Davis Bozeman Johnson Law while he was a student at Vanderbilt Law School. He saw the criminal legal system’s disproportionate negative impact on black, brown, and poor people and knew that he could not be a bystander. He became a Gideon’s Promise LSPP Fellow after law school, and he spent the next three years defending indigent clients as an assistant public defender with the Metropolitan Nashville Public Defender’s Office. After gaining expertise in client-centered advocacy, Kevin decided to move back to Houston and join Restoring Justice. 

As a native Houstonian, Kevin is committed to shifting the culture of indigent defense in Houston. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.