Alexis Khel
Alexis Khel is a criminal defense attorney and linguist who specializes in criminal justice. While the bulk of her relatively short career has been spent serving as a public defender on Chandrila, her success in the role has garnered her a certain reputation amongst those who deal in petty crime. In recent years, she's begun traveling to various moons and space stations to aid traders who have been ensnared in bloated, cumbersome interstellar trade restrictions. Though Alexis had begun building a reputation as a skilled defender of smugglers, her largest splash in the legal community came from the case of Nercathi Vs. Hanna City. The case was a media storm involving Twi'lek woman who murdered her fiance, a Chandrila police officer. The case was propelled into interstellar fame when Alexis successfully defended her client. The verdict of "not guilty" has left her name as a sour taste in the mouth of Chandrila law enforcement.
Alexis Khel
Title: Juris Doctor
Race: Human
Sex: Female
Profession: Lawyer
Homeworld: Coruscant
Ship: Ash Angel
Life and Career
Early Life
Alexis Khel was born into a life of privilege on the planet of Coruscant. The only daughter of a wealthy pair of politicians, Alexis' childhood was primarily spent in solitude. She preferred it that way, though. While Alexis' parents would surround her with toys and idle playthings, perhaps to assuage own guilt, she seemed far interested in books and exploring the world around her. She didn't much care for other children, either. In fact, it might be said that her only true childhood friend was her caretaker, Aola. Certainly, she grew closer to this twi'lek than her own mother and father.
Alexis attended a prodigious private school that often served as a launchpad and fast-track to Coruscant's most notable politicians, lawyers, and doctors. While attending, she achieved top marks and graduated magna cum laude, with the only notable blemish on her academic record belonging to Physical Education, in which she achieved an "average" grade.
It was always assumed by everyone that Alexis would simply follow the path that her parents had laid out for her. She would attend the University of Coruscant, just as they had, and begin the networking she'd need to become a successful politician. Alexis had different ideas. She applied for and accepted a full ride to Theed University on the planet Naboo.
Higher Education
Alexis's four years at Theed University had a profound impact on her. It was on Naboo that Alexis truly connected with herself, and where she first began to make friends with her peers. So far away from the expectations and meticulous plans, Alexis found freedom in independence that she hadn't experienced before. Alexis Khel looks back on her time spent at Theed University fondly. Astute observers will have noticed that one of her favorite necklaces contains a berry from Naboo. Encased in crystal, the berry's vibrance is perfectly preserved, like the memories she holds close from those undergraduate years.
After graduating with a degree in Political Science, Alexis would go on to attend Law School at the University of Coruscant. While she did ultimately return to her homeworld and the University system her parents had planned for her, it felt different for Alexis. It was her choice, after all. She was no longer the sheltered, precocious, and quiet child that she was when she'd left four years ago. When she returned to Coruscant, it was with a newfound sense of self, confidence, and ambition.
Public Defender
Alexis Khel could have joined one of the many prestigious firms on Coruscant or Corellia. Instead, Alexis Khel once again broke with expectation and offered up her significant legal skill and education to the New Republic as a public defender for the various worlds within it. Stationed on Chandrila, Alexis Khel would spend several years traveling to various planets within the New Republic to represent individuals who were unable to afford a lawyer of their own. These defendants oftentimes found themselves better off than their wealthy counterparts, too. In fact, legal experts and enthusiasts soon began to follow Alexis' case history when they discovered a pattern. On average, defendants she represented had far lower rates of incarceration and fines than those defended by other lawyers, even private attorneys. Those who plead guilty were often assigned to their planet's rehabilitation centers to receive therapy, support, and a second chance. The rest of her defendants had their cases dropped entirely -- at twice the rate as her peers.
Legal Philosophy
Populism
Despite their minimal involvement in her upbringing, Alexis' parents would still be able to instill their populist views within their only daughter. Perhaps ironically, it was their political leanings that encouraged their daughter to rebel against their expectations. To pursue an education off-world and, eventually, to use her skills to defend those without the means to defend themselves. Alexis believes in an idealized version of the justice system. She believes in fundamental, inalienable rights that are extended to all sentients. These rights include the right to live, the right to flourish and to prosper, and the right to a fair trial. Her parents' populist idealogy remains the most potent force in Alexis' worldview. Many of her decisions, past and present alike, are informed in some part by this worldview.
New Republic Law
Alexis' ideological views on justice tend to align most closely with those of the New Republic. The vast majority of her work involves the defense of those accused of crimes by the New Republic. It seems paradoxical to some that she choose to defend individuals against a system of justice that she believes in, but Alexis sees things from a different perspective. While she aligns with the core principles of New Republic law, she recognizes its limitations. Unlike the First Order, the New Republic doesn't impose its laws upon the planets beneath its banner. This means that New Republic law is often complex and convoluted, varying significantly from planet to planet. It is also fallible, subject to inherent planet biases against various species and races. Alexis feels that these laws are complex to the point of being burdensome, particularly to those who frequently travel between worlds.
First Order Law
Alexis Khel is not as well versed in the laws and regulations within the First Order, though she is armed enough to be dangerous in select situations. In general, she feels the First Order's judicial system is a farce. Blatantly xenophobic and lacking any semblance of transparency, it is the furthest thing from "justice" than it can possibly be. While she understands that the same prejudices and xenophobia at work within the New Republic at a structural level, she finds the First Order's embrace of such to be disgraceful.
In practice, Alexis' limited experience with the First Order's insular and militaristic laws has been related to accidental trade violations. She has taken a personal interest, however, in court martial cases, military personnel defecting, and laws surrounding the capture and imprisonment of enemy soldiers.
Reputation (RP Hooks)
Smugglers and Traders
Alexis has developed something of a reputation with Traders and Smugglers. This is due, in part, to the fact that she sees the two as one in the same. With the exception of those who deal in the slave trade, Alexis considers the movement of goods between worlds to be a necessary consequence of interstellar economics. She feels that trade restrictions and embargos are needlessly convoluted and often times prejudiced against certain races and species. She is adept at litigating these cases, having a knack for drawing parallels and finding legal precedents to see the charges dropped entirely. This, coupled with the fact that she works for a modest fee, has seen her name spread with a certain reverence amongst spacefarers who deal in hauling cargo.
Law Enforcement Officers
Public defenders often take an antagonistic role to law enforcement officers, and Alexis is no exception. Her criminal defense cases bring evidence-gathering techniques, police brutality, and administrative overreach into the harsh light of day. Law Enforcement officers on core worlds likely feel that she is an instrument in the obstruction of justice. Some may even wish for her to suffer some sort of retribution for the criminals she's let walk free.
Military Personnel
As much a pacifist as she is a populist, Alexis Khel does not hold the same reverence for military personnel as other citizens within the New Republic. Alexis is also a realist and understands their need. She may be vexing to some military personnel, however. A little disrespectful and definitely insubordinate, she is likely to bump heads with those who feel their name and title alone commands a certain level of respect.
Hutt Cartel
Similar to traders and smugglers, those involved in the Hutt Cartel may have their eyes on Alexis' legal defense record. While the majority of these criminals deliberately operate on outer-rim worlds where law enforcement is a matter of having the bigger gun, some of the more organized criminals cast wide enough nets to become tangled in inconvenient criminal cases. Though Hutts are notoriously egotistical and paranoid to the point of delusion, some have reached out to her seeking legal counsel -- a testament to her fame and notoriety.
Mandalorians
Alexis Khel's relationship with Mandalorians is complicated, and likely highly dependant on the Mandalorian. By working with law enforcement and third parties on behalf of her client, she has been known to have bounties dissolved through thin air. To some, this is a mild inconvenience. To others, it's an outright thorn in their side. Her relationship with Mandalorians isn't entirely antagonistic, however. Alexis believes Mandalorians are one of the cultures most unfairly discriminated against by New Republic and First Order law. Complicated ordinance restrictions, she feels, discriminate against Mandalorian culture. She has successfully defended several Mandalorians in court when they came under scrutiny for their means of extracting a target.
Sith/Jedi
To the Sith and the Jedi, New Republic and First Order law are trivial things. They are transient in nature and fluid to change. What is constant is the centuries long struggle -- the battle between good and evil, light and dark. Alexis Khel is just one of the trillions of faces in the background of this struggle, and her fate is as inconsequential to such forces as anyone else's. Alexis is familiar with the concept of the Jedi and the Sith, though if pressed to give an opinion, she'd likely deliver this unsatisfying sentiment:
"Good and evil; light and dark. It's really just "us" and "them". It's really just people killing people, same as any other war," -- Alexis Khel.
