Vivian Hernandez joined the Federal Capital Trial Project as Capital Resource Counsel in 2024. Before joining, she was a trial attorney with the Military Defense Commission Organization (MCDO), where she represented one of the 9/11 co-defendants held at Guantanamo Bay and served as the Managing Defense Counsel for the defense team. She was responsible for providing zealous representation to her client and overseeing the defense team's day-to-day functioning. Before joining the MCDO in 2019, Vivian served as an assistant capital defender in Northern Virginia, exclusively representing individuals charged with capital murder at the trial level.