Nia Ayanna Vidal is the Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender of the Roanoke Division, joining the office in 2024. A 2002 graduate of the Howard University School of Law, Ms. Vidal began her career in public service as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable U.S. District Court Judge James R. Spencer in Richmond. Beginning in 2003, she served as an appellate attorney with the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria before becoming an Assistant Federal Public Defender in that division six months later. She then practiced as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Richmond Division beginning in 2008. 

She is a former adjunct professor teaching Lawyering Skills at the University of Richmond School of Law as well as a former adjunct professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University where she taught graduate and undergraduate forensic science students Criminal Law and Procedure. She is currently a member of the Virginia State Bar Standing Committee on Ethics, a member of the Board of Governors of the Criminal Law Section of the Virginia State Bar, and a faculty member of the Virginia State Bar Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Course.

Outside of work, she enjoys traveling with her children, weight training, and cuddling with her rescue pup, Rudy.