{"id":850,"date":"2025-03-19T11:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/?p=850"},"modified":"2025-03-20T12:56:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T12:56:40","slug":"nyu-law-announces-clinic-to-study-wrongful-convictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/19\/nyu-law-announces-clinic-to-study-wrongful-convictions\/","title":{"rendered":"NYU Law announces clinic to study wrongful convictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NYU\u2019s School of Law will <\/span>offer a joint program<\/span><\/a> with the Innocence Project, a nonprofit focused on advancing social justice through legal advocacy for wrongfully convicted incarcerated people, with an inaugural class set to begin work in September.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Innocence Project Post-Conviction Clinic will guide 12 second and third-year law students through direct work with clients who present strong claims of innocence, with some assignments tackling decades-old cases. During the yearlong program, students will open reinvestigations, search physical evidence and court records, and research legal arguments for wrongful convictions cases to support clients\u2019 litigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

NYU Law dean Troy McKenzie said the two institutions had been looking to collaborate \u201cfor some time,\u201d and that the partnership arose as the Innocence Project sought to expand the scope of its work amid a \u201cchallenging period in this country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with the Innocence Project enables us to provide our students \u2014 and the public at large \u2014 with critical expertise to the practice of law in the furtherance of justice,\u201d McKenzie said in a statement to WSN. \u201cWe are institutions with similar values and have long known and admired one another\u2019s work.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The program will be co-led by the Innocence Project\u2019s Senior Staff Attorney Jane Pucher and Director of Special Litigation Vanessa Potkin, who will also host a weekly seminar on common legal arguments, relevant forensic sciences and other relevant skillsets. Students will hone their ability to identify procedural misconduct, conduct bias-informed interviews and test DNA \u2014 one of the <\/span>nonprofit\u2019s specialties<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Students will also work with experts from the Innocence Project to gain experience in wrongful conviction-related research, data analytics and policy advising. In the future, the nonprofit plans to partner with other <\/span>NYU graduate schools<\/span><\/a> to expand its reach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey approached NYU Law due not only to the excellence of our students and our unparalleled clinical program, but also because we are rooted in the larger ecosystem of New York University,\u201d McKenzie said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christina Swarns, the executive director of the Innocence Project, told WSN that the organization has worked with hundreds of students at the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University since its founding as a legal clinic at the school. Swarns cited that by partnering with New York City schools, the Innocence Project aims to help counteract New York\u2019s <\/span>historically high rate<\/span><\/a> of wrongful conviction cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NYU has <\/span>previously profiled<\/span><\/a> and hosted attorneys from the Innocence Project, although this is its first formal collaboration with the nonprofit. Peter Neufeld \u2014 who graduated from the law school in 1975 and co-founded the Innocence Project \u2014 helped spearhead the partnership, according to McKenzie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 to offer legal support for incarcerated people and advocate for prison reform. Initially <\/span>based on research<\/span><\/a> that incorrect identification by the eyewitness is the factor in most wrongful convictions, the nonprofit has since expanded to consider all forensic components in reinvestigation efforts \u2014 although it primarily takes cases where <\/span>DNA plays a substantial role<\/span><\/a> in clearing convictions. Since its founding, the organization\u2019s attorneys have acquitted over 250 people who have collectively spent nearly 4,000 years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe mission of the Innocence Project is to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions and create fair, compassionate and equitable systems of justice for everyone,\u201d Swarns told WSN. \u201cWe are excited by the many ways we can collaborate with NYU, now and in the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact Audrey Abrahams at news@nyunews.com.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This story NYU Law announces clinic to study wrongful convictions<\/a> appeared first on Washington Square News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NYU\u2019s School of Law will offer a joint program with the Innocence Project, a nonprofit focused on advancing social justice through legal advocacy for wrongfully convicted incarcerated people, with an inaugural class set to begin work in September. The Innocence Project Post-Conviction Clinic will guide 12 second and third-year law students through direct work with clients who present strong claims of innocence, with some assignments tackling decades-old cases. During the yearlong program, students will open reinvestigations, search physical evidence and court records, and research legal arguments for wrongful convictions cases to support clients\u2019 litigation. NYU Law dean Troy McKenzie said the two institutions had been looking to collaborate \u201cfor some time,\u201d and that the partnership arose as the Innocence Project sought to expand the scope of its work amid a \u201cchallenging period in this country.\u201d \u201cWorking with the Innocence Project enables us to provide our students \u2014 and the public at large \u2014 with critical expertise to the practice of law in the furtherance of justice,\u201d McKenzie said in a statement to WSN. \u201cWe are institutions with similar values and have long known and admired one another\u2019s work.\u201d\u00a0 The program will be co-led by the Innocence Project\u2019s Senior Staff Attorney Jane Pucher and Director of Special Litigation Vanessa Potkin, who will also host a weekly seminar on common legal arguments, relevant forensic sciences and other relevant skillsets. Students will hone their ability to identify procedural misconduct, conduct bias-informed interviews and test DNA \u2014 one of the nonprofit\u2019s specialties. Students will also work with experts from the Innocence Project to gain experience in wrongful conviction-related research, data analytics and policy advising. In the future, the nonprofit plans to partner with other NYU graduate schools to expand its reach.\u00a0 \u201cThey approached NYU Law due not only to the excellence of our students and our unparalleled clinical program, but also because we are rooted in the larger ecosystem of New York University,\u201d McKenzie said.\u00a0 Christina Swarns, the executive director of the Innocence Project, told WSN that the organization has worked with hundreds of students at the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University since its founding as a legal clinic at the school. Swarns cited that by partnering with New York City schools, the Innocence Project aims to help counteract New York\u2019s historically high rate of wrongful conviction cases.\u00a0 NYU has previously profiled and hosted attorneys from the Innocence Project, although this is its first formal collaboration with the nonprofit. Peter Neufeld \u2014 who graduated from the law school in 1975 and co-founded the Innocence Project \u2014 helped spearhead the partnership, according to McKenzie.\u00a0 The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 to offer legal support for incarcerated people and advocate for prison reform. Initially based on research that incorrect identification by the eyewitness is the factor in most wrongful convictions, the nonprofit has since expanded to consider all forensic components in reinvestigation efforts \u2014 although it primarily takes cases where DNA plays a substantial role in clearing convictions. Since its founding, the organization\u2019s attorneys have acquitted over 250 people who have collectively spent nearly 4,000 years in prison. \u201cThe mission of the Innocence Project is to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions and create fair, compassionate and equitable systems of justice for everyone,\u201d Swarns told WSN. \u201cWe are excited by the many ways we can collaborate with NYU, now and in the future.\u201d Contact Audrey Abrahams at news@nyunews.com.\u00a0 This story NYU Law announces clinic to study wrongful convictions appeared first on Washington Square News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions\/853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}