Fund established honoring alum’s support of the Project for Innocence

The Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence & Post-Conviction Remedies – previously known as The Defender Project – was founded at KU Law almost 60 years ago. Hundreds of students have participated in the program over the years and have won more than 70 direct appeals since its rebranding in 2008. The program has received support from many, including Robert …

Graduate Profile: Leah Hodges, L’22

Student advocates for those with limited resources Leah Hodges chose to attend law school because of her passion for people and providing support for those with limited resources. After graduating this month, she will begin her role as a Missouri Justice Fellow with the Missouri Public Defender’s Office in St. Joseph. The two-year criminal defense fellowship places participants in underserved …

Graduate Profile: Parker Bednasek, L’22

Law Review editor-in-chief was ‘raised to be a Jayhawk’ Law school has kept Parker Bednasek busy. As editor-in-chief of the Kansas Law Review, Bednasek was responsible for representing the University of Kansas School of Law in legal academia. “You also have a lot of interaction with professors at other law schools, so you want to be professional and leave a …

Hands-On Learning Q&A: Audrey Nelson, Project for Innocence

Applying classroom learning to real clients and their cases Third-year law student Audrey Nelson knew she was passionate about public defense work before enrolling in the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence & Post-Conviction Remedies at the University of Kansas School of Law. During two semesters working with the clinic in 2020-21, Nelson was able to gain hands-on experience and …

Ensuring justice through the Project for Innocence

I firmly believe that every single law student at KU should participate in a clinic before they leave. My year as an intern in the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies improved my legal writing, lawyering and client-management skills, and appellate advocacy. Interns also receive a first-hand look at the criminal justice system and the post-conviction remedies …

Wrongfully convicted civil rights activist, exiled 40 years, speaks to Innocence Project students

Alyssa Boone (second from left) is pictured with Frederick Umoja, his daughter, and Project for Innocence staff, attorney Alice White and clinical associate professor Elizabeth Cateforis. Law professors are fond of telling their students not to “lose sight of the forest for the trees.” However, often as a law student, my here and now seems like little more than a …