Innocence Project and NYU Law Join Forces 

(March 5, 2025 — New York, NY) Today, the Innocence Project and NYU School of Law announced a new partnership that will deepen the capacity and impact of the Innocence Project and provide NYU students with invaluable hands-on exposure to wrongful conviction litigation and advocacy. NYU Law will offer a clinic that allows its law students to work on Innocence Project cases and learn about post-conviction wrongful conviction litigation. Further relationships between the Innocence Project and additional NYU graduate schools are also anticipated. Through the new partnership, NYU students will gain access to some of the country’s leading experts on wrongful conviction, and the Innocence Project will tap into NYU’s centers of academic excellence to advance the scope of its work.

The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. Its mission is to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, equitable and compassionate systems of justice for everyone. The organization has helped to free or exonerate more than 250 people who, collectively, have spent nearly 4,000 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. It has also helped to pass more than 250 legislative reforms to help prevent wrongful conviction and provide compensation.

“This is an incredibly powerful partnership — the Innocence Project is one of the most transformative criminal legal reform organizations in the country, and NYU is a pioneer in the field of public interest law that draws the nation’s best and brightest students and scholars,” said Christina Swarns, executive director of the Innocence Project. “Our staff and clients will benefit enormously from NYU’s energy and experience.”

“It would be difficult to think of a legal organization whose values more closely align with ours than the Innocence Project,” said Troy McKenzie, dean and Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. “For decades, they have been trailblazers in harnessing scientific advancements to protect the wrongfully imprisoned — and to use the lessons learned to advocate for a more just legal system for everyone. I’m delighted to be able to give NYU Law students the opportunity to develop their legal skills in this exciting environment.”

The NYU/Innocence Project post-conviction litigation clinic will be led by senior attorneys at the Innocence Project and will offer NYU Law students an opportunity to get hands-on experience in post-conviction litigation, working on cases presenting strong claims of innocence.

“NYU Law’s clinical program is second to none and, I believe, the very soul of our great institution,” said Deborah Archer, associate dean for experiential education and clinical programs and the Margaret B. Hoppin Professor of Clinical Law. “The Innocence Project is a perfect addition to our clinical community not simply because of the transformative work it performs, but also because our students’ commitment to social justice is so well aligned with its mission.”

“Engaging with a new generation of lawyers and graduate students in the era of AI about the causes of wrongful convictions and effective strategies to prevent their occurrence is very exciting,” said Innocence Project co-founders Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck. “We know that the partnership with NYU will strengthen and advance the work of both our organizations and we are eager to begin this collaboration.”

Mr. Neufeld also expressed his personal pleasure at returning to the law school from which he graduated and had his first clinical experience (the criminal defense clinic) five decades ago.

The partnership will allow for students from schools across the NYU ecosystem to engage with Innocence Project teams working on not only exoneration cases, but also legislative policy reform, data science and research analysis on issues relating to wrongful convictions, the provision of social work support to clients and their families in the lead-up to and following release from prison, and the evaluation of thousands of requests for representation that the Innocence Project receives each year.

Jack Taylor, Innocence Project board chair, and Steven Reiss, a member of the Innocence Project board as well as the board of directors of Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, welcomed the move, saying, “NYU’s superb faculty, groundbreaking clinical program and longstanding commitment to public interest law and social justice make it the perfect fit for the Innocence Project. This powerful affiliation promises to have real impact.”

The post-conviction litigation clinic will begin in September 2025 for a two-semester course. Further collaborations will follow.

Innocence Project
The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Our work is guided by science and grounded in anti-racism. For more information, please visit www.innocenceproject.org.

NYU School of Law
NYU School of Law is dedicated to expanding knowledge and advancing the cause of justice by training students to be great lawyers and great leaders. Founded in 1835 in Greenwich Village, our overarching mission is to embody New York University’s motto of “a private university in the public service.”