Vanessa Potkin

Vanessa Potkin is the director of special litigation at the Innocence Project. She joined the organization in 2000 as its first staff attorney and has helped pioneer the model of post-conviction DNA litigation used nationwide to exonerate wrongfully convicted persons.

Vanessa has represented and exonerated over 30 innocent individuals, from Louisiana to Nevada, who collectively served over 500 years of wrongful imprisonment, five of whom were originally prosecuted for capital murder. Vanessa maintains a post-conviction docket, crafting litigation strategy, writing motions, and litigating in trial and appellate courts nationwide to secure post-conviction DNA testing and to obtain relief based on DNA test results and other exculpatory evidence in cases involving false confessions, erroneous eyewitness identification, and informant testimony.