Aurora Maoz joined the Innocence Project’s strategic litigation department as a senior staff attorney in May 2025, where she focuses on challenging faulty forensic evidence as a leading cause of wrongful convictions.

Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Aurora was a public defender for more than a decade. Most recently, she was the Director of the Forensic Practice Group at The Bronx Defenders. Before The Bronx Defenders, Aurora was a trial attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Manhattan Criminal Defense Practice, as well as a member of the Legal Aid Society’s DNA Unit. Before her work at the Legal Aid Society, Aurora clerked for the Honorable Julio Fuentes, on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and for the Honorable Gary S. Feinerman, on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Aurora has taught criminal procedure and Forensic DNA Evidence at St. John’s University School of Law, and is a frequent lecturer at national and international conferences, including as a faculty member at the National Forensic College.

Aurora has a B.A. from Wesleyan University, and a J.D. from Michigan Law School, where she was awarded the Freeman Scholarship for demonstrated true excellence in criminal law and procedure. She was also an executive board member for the Michigan Law Review and a student attorney with the Michigan Innocence Clinic.