Federal Habeas

Represent incarcerated people in their final opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of their convictions and sentences.

Many incarcerated people do not have access to counsel, even when they have significant constitutional claims that undermine the reliability and integrity of their convictions. The Federal Habeas Clinic helps to fill that gap by providing high-quality appellate and post-conviction representation to people who have strong federal constitutional claims.

Under the supervision of Professor Adam Murphy, students in the clinic will represent clients in habeas proceedings before the federal courts of appeals and the federal district courts. The students in the clinic may also have the opportunity to work on actual innocence cases and to advocate for clients who were sentenced as juveniles to life without parole.

Students will litigate federal constitutional claims such as ineffective assistance of trial counsel under the Sixth Amendment, racial discrimination in the jury selection process under the Equal Protection Clause, and due process violations under the Fourteenth Amendment, including those based on improper shackling. 

Working in case teams, students will take the lead on all aspects of the representation. Opportunities may include counseling incarcerated clients through in-person legal visits and phone calls; digesting large trial and appellate records; drafting appellate briefs, petitions, or other substantive pleadings; and potentially presenting oral argument to the court of appeals.

Through case work and seminar, students will learn trauma-informed, client-centered appellate representation, engage creatively with substantive and procedural law, and experience the weight and privilege of representing people in dire need of legal assistance.