California Western Innocence and Justice Clinic

The clinic trains the next generation of attorneys, giving them hands-on experience. Students help identify, investigate, and litigate claims of actual innocence. Since its inception, the clinic has helped to free or exonerate more than 40 wrongly incarcerated individuals and has been instrumental in changing laws and policies in California related to preserving evidence, litigating innocence cases, and compensating exonerees.

Professor Amy Kimpel is an Associate Professor of Law and the Executive Director of the Innocence and Justice Clinic at California Western School of Law. Prior to her current appointment, she was the Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at the University of Alabama School of Law where she supervised students working on trial, expungement, and post-conviction cases. Earlier in her career, Professor Kimpel worked at the Judicial Council of California in its Criminal Justice Services Office, and as a public defender for both the Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. and the Santa Clara County Office of the Public Defender in San Jose. As a public defender, Professor Kimpel tried twenty-five cases in federal and state court and argued before the Ninth Circuit twice. She has been a criminal defense lawyer since 2009, and she expanded her practice to include post-conviction cases in 2015. She earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University.

Your contributions aid in our mission to provide high-caliber representation to individuals who are wrongfully convicted with a goal of securing their release from prison while training the next generation of attorneys to be zealous advocates.