CURRICULUM VITAE NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, BLUHM LEGAL CLINIC

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1 CURRICULUM VITAE Laura H. Nirider 375 E. Chicago Ave., 8 th Floor Chicago, Illinois (312) (office) (312) (fax) l-nirider@law.northwestern.edu EDUCATION NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW (Chicago, IL) J.D. magna cum laude, 2008 Associate Editor, Northwestern University Law Review Member, Order of the Coif UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (Chicago, IL) Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Political Science, 2003 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, BLUHM LEGAL CLINIC Co-Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, 2009-Present Clinical Assistant Professor, 2013-Present Clinical Fellow, My responsibilities include representing wrongfully convicted youth, co-teaching a clinical course on wrongful convictions of youth, and directing the Center s mission and work in collaboration with my colleagues. Both my courtroom work and classroom work focus on juvenile police interrogations and confessions. I maintain an ongoing caseload of approximately post-conviction cases involving individuals who were convicted as children or adolescents. The majority of my clients cases involve confessions. In addition to my direct representation work, I consult on and write amicus curiae briefs in cases involving interrogations and confessions across the country, including before the United States Supreme Court. I also engage in public advocacy in support of interrogation reforms, including collaborative efforts with law enforcement. Finally, I supervise second- and third-year law students who assist on my casework. In my role as Co-Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, I have helped develop the first organization in the world that is focused exclusively on wrongfully convicted teenagers and children. Since the Center s inception, I have helped raise over $1,250,000 in support of the Center. 1

2 SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, Chicago, IL Associate, I participated in all stages of complex commercial litigation cases, including discovery and expedited trial. PROFESSIONAL LICENSES AND BAR ADMISSIONS Licensed to practice law in Illinois (2008-present) Admitted to practice before the Illinois Supreme Court (2008), the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2008), the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (2012), the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (2014), and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (2014) SELECTED LITIGATION State v. Daniel Villegas, No. 94 ODO 9328 (Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, 2013) Co-counsel in post-conviction action and retrial involving a sixteen-year-old who confessed to a double murder. The conviction was vacated on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to challenge the confession s voluntariness. Bond was granted and retrial is currently pending. Newman v. Gaetz, No. 08 CV 4240 (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2012) (affirmed, Newman v. Harrington, 726 F.3d 921 (7 th Cir. 2013)) Co-counsel in federal habeas corpus action and in subsequent retrial involving a sixteenyear-old charged with murder. The conviction was vacated on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. Bond was granted and retrial was resolved with no additional prison time. People v. Robert Taylor et al., 92 CR & 95 CR (Illinois State Court, 2011) ( Dixmoor Five ) Co-counsel in post-conviction action involving five convicted teenagers (ages 14-16), three of whom had confessed to rape-murder during police interrogation. All convictions were vacated on grounds of actual innocence after DNA testing excluded all defendants and matched another individual. J.D.B. v. North Carolina, 131 S.Ct (United States Supreme Court, 2011) Counsel amicus curiae on behalf of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth in support of juvenile defendant J.D.B. The majority opinion (Sotomayor, J.) held that a child s age must be considered as part of the Miranda custody calculus and cited to the Center s amicus brief to find that the risk of false confession is all the more acute when the suspect is a juvenile. Damien Echols v. State, No. CR (Arkansas State Court, 2011) 2

3 Co-counsel on behalf of alleged ringleader of the West Memphis Three, who was sentenced to death in internationally-known triple murder case. The West Memphis Three were released from prison pursuant to a negotiated deal. In re T.C., (Arkansas Supreme Court, 2010) Counsel amicus curiae in support of twelve-year-old defendant T.C., resulting in unanimous decision suppressing confession and ordering a new trial. State v. Brendan Dassey 14-CV-1310 (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2014) Counsel in post-conviction and federal habeas actions involving sixteen-year-old who confessed to rape-murder during police interrogation that was part of the largest criminal investigation in Wisconsin history. Litigation is ongoing. PUBLICATIONS Redlich, A. D., Shteynberg, R., & Nirider, L. (2014, June). Did You Say I Could Go Home? The Influence of Implied Statements of Leniency on Juveniles and Adults. Paper presented at the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, Lausanne, Switzerland. Steven A. Drizin, Laura H. Nirider, and Joshua A. Tepfer, Juvenile Justice Investigation: Plot Contamination, Cultural Stereotypes, and the Scripting of Juvenile False Confessions, in Examining Wrongful Convictions: Stepping Back, Moving Forward, Allison Redlich et al., ed. (2014) Joshua A. Tepfer, Laura H. Nirider, & Steven A. Drizin, Scrutinizing Confessions in a New Era of Juvenile Jurisprudence, Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association (Vol. 50, Issue 1) (Jan. 2014) Laura H. Nirider, Opinion Editorial: Recording Interrogations Should Be the Norm, Arizona Republic (April 22, 2013) Steven A. Drizin, Joshua A. Tepfer, Laura H. Nirider, & James Nawoichyk, Reducing Risk: An Executive Guide to Effective Juvenile Interview and Interrogation (published by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in partnership with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice) (September 2012) Laura H. Nirider, Investigative Strategies in Confession Cases, American Bar Association Litigation Section s Children s Rights Litigation Newsletter (Summer 2012, vol. 14, no. 4) Joshua A. Tepfer & Laura H. Nirider, Adjudicated Juveniles and Collateral Relief, 64 Maine L. Rev. 554 (2012) 3

4 Laura H. Nirider, Joshua A. Tepfer, & Steven A. Drizin, Combating Contamination in Confession Cases: A Review of Brandon L. Garrett s Convicting the Innocent, 79 Univ. Chi. L. Rev. 837 (2012) Laura H. Nirider, Opinion Editorial: Keep Kids Out of Adult Criminal Court, Chicago Tribune, December 23, 2011 Laura H. Nirider & Joshua A. Tepfer, Juvenile Interviewing Techniques, International Association of Chiefs of Police Training Key #652 (2011) Joshua A. Tepfer, Laura H. Nirider, & Lynda M. Tricarico, Arresting Development: Convictions of Innocent Youth, 62 Rutg. L. Rev. 891 (2010) COURSES TAUGHT Clinical Practice: Wrongful Convictions and Juvenile Justice, Northwestern University School of Law, with Steven Drizin and Joshua Tepfer (listed professor in and ; informally co-taught this course with Steven Drizin and Joshua Tepfer from ) SELECTED LECTURES, TRAININGS, AND PRESENTATIONS Police Interrogations, False Confessions, and the Robert Davis Case (November 2014) Featured speaker at the Virginia Bar Association s Capital Defense Workshop (Richmond, VA) Comparative Justice: An Introduction to Chinese and American Wrongful Convictions (July 2014) Lecturer before audience of Chinese prosecutors hosted by the Twenty-First Century Institute (Chicago, IL) Kids, Cops, and Interrogations (June 2014) Speaker at Northwestern University summer program for high school students interested in legal careers (Chicago, IL) Introduction to Police Interrogations and False Confessions (June 2014) Featured speaker at the Kentucky statewide public defenders annual conference (Erlanger, KY) Working with a Police Interrogations and False Confessions Expert (June 2014) Featured speaker at the Kentucky statewide public defenders annual conference (Erlanger, KY) Police Interrogations, False Confessions, and the Robert Davis Case (May 2014) Featured speaker at University of Richmond s conference on juvenile false confessions (Richmond, VA) 4

5 Litigating a False Confession Case (May 2014) Featured speaker at University of Richmond s conference on juvenile false confessions (Richmond, VA) The Conscious Curriculum: Deliberately Designed Collaborative Courses to Further Law Students Mastery of Core Lawyering Traits (April 2014) Presentation at American Association of Law Schools annual conference concerning the integration of experiential learning into law school curricula (Chicago, IL) Un-Smelling the Skunk: Litigating a False Confession Case Post-Conviction (April 2014) Training presentation sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys at the annual Innocence Network conference (Portland, OR) Women and False Confessions (March 2014) Featured speaker at conference hosted by the Center on Wrongful Convictions Women s Project (Chicago, IL) Police Interrogations, False Confessions, and the Robert Davis Case (January 2014) Featured speaker at Washington & Lee Law School s national symposium on false confessions (Lexington, VA) Preparing to Fight a False Confession at Trial (January 2014) Panelist at Washington & Lee Law School s national symposium on false confessions (Lexington, VA) Introduction to Juvenile Interrogations and Confessions (November 2013) Presentation to psychology students at Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL) A New Juvenile Jurisprudence: Interrogations and Beyond (October 2013) Presentation to Arkansas juvenile public defenders at annual conference on the applicability of principles articulated in J.D.B. to other areas of the law (Little Rock, AR) Juvenile Interrogations and Confessions (October 2013) Presentation to Arkansas juvenile public defenders at annual conference (Little Rock, AR) Interrogating Juveniles: A Practical Guide, Chicago Police Academy (February 2013) Presentation to graduating class of 70 new Chicago Police Department detectives regarding juvenile interrogation best practices (Chicago, IL) Juvenile False Confessions & the West Memphis Three (June 2012) Presentation to Illinois police trainees regarding juvenile false confessions (Chicago, IL) A New Approach to Confessions: Admissibility Predicated on Reliability?, Innocence Network National Conference (March 2012) 5

6 Panelist-presenter on pre-trial confession suppression hearings (Kansas City, KS) Stealing Innocence: Juvenile Legal Issues and the Innocence Project, Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender Symposium (Jan. 2012) Panelist-presenter on the Illinois exonerations of the Dixmoor Five and Englewood Four (New York City, NY) J.D.B. and the Future of Custodial Interrogations, Illinois Public Defender Association (Oct. 2011) Training presentation to 50 Illinois juvenile defenders on issues relating to custodial interrogations of youth in the wake of J.D.B. v. North Carolina (Springfield, IL) Lessons Learned from the West Memphis Three, Westwood College (Sept. 2011) Presentation regarding juvenile false confessions to Illinois police trainees (Chicago, IL) Juvenile False Confessions, Barry University Juvenile Justice Center (Aug. 2011) Training presentation to 100 Florida juvenile defenders on issues relating to custodial interrogations of youth (Florida) The West Memphis Three, Legal Talk Network (Aug. 2011) Guest on Lawyer2Lawyer podcast; discussed release of the West Memphis Three (nationwide) Innovative Ideas in Advocacy: Challenging Juvenile Confessions, Northwestern University School of Law (June 2011) Training presentation to over 150 Illinois Juvenile Defenders on issues relating to custodial interrogation of youth (Chicago, IL) So Your Client Confessed: Now What? Illinois Public Defenders Association (April 2011) Presentation concerning investigative strategies in a confession case (Springfield, IL) Investigating Children Convicted of Crimes, Northwestern University School of Public Safety (October 2010) Lecture to approximately 100 chiefs of police in Chicago area concerning best investigative and interrogation practices for youthful suspects (Evanston, IL) Out of the Mouths of Babes: False Confessions and the Wrongful Convictions of Youth, Northwestern University School of Law (October 2009) Introductory speaker at launch event for the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth (Chicago, IL) PRESS EXPERIENCE Interviewed and featured in West of Memphis, a 2012 documentary about the West Memphis Three that was produced by Peter Jackson, premiered at the Sundance Film 6

7 Festival, and shown in theaters across the country Interviewed and quoted in a variety of local and national media stories, including televised news broadcasts, newspaper articles, online podcasts, and digital media coverage. Representative media exposure includes Dateline NBC, the Chicago Tribune, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, FOX-11 (Green Bay, WI), FOX-16 (Little Rock, AR), KTAR (Phoenix, AZ), and EXPERT AND POLICY CONSULTATIONS Peer reviewer/referee concerning interrogation and confession legal scholarship (solicited), Yale Law Journal (2014) Consultant in support of Illinois S.B. 2995, which permits inmates who pled guilty to request post-conviction forensic testing (enacted into law in 2014) False confessions consultant, People v. Randy Williams, 12-CR (Kentucky 2013) Expert witness on false confessions, In the Interest of T.D., 10-J & 004 (Kentucky 2013) Consultant in support of Arkansas Video Interrogation Project re: Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 4.7, recommending that all custodial interrogations be electronically recorded (Arkansas 2012) Expert witness on juvenile interrogations and confessions in support of the executive clemency petition of Robert Paul Davis (Virginia 2012) Consultant in support of Juvenile Justice Initiative re: Illinois H.B. 85, which proposed limiting the admissibility of confessions from juveniles (2011) BOARD MEMBERSHIPS AND SPECIAL RECOGNITION Thomas M. Cooley Law School s Distinguished Brief Award 2013 Amicus curiae brief on behalf of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth and Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan in People v. Kadeem White (Michigan Supreme Court 2013) National Law Journal s Brief of the Week (Feb. 9, 2011) Amicus curiae brief on behalf of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, J.D.B. v. North Carolina (U.S. Supreme Court 2011) National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of outstanding service in Echols v. State (2010) Member, Advanced Juvenile Interview Interrogation Techniques Advisory Board, International 7

8 Association of Chiefs of Police Board Member, Justice Council of the Center on Wrongful Convictions 8