Criminal Justice Clinic

Faculty: Professors Peter Joy, Emily Hughes, and Sarah Jane Forman
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THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE CLINIC has a long-standing collaborative relationship with the St. Louis County division of the Missouri State Public Defender System.  In this clinic, law students engage in extensive criminal defense practice for indigent defendants. Working hand-in-hand with faculty and public defenders, students investigate crime scenes, interview witnesses, consult experts, conduct preliminary hearings, and take criminal depositions. Law students also handle misdemeanor and juvenile trials as first-chair lawyers and serve as second-chair lawyers in felony trials. Professors Emily Hughes and Peter A. Joy co-direct this clinic.

In a recent two-semester period, clinic students:

• Represented clients in bond hearings in more than 350 misdemeanor and felony cases;
• Conducted more than 50 preliminary hearings in felony cases; 
• Successfully negotiated pleas or dismissals for a number of clients charged with misdemeanor offenses; and 
• Sat second-chair on a handful of felony cases.