Michi­gan Inno­cence Clinic

Cur­rent Michi­gan Law School stu­dents who are inter­est­ed in being a part of the Michi­gan Inno­cence Clin­ic can do so in two ways: either by enrolling in the clin­ic for cred­it dur­ing the aca­d­e­m­ic year, or by apply­ing to be an intern in the summer.

Dur­ing the aca­d­e­m­ic year, the clin­ic requires a one-year enroll­ment com­mit­ment (sev­en grad­ed cred­its per semes­ter); prospec­tive stu­dents can apply to enroll for the fol­low­ing aca­d­e­m­ic year dur­ing the win­ter clin­ic enroll­ment peri­od (March).

Intern­ship appli­ca­tions (con­sist­ing of a cov­er let­ter and resume) are accept­ed ear­ly in the win­ter semes­ter for the fol­low­ing sum­mer. Details will be post­ed by the clin­i­cal pro­grams admin­is­tra­tor, as sum­mer hir­ing for all MLaw clin­ics is han­dled through a cen­tral­ized process.

Gen­er­al ques­tions about the Inno­cence Clin­ic can be sent to innocenceclinicapplications@​umich.​edu.

We high­ly rec­om­mend that appli­ca­tions for review by the Inno­cence Clin­ic be com­plet­ed by the con­vict­ed per­son. How­ev­er, it is also per­mis­si­ble to have the appli­ca­tion com­plet­ed by a friend or fam­i­ly mem­ber. When com­plet­ing the appli­ca­tion, appli­cants are encour­aged to:

• Make sure their answers are leg­i­ble. Feel free to use a type­writer if needed.
• Be clear about what rel­e­vant doc­u­ments are avail­able and who has them.

Please do not send any sup­port­ing mate­ri­als along with an appli­ca­tion. We will request addi­tion­al mate­ri­als if we need them.

Fill Out a Client Appli­ca­tion (pdf)

The Michi­gan Inno­cence Clin­ic is a non­prof­it legal aid pro­gram that pro­vides its ser­vices free of charge. Sub­stan­tial costs are involved in our inves­tiga­tive and lit­i­ga­tion efforts, and we are grate­ful for the gen­er­ous sup­port of the Uni­ver­si­ty and the Law School that makes our work possible. 

An area in which the clin­ic con­tin­ues to seek sup­port is the re-entry needs of our exonerees. Despite being inno­cent, our exon­er­at­ed clients face sig­nif­i­cant finan­cial hur­dles upon release, and they don’t receive any state sup­port for months or even years after release.

Michi­gan Inno­cence Clin­ic co-founder and co-direc­­tor David Moran has cre­at­ed a spe­cial fund to pro­vide stop­gap finan­cial sup­port to our exonerees. Those look­ing to make a dona­tion to this fund should con­tact Prof. Moran at morand@​umich.​edu or 734.615.5419.