CURRICULUM VITAE Laura H. Nirider
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CURRICULUM VITAE Laura H. Nirider 375 E. Chicago Ave., 8th Floor Chicago, Illinois 60611 (312) 503-2204 (office) (312) 503-8977 (fax) [email protected] PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY PRITZKER SCHOOL OF LAW, BLUHM LEGAL CLINIC Co-Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions, 2019-Present Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, 2009-2018 Clinical Professor of Law, 2020-present Clinical Associate Professor, 2018-2020 Clinical Assistant Professor, 2013-2018 Clinical Fellow, 2009-2013 My responsibilities include directing the Center’s research, mission and work; producing and promoting interdisciplinary scholarship around Fifth Amendment doctrine and the problem of false confessions; representing wrongfully convicted adults and children; and co-teaching a clinical course on wrongful convictions. My research, courtroom work, and classroom work focus on police interrogations and confessions. I maintain an ongoing caseload of federal and state appellate and 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 conduct research and publish scholarship around Fifth Amendment doctrine and interrogative practice; I consult on and write amicus curiae briefs in cases involving interrogations and juvenile justice across the country, including before the United States Supreme Court; I speak regularly before a wide range of professional and popular audiences about wrongful convictions and false confessions; and I undertake collaborative efforts with law enforcement in support of interrogation reform. I also regularly appear as an expert on interrogations in print, film, audio, and digital media outlets that range from Netflix’s Making a Murderer to the New York Times. In my role as Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, I helped develop the first organization in the world that focused exclusively on wrongfully convicted teenagers and children. Since the Center’s inception, I helped raise over $1,500,000 in support of the Center. That organization is now continuing under the auspices of the Center on Wrongful Convictions. I also write and co-host Wrongful Convictions: False Confessions, a podcast produced by Lava Media that tells real stories of false confessions. Our podcast reached the #3 spot on the U.S. 1 Apple overall podcast charts and #1 on the U.S. Apple true crime podcast charts and has been nominated for a Webby Award. SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, Chicago, IL Associate, 2008-2009 SELECTED LITIGATION Dassey v. Dittmann, 17-1172 (United States Supreme Court, 2018) Co-lead counsel, with former United States Solicitor General, in federal habeas action involving sixteen-year-old who confessed to rape-murder during police interrogation in globally high-profile case. State v. Andersen, 80-CR-1405 (Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, 2015) Co-counsel in post-conviction action involving a nineteen-year-old who falsely confessed to murder. Yates v. County of St. Clair et al., 14-CV-00934 (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, 2015) Co-counsel in civil rights action on behalf of seventeen-year-old who falsely confessed to armed robbery during police interrogation. State v. Villegas, No. 94 ODO 9328 (Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, 2013) Co-counsel in post-conviction action and retrial involving sixteen-year-old who falsely confessed to double murder. 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 (7th Cir. 2013)) Co-counsel in federal habeas corpus action and in subsequent retrial involving a sixteen- year-old charged with murder. People v. Taylor et al., 92 CR 27247 & 95 CR 23475 (Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, 2011) (“Dixmoor Five”) Co-counsel in post-conviction action involving five convicted teenagers, three of whom had falsely confessed to rape-murder during police interrogation. J.D.B. v. North Carolina, 131 S.Ct. 2394 (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 troubling…[and] all the more acute” when the suspect is a juvenile. Echols v. State, No. CR08-1493 (Arkansas State Court, 2011) Co-counsel on behalf of alleged ringleader of the “West Memphis Three,” who was sentenced to death in internationally-known triple murder case. 2 In re T.C., 09-1128 (Arkansas Supreme Court, 2010) Counsel amicus curiae in support of twelve-year-old defendant T.C. PUBLICATIONS Laura Nirider, Richard Leo, and Deborah Davis, Interrogative Suggestibility, in Litigator’s Handbook of Forensic Medicine, Psychiatry & Psychology, Demosthenes Lorandos, ed., Thomson Reuters Press (forthcoming 2021). SSRN here. Laura Nirider, Why the Law Fails to Prevent False Confessions, in Urgent Issues and Prospects in Reinforcing Interrogation Practices in the United States and Canada, Legal and Criminological Psychology (2021) 26, 1-24. SSRN here. Laura Nirider, Rebecca Brown, and Lauren Kaeseberg, Police Deception Too Often Leads to False Confessions. Ban the Tactic, Chicago Tribune (April 1, 2021). Available here. Allison D. Redlich, Reveka V. Shteynberg, and Laura H. Nirider, Pragmatic Implication in the Interrogation Room: A Comparison of Juveniles and Adults, Journal of Experimental Criminology (August 2019). Available here. Laura Nirider & Steven Drizin, False Confessions Drive the True Crime TV Craze, But It’s Time to End the Spectacle, Chicago Tribune (Aug. 9, 2019). Available here. Laura Nirider, Megan Crane, and Steven Drizin, Gerald Gault, Meet Brendan Dassey: Preventing Juvenile False and Coerced Confessions in the 21st Century, reprinted in Rights, Race, and Reform: 50 Years of Child Advocacy in the Juvenile Justice System, Laura Cohen et al., eds., Routledge Press (2018). Available here. Laura Nirider, Megan Crane, and Steven Drizin, Gerald Gault, Meet Brendan Dassey: Preventing Juvenile False and Coerced Confessions in the 21st Century, NACDL Champion at 28-32 (April 2017). Available here. Megan Crane, Laura Nirider, and Steven A. Drizin, The Truth About Juvenile False Confessions, American Bar Association Insights on Law & Society 16.2 (Winter 2016). Available here. 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). Available here. 3 Laura H. Nirider, Opinion Editorial: Recording Interrogations Should Be the Norm, Arizona Republic (April 22, 2013). Available here. Steven A. Drizin, Joshua A. Tepfer, Laura H. Nirider, & James Nawoichyk, Reducing Risks: 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). Available here. 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). Available here. Joshua A. Tepfer & Laura H. Nirider, Adjudicated Juveniles and Collateral Relief, 64 Maine L. Rev. 554 (2012). Available here. 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). Available here. 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). Available here. Joshua A. Tepfer, Laura H. Nirider, & Lynda M. Tricarico, Arresting Development: Convictions of Innocent Youth, 62 Rutg. L. Rev. 891 (2010). Available here. COURSES TAUGHT Clinical Practice: Wrongful Convictions and Juvenile Justice, Northwestern University School of Law, with Steven Drizin (listed professor from 2013-present; co-taught this course as a Fellow with Steven Drizin and Joshua Tepfer from 2009-2013) SELECTED TALKS Litigating Juvenile Confessions (Keynote speaker, April 2021) National Juvenile Defender Center Northeast Annual Training (virtual) Resilience (April 2021) Guest speaker at a New Zealand prison, facilitated by tech startup Take2 (virtual) Seminario Condenas Erroneas (Co-keynote speaker, February 2021) South American law conference hosted by La Asociacion de Pensamiento Penal de Chile (virtual) 4 Inspiring Global Litigators (Keynote speaker, October 2020) Global conference hosted by International Bridges to Justice (virtual) False Confessions and Wrongful Convictions (Keynote, November 2020) European Innocence Network Annual Conference (virtual) Big Ideas in Small Cases (Keynote, June 2020) Arkansas Bar Association Criminal Section