LANSING, Mich. – Cooley Law School’s Innocence Project is celebrating a milestone anniversary in 2026: 25 years of exonerations – which includes over 6,000 screenings and 10 exonerations. Established in 2001, the Cooley Innocence Project is the only post-conviction DNA innocence organization in Michigan. It is part of the Innocence Network, a national organization which has been credited with the release of over 375 wrongfully convicted prisoners, mainly through the use of DNA testing and false forensics. “For 25 years, the Cooley Innocence Project has helped prove the innocence of Michigan residents who have been wrongly convicted by our justice system,” said Ann Garant, co-director of the Cooley Innocence Project. “Our staff and student interns strongly believe in the Cooley Innocence Project’s mission of restoring freedom to the wrongfully incarcerated and raising public awareness through advocacy and education.” In Michigan, the Cooley Innocence Project office has screened over 6,000 cases and is responsible for the exoneration of ten individuals to date: Kenneth Wyniemko (2003), Nathaniel Hatchett (2008), Donya Davis (2014), LeDura Watkins (2017), Corey McCall (2021), Kenneth Nixon (2021), Gilbert Poole (2021), George DeJesus (2022), Louis Wright (2023), and Dell Crawford (2026). It also helped to exonerate Lacino Hamilton (2020), Ramon Ward (2020), Terance Calhoun in 2022, Crystal Mulherin (2024), Duane Williams (2024), and George Calicut Jr. (2026). “The Cooley Innocence Project has been pivotal for restoring hope to Michigan citizens who may be innocent of a convicted crime and their families throughout the past 25 years,” said Marla Mitchell-Cichon, Cooley Law School distinguished professor emeritus and of counsel to the Cooley Innocence Project. She has worked alongside the Project since 2002, and served as its director from 2012-2021. “As I’ve had the privilege to be part of six exonerations at the Cooley Innocence Project, there is still important work to be done and more exonerations to come in the next 25 years.” The Cooley Innocence Project was founded in May 2001, by the late Norm Fell, shortly after Michigan’s post-conviction DNA testing law went into effect. Today, the Cooley Innocence Project consists of five staff attorneys, two support staff and select second- and third- year law students who practice law under Michigan's student practice rule. Under the supervision of experienced lawyers, qualified students receive hands-on training while they screen applications, investigate facts, conduct interviews, analyze cases, prepare court pleadings and represent clients in court. Attorneys from various law firms volunteer alongside students to support the work of Cooley’s Innocence Project. “Our firm has been working with the Cooley Innocence Project for years, and we’ve seen firsthand the amazing work that they do,” said Mary Chartier, partner, Chartier & Nyamfukudza, P.L.C. “To work side-by-side with a team of committed legal professionals whose sole goal is to exonerate the innocent is inspiring. They literally change the course of people’s lives. They work tirelessly to gain freedom for people who have no other options by stepping in and giving them hope for freedom. The Cooley Innocence Project embodies the Constitution and the best of the legal profession every day, and I’m so proud to have worked with them on numerous cases.”
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On March 13, Cooley Law School graduate Susan Chalgian was named Ingham County Bar Association’s “Top 5 Under 35” at the 16th annual Barristers Night at the University Club of Michigan State University.
On March 24, Cooley Law School’s Tampa Bay campus recognized students in the Hilary Term for their achievements during an honors convocation at the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa North in Temple Terrace.
On March 17, Cooley Law School hosted "Careers that Serve with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel" for law students and faculty in the lobby of its Lansing campus.
On March 13, Cooley Law School’s Lansing campus recognized students in the Hilary Term for their achievements during an honors convocation.
Registration is encouraged and available online for those wishing to have convictions expunged.
New students in Cooley Law School's evening and weekend programs attended orientation on January 3-5, 2025. Orientation included new students at Cooley's Lansing and Tampa campuses to welcome the Dorean Koenig class to the Hilary (January) Semester.
LANSING, Mich. RIVERVIEW, Fla. – On November 14, Cooley Law School’s Kimble Center for Legal Drafting hosted a webinar that drew viewers from Poland, Nigeria, Canada, the UK, and throughout the US. The webinar—“Clear Legal Writing: New Resources, Technology, and Cases”—focused on various aspects of legal writing in plain language. It was cosponsored by Clarity, an international organization devoted to clear legal writing.
RIVERVIEW, FLA. – Cooley Law School’s Moot Court team won the Best Brief award at Florida State University’s Claude Pepper Elder law Moot Court competition, held Nov. 7-9, at FSU College of Law in Tallahassee, Fla. The team consisted of law students from Cooley’s Tampa Bay campus: Gabriella Logiudice, Safa Kudia, and Colby Weron. During the competition, 20 briefs from 20 Moot Court teams were evaluated, including teams from George Washington University, Baylor University, University of Chicago, Chicago-Kent, Stetson, University of California San Francisco, and Texas Tech. Law students from Cooley’s Lansing, Michigan, campus also competed in the competition, including: Arjan Malushi (brief writer), Larry Westcomb, and Jasmin Guillen. The competition does not allow any help from outside sources with anything except the basics of brief writing. Teams could not talk with practitioners or professors about the legal issues raised by the fact pattern. For Cooley, Logiudice was the brief writer on the team, while Kudia and Weron conducted research and spent countless hours debating the structure of each argument. They progressed to the elimination rounds, and faced George Washington University in their elimination round and did not progress. “This competition draws some of the best Moot Court teams from around the country,” said Cooley Law School Professor Christine Zellar Church, who coached the Tampa Bay team. “All of our students learn so much from picking a fact pattern apart, researching the fine points of the law, writing a brief, and then engaging in oral argument with teams from other schools. We are all so proud of the hard work and excellence of our students.” Cooley Law School was founded on a mission of equal access to a legal education and offers admission to a diverse group of qualified applicants across the country. Since the law school's founding in 1972, Cooley has provided a modern legal education to more than 21,000 graduates, teaching the practical skills necessary for a seamless transition from academia to the real world. An independent, non-profit law school, accredited by both the American Bar Association and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Cooley holds classes year-round at its Michigan and Florida campuses. Nov 15 2024
WMU-Cooley Law School hosted civil rights activist Dr. Jerome Reide for the law school’s Social Justice Lunch Hour on June 30. Reide, who serves as the legislative liaison for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, spoke about a variety of topics, including the need for students to become involved in their community and make society a better place. “We need to continue to make our society more inclusive, more diverse,” said Reide. He also stressed the importance of women’s rights and the need for lawyers to be part of the legislature to help shape policy. “Policy is a pendulum that swings right or left depending upon who's in the White House, Congress, and on the Supreme Court,” he said. A long-time civil rights activist, Reide served as the regional field director for the NAACP from 2009-2020, and was primarily responsible for advocacy management of its Midwestern units. He also served as NAACP’s National Field Operations deputy director, Midwest Region III director, and Special Contribution Fund regional development director. Additionally, Reide served as co-chair, committee member of Individual Rights and Responsibilities within the American Bar Association, and director of the Justice Initiatives Division at the State Bar of Michigan. He also served on the board of directors for the Sugar Law Center and the Beckwith Civil Liberties Fund. As the coordinator of ACLU’s Access to Justice Project, Reide coordinated a national study of landlord tenant courts and published the findings in a public policy report, “Justice: Evicted.” During his time as a consultant with Wayne County Commission’s Ways and Means Committee, he helped convene four annual conferences of governmental, community, corporate and academic policy makers to discuss economic development policy in Greater Detroit-Windsor, and Ontario, Canada. Additionally, Reide coordinated an international trade mission to South Africa to link the jobs, housing, education, arts, and cultural policy initiatives of the Mandela Administration with Detroit's leadership. Reide is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the American Bar Association, and the National Bar Association. He has taught at Bowie State University, Eastern Michigan University, and the State University of New York's Center for Labor Studies. Jul 07 2023
