preLaw - Back to School 2007 - (Page 43) specialties PUBLIC INTEREST Innocence protector Cardozo grad helps free the wrongfully convicted auren Kaeseberg didn’t go to law school right out of college. Instead, she taught legal courses to innercity high school students in her native Chicago and served on the board of the Hoop Institute, a racial justice organization with a focus on education. But when she brought some of her students to a conference on race and the death penalty, Kaeseberg was inspired and determined to work in criminal defense. As a teaching assistant at the Innocence Project’s New Orleans office, Kaeseberg focuses primarily on evidence preservation and will become a staff attorney upon passing the Bar. “The clerks stored all the evidence in the basement of the courthouse,” she said.”[And having been flooded during Hurricane Katrina] as every day goes by, it gets more and more moldy and destroyed.” She also assists with litigating DNA and non-DNA cases, works with jailhouse lawyers and helps exonerated defendants rebuild their lives. “It’s obviously extraordinarily rewarding to have a client walk out of prison,” Kaeseberg said. She recently celebrated the release of a New Jersey client who spent 19 years in prison, having worked on the case since 2005. Some things as mundane as putting the client’s new phone number into her cell phone or having dinner with the client and his family, she said, can be some of the most rewarding parts of her job. “It’s important to find people who inspire you,” she said, “and surround yourself with people who believe in your cause.” Already involved in a handful of the mere 200 cases of exonerated defendants before even graduating law school, this recent grad is inspiration herself. She is now working on a Virginia case to free a defendant who was wrongfully convicted more than three decades ago. A 2007 graduate, Kaeseberg said she BY URSULA FURI-PERRY L LAUREN KAESEBERG, pictured second from right, was inspired to go to law school after attending a conference on race and the death penalty. She is pictured with members of the Innocence Project team taken shortly after a hearing in Dallas, Texas, in which their client was later fully exonerated of a 1982 rape. chose Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law because of its involvement with the Innocence Project, which provides DNA testing and assistance to wrongfully convicted inmates. As a 2L, Kaeseberg was accepted by the competitive Innocence Project clinic, and the following summer became the first clinical student to work for the Innocence Project as a summer intern with a public interest stipend. Through her hard work, determination and proven past involvement, Kaeseberg scored her current position with the organization. “It’s important to work outside of the classroom,” Kaeseberg advised law students who are interested in criminal and social justice. “With criminal defense, it’s important that you have outside experiences…and get a perspective of the life after [law school through clinics, internships or externships].” In addition, Kaeseberg credited her background and demonstrated interest in social justice with helping her land the job. “I really seized the opportunities I had and put a lot of care into everything I did,” she said. You can hear interviews with other young attorneys in different practice areas at www.NationalJurist.com, on the Career page. Back to School 2007 43 http://www.NationalJurist.com
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