The instructors of the University of Miami School of Law Clinics conferred the 2023 CLEA Outstanding Clinical Team Award on recent graduates Lauren O’Neil and Tanisha Wright for their work in the Innocence Clinic.
The national program, which exists to advocate for clinical legal education as fundamental to the education of lawyers, awards this honor to an outstanding clinical team. The award recognized excellence in the field work component of the clinic/externship course determined by the quality of the student’s or team’s performance in assisting or representing individual or organizational clients or in undertaking advocacy or policy reform projects.
"Tanisha and Lauren have been outstanding students and exemplary student fellows," said Craig Trocino, director of the clinic. "They proved themselves to be excellent collaborators, strong teammates, accessible mentors, and effective leaders of the entire clinic.
"But it is their two years of work on the largest and most complicated case on the Innocence Clinic docket that sets them apart. They drafted two of the best briefs in the case, and as a team, they remained engaged and focused during the litigation process, even after the clinic received an adverse ruling. Their level of commitment to the case and the client was unshaken."
The clinic is dedicated to identifying and correcting wrongful convictions and is committed to exonerating innocent individuals and combating injustice.
“Working for the Innocence Clinic is the best thing I’ve done during my time at law school. It was an honor to work with Lauren as my partner, and I strongly encourage anyone who can engage in public service to seize it,” said Wright.
Miami Law’s Innocence Clinic is one of two Innocence Network member organizations in Florida and is the only university-based innocence organization in the state.
“It has been an absolute privilege to be a part of the Miami Law Innocence Clinic," said O’Neil. "The clinic students, including myself, are so lucky to have Professor Trocino as the model of what advocacy and doing justice looks like as an attorney.
"My two-year involvement has been such a transformative, hands-on learning experience. Even when the work required long hours, having Tanisha as a clinic partner made the work so much more manageable by being so hard-working and such a kind friend. The post-conviction legal landscape involves a lot of uncertainty, but the clinic work seeks to do justice for our clients every day," said O'Neil.
Read more about Miami Law's Innocence Clinic.
