The Domestic Violence Clinic + Women's Prison Project is among the only programs in the nation representing survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and trafficking in both civil and criminal cases. For more than 20 years, teams of student attorneys and expert faculty have helped survivors find safety through protective orders, custody, and other civil legal services. Its criminal practice now spans pre-trial defense, post-conviction litigation, and clemency. Since 2020, student attorneys in the Women's Prison Project have won freedom for 16 survivors serving or facing life sentences.
The Clinic's student attorneys practice alongside faculty recognized nationally and internationally in the field and learn from currently and formerly incarcerated women who advise them. Through litigation, collaboration with jailhouse lawyers, and policy work, the program and its students inform local and national conversations about the challenges survivors face. Students graduate fluent in the legal systems survivors must navigate, with lawyering skills that carry into any legal practice.
Our Team
Our Team
Becki Kondkar
Director and Clinical Professor of Law
Stas Moroz
Clinical Assistant Professor of Law
Franseca Buzzi
Clinical Assistant Professor of Law
Jessica Wood
Clinical Assistant Professor of Law
Program Snapshot
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20+
Years of free legal services for survivors
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300+
Law students trained
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16
Women freed from life and long sentences since 2020
What Students Do
- Students handle protective orders, custody, divorce, and criminal defense and post-conviction — all in one clinic.
- Students handle hearings and argue in trial courts, appellate courts, and before pardon and parole boards.
- Students interview, investigate, draft, depose, prepare witnesses, and handle hearings and trials.
- Students address clients' full legal landscape — family law, housing, benefits, and financial security.
Real Impact
Laura killed her longtime abusive boyfriend in self-defense when he attacked and strangled her in her home. A non-unanimous jury convicted Laura of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole in Louisiana. Laura entered prison with disabilities, left five young children behind, and spent two decades imprisoned without counsel.
Being part of the Women’s Prison Project was the highlight of my law school career. Working on [Laura’s] case profoundly shaped the way I represent clients in my current role as a public defender, particularly in how I recognize, understand, and advocate for women and the unique challenges they face within the legal system.
Student attorneys in the WPP pursued every possible path to Laura's freedom: post-conviction litigation, clemency, and post-clemency parole. After years of investigation and litigation, student attorneys Anna Carter (L'23) and Rebecca Goldstein (L'23) handled the final parole and post-conviction hearings and won Laura's release. Today, Laura is thriving and reunited with her children, now adults.
Rebecca and Anna now apply the skills they built while helping to win Laura’s freedom in their own legal practice. Rebecca is a public defender, and Anna is a capital post-conviction lawyer.