Carlotta Lepingwell

Carlotta Lepingwell is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Women’s Prison Project. Under her supervision, student attorneys in the Domestic Violence Clinic and the Criminal Justice Clinic collaborate to provide client-centered representation to criminalized survivors of intimate partner violence at all stages of criminal proceedings.   

Prior to joining Tulane Law School, Carlotta served as the Deputy Director and the Training Director at the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, Texas’s statewide capital post-conviction office. As Training Director, Carlotta established the first training program at the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs. Carlotta also represented clients who are sentenced to death in all stages of state habeas litigation, including complex forensics litigation. Previously she served as a public defender and supervising attorney at the Bronx Defenders, where she worked on a collaborative team of criminal, civil, family and immigration attorneys, social workers and client advocates. She has also served as a public defender in Massachusetts and at the Orleans Public Defenders in New Orleans. Carlotta has represented many clients in all aspects of misdemeanor and felony criminal litigation, from arrest through trial. She has been invited to train on trial skills and capital post-conviction litigation skills at the state and national level. Before moving back to the United States to pursue her dream of being a public defender, Carlotta worked for a year in private criminal defense practice in Toronto, Ontario.