Indiana College McKinney Faculty of Regulation
scientific professor of legislation, director of the Wrongful Conviction Clinic
Achievements: Watson directs the Wrongful Conviction Clinic at IU McKinney Faculty of Regulation. It’s a founding member of the Innocence Community, a coalition of about 70 unbiased innocence organizations throughout america and 12 different nations. With the help of clinic college students, she helps characterize purchasers in Indiana prisons claiming precise innocence or wrongful conviction. The clinic additionally focuses on reform and system change. “I’m happy with the 5 exonerees I represented, generally as co-counsel, who are actually acknowledged on the Nationwide Registry of Exonerations: Larry Mayes, Darryl Pinkins, Roosevelt Glenn, William Barnhouse and Andy Royer,” she stated. Watson, the purchasers and clinic college students “grow to be a authorized group combating a litigation battle for freedom and justice,” she stated. “I’m proud to say that the Wrongful Conviction Clinic stays within the struggle. The purchasers recognize that we consider of their innocence, win or lose.”
Profession monitor: Watson studied social work and prison justice at Ball State College and labored for a 12 months as a social employee earlier than going to the IU McKinney Faculty of Regulation to advance her social justice targets. She then labored on the Workplace of the State Public Defender earlier than spending 5 years on the Workplace of Company Counsel. She went to work on the McKinney college’s newly established prison protection clinic in 1990. “When efforts to free the harmless sought a nationwide focus, then-law college Dean Norman Lefstein requested that I attend one of many earliest nationwide conferences. I used to be hooked,” she stated. The college started its innocence work in 2000 inside the current prison protection clinic and, ultimately, the Wrongful Conviction Clinic grew to become a stand-alone course.
Giving again: She’ll serve on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana till the top of the 12 months. She’s additionally an advisory member of the Marion County Legal Justice Planning Council, serves on the IUPUI Forensic Science Advisory Board and has lengthy supported the work of the Youngsters’s Coverage and Regulation Initiative.
Mentors and mentoring: “My function as a scientific professor of legislation incorporates mentoring as a aim,” she stated. “As a grasp of the McKinney-Shepard Inn of Courtroom, I’ve a chance to mentor in a corporation devoted to excellence and civility within the apply.”
Work/life stability: “Numerous in search of ‘stability’ greater than reaching it,” she stated. “My household, mates and pets are the go-to for stress discount. Additionally, connecting to nature as usually as attainable is crucial.”•
Try extra Women of Influence honorees.
