preLaw Magazine Names CWSL “Top Law Schools for Criminal Law”

California Western School of Law (CWSL) was named to the National Jurist’s preLaw Magazine “Top law schools for criminal law” honor roll. 

CWSL offers its students an area of concentration in criminal justice, which allows them to plan a career in criminal law and to gain increased classroom exposure to criminal law issues and hands-on practice experience in the field. It also allows them to network with like-minded professionals, including the school’s many public interest-minded graduates. To complete the concentration, students must take five criminal law-focused electives, complete a major research paper, complete a practical writing requirement in connection with the California Western Innocence and Justice Clinic or a student externship, complete 280 hours of relevant work experience at an approved government agency or private criminal law firm, and complete 50 hours of pro bono work in the criminal justice field. Students also have access to national, local, and school organizations, as well as mentorship opportunities tailored to those pursuing a career in criminal justice. 

CWSL hosts one of the nation’s oldest innocence clinics—founded in 1999 when there were only five innocence organizations in existence. The California Western Innocence and Justice Clinic (formerly known as the California Innocence Project) has been involved in the release or exoneration of over 40 wrongfully convicted individuals. The clinic’s current Executive Director and law professor Amy Kimpel enjoys 16 years of criminal defense experience and joined California Western after running the Criminal Defense Clinic at University of Alabama School of Law for five years. 

Students in the clinic screen, investigate, and litigate post-conviction innocence claims. Case investigation involves visits to crime scenes, witness interviews, gathering records and working with experts. In the clinic seminar, students engage in case rounds, simulation exercises, and learn both substantive law and the basics of the forensic disciplines involved in their cases. 

This year, the clinic is embarking on a new partnership with Professor Kenya Brumfield-Young of St. Louis University (SLU). Prof. Brumfield-Young teaches a course on wrongful convictions in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department of SLU, and her undergraduate students will provide document verification work for the Clinic and helping it gather and organize case-related records. 

CWSL’s faculty is known for its high impact scholarship in this field. Professor Shawn Fields, who recently authored a new book, The New Public Safety, has published numerous criminal procedure articles in top 20 journals and law reviews. Dean and President Miriam H. Baer a former federal prosecutor, has written extensively on corporate and white collar crime.