About MDefenders
MDefenders is a faculty-sponsored student organization as well as a network of courses, programming, and resources that support public defense education at Michigan Law and beyond. Founded in 2014, MDefenders has five key components:
- A community of students who gather regularly to discuss and learn about indigent defense and criminal legal system reform.
- The Public Defender Training Institute (PDTI), a yearlong course for 2L and 3L students that produces trial-ready graduates by immersing them in the world of public defense.
- Career resources and mentorship to help aspiring public defenders locate suitable positions and excel in the application process, including one-on-one faculty meetings to discuss different types of indigent defense and to formulate an application strategy for specific offices and positions.
- A network of alumni who are committed to supporting each other and current students in finding, applying, and securing positions in public defense and raising the level of representation wherever they go.
- Data for Defenders, a public database to promote evidence-based advocacy by providing defenders with the resources they need to incorporate social science research into defense advocacy, including sample briefs, motions, and transcripts.
MDefenders at a Glance
Classes for Aspiring Public Defenders
In addition to the required first-year criminal law course, there are a number of other Michigan Law courses for aspiring public defenders. We’ve identified essential courses that any future public defender should take as well as a number of optional courses that future defenders may want to take depending on their schedules and on the type of defense work they want to do.
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Two-part Criminal Procedure Series
We offer a two-part introduction to criminal procedure, and aspiring public defenders would do well to take both parts.
Criminal Justice: Investigation and Police Practices
This is the basic investigations course and serves as an introduction to important criminal procedure issues that all public defenders routinely encounter, such as search and seizure, confession law, and right to counsel issues. Some people refer to this as the investigations course or the cops and robbers course. It addresses the criminal procedure issues that arise during police investigations in the pre-trial period. This course is typically offered every year at the law school.
Criminal Procedure: Bail to Postconviction Review
This course covers the criminal procedure rights that apply at trial, sentencing, and on appeal. Many people refer to this half of the criminal procedure series as the bail to jail course. This course is also typically offered every year.
A Note About Order
Although many students opt to take these two classes in chronological order, meaning that they take investigations before they take bail to jail, you do not need to take them in that order. One does not serve as a prerequisite or stepping stone to the other.
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Evidence
The rules of evidence shape what the jurors hear at trial. Good public defenders have to know what can and cannot be used against their clients. Thus, all aspiring public defenders need to take evidence. Evidence is offered multiple times a year at Michigan and is taught by a host of different professors.
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Immigration
Public defenders are constantly plea bargaining in the shadow of their clients’ immigration consequences. After Padilla v. Kentucky, public defenders are constitutionally obligated to know about and inform their clients of certain immigration consequences before permitting them to enter into a guilty plea. Immigration law is complex and difficult to pick up on your own so if you want to be a public defender you should take a basic introduction to immigration course. We offer a variety of different immigration courses that could satisfy this requirement including immigration and nationality, crimmigration, and the immigration consequences of crime.
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Public Defender Training Institute
The Public Defender Training Institute (PDTI) is a yearlong simulation-based course for 2L and 3L students that immerses them into the world of public defense and trains them to be trial-ready defenders upon graduation.
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Clinics and Externships
Clinics
Hiring committees in public defender offices want to know that you have been in court before and enjoy the process of litigation. They want to know that you have been trained in advocacy and have some experience representing an actual client. Taking a clinic is, as a result, a must for an aspiring public defender.
Because clinics can be competitive to get into, you should apply early to get into a clinic.
If you want to be an appellate defender, you might be drawn to the Criminal Appellate Practice Clinic or the Federal Appellate Litigation Clinic. In these clinics, students handle criminal appeals. The primary difference is that the Criminal Appellate Practice Clinic handles state appeals whereas the Federal Appellate Litigation Clinic handles appeals in the Sixth Circuit.
If you want to be a trial level defender, you might be drawn to the Juvenile Justice Clinic, the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic, or the Innocence Clinic.
If you want to do postconviction work, the Innocence Clinic might be your clinic of choice.
Explore Michigan Law’s Clinics
Externships
Some students will opt to do a part-time or full-time externship in a public defender office during their law school careers. This is like a summer internship, only it takes place during the year and includes mentorship, a journal, and a paper-writing component.
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Other Courses to Consider
- Advanced Legal Writing: Storytelling and Persuasion
- Civil Rights Litigation
- Computer Crimes
- Environmental Justice
- Federal Courts
- Federal Criminal Law
- Forensic Science and the Law
- Habeas Corpus
- International Criminal Law
- International Law and Armed Conflict
- Law and Diplomacy: African Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC)
- National Security and Civil Liberties
- Peacemaking in State Court Justice Systems
- Policing and Public Safety
- Privacy, Technology, and the Fourth Amendment
- Public Interest Advocacy
- Public Interest Litigation Ethics
- Racial Justice in America
- The Law of Incarceration
- The Right to Bear Arms in Criminal Practice
- Topics in Criminal Law Theory
- Topics in Military Law
Practice Simulations
Extracurricular Activities for Aspiring Public Defenders
Michigan Law offers numerous extracurricular opportunities that can help aspiring public defenders develop their skills, learn more about careers, and find mentors and friends.
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Student Organizations
We encourage you to attend the Student Organization Fair that occurs at the start of each year and talk to other MDefenders about their experiences. A few organizations to look into if you’re interested in a public defender career:
- MDefenders is a faculty-sponsored student group that meets regularly to provide community, support, and training to aspiring public defenders and criminal legal system reform advocates
- The Student Rights Project, a collaboration between the Law School, the School of Education, and the School of Social Work to provide representation and advocacy for youth facing school disciplinary proceedings.
- Wolverine Street Law, which offers “Know Your Rights” programming at Bryant Elementary School, Parnall Correctional Facility, the Washtenaw County Juvenile Detention Center, the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, and the Conviction Integrity Unit.
- The Sentence Commutation Project provides incarcerated individuals with advocacy assistance in both drafting sentencing commutation applications and in advocating at sentence commutation hearings
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Moot Courts/Mock Trials
Herbert J. Wechsler National Criminal Moot Court Competition
This is a national moot court competition that focuses on topics in substantive criminal law and is held every year at SUNY Buffalo Law School. The Criminal Law Society sends a Michigan team to this competition every year so interested students should contact the Criminal Law Society for more information.
Learn More About the Wechsler National Criminal Moot Court Competition
Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition
The Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition has been an annual event at the Law School for more than eighty years. Winning it is one of the highest honors a Michigan law student can achieve. The Campbell Competition, open to all interested second- and third-year students, is a test of the contestants’ skills in the art of appellate advocacy, both oral and written.
Learn More About the Campbell Moot Court Competition
Read About the History of the Campbell Competition
Trial Advocacy Society
The Trial Advocacy Society is a hands-on group that focuses on the skills required to try cases in court. The centerpiece of the organization is the mock trial program where teams of students compete against teams from other law schools using a simulated fact pattern. Using those mock trial cases as examples, the teams develop effective strategies for presenting evidence to juries while also practicing technical elements of court presentation and the rules of evidence. Team members are responsible for crafting direct and cross examinations as well as opening and closing statements. Membership in the Trial Advocacy Society is open to all students. An open tryout process is held to determine the composition of the competitive teams.
Anyone seeking more information or who has questions can email [email protected].
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Journals
Michigan Law Review
The Michigan Law Review is the law school’s flagship journal. It publishes eight issues annually. Seven of each volume’s eight issues are composed of two major parts: Articles by legal scholars and practitioners, and Notes by law students. One issue in each volume is devoted to book reviews. Students can join this journal starting in their second year.
Learn More About the Michigan Law Review
Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The Michigan Journal of Law Reform is one of the country’s foremost academic journals dedicated to promoting legal reform. Across its four issues, annual symposia, and online publication (Caveat), the Journal identifies the critical problems facing domestic decision-makers and presents responsive solutions. In every medium, the journal provides content that is timely, novel, and focused on reform. Students can join this journal starting in their second year.
Learn More about the Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Michigan Journal of Race & Law
The Michigan Journal of Race & Law is a legal journal that serves as a forum for the exploration of issues relating to race and law. To that end, MJR&L publishes articles, notes, and essays on the cutting edge of civil rights scholarship from a wide variety of scholarly perspectives. In addition to having been recognized as one of the leading civil rights journals in the country, MJR&L has also been consistently ranked among the top 25 specialty journals overall. Students can join this journal starting in their second year.
Our Faculty
MDefenders Events
The MDefenders program hosts a variety of events throughout the academic year for public-defender curious students to learn more including an inspiring speaker series, informative panels, social gatherings, trainings, and monthly discussions about cutting-edge issues in criminal defense.
