Spring 2015: Criminal Defense Clinic

From the Desk of Patrick S. Metze – Director, Criminal Defense Clinic

As is our custom, the students in the 2014 Criminal Defense Clinic were busy all year representing real people in real cases in real time. This year, the students handled 136 cases for 80 clients. Of these cases, 43 are still pending, 41 were disposed of through some type of negotiated plea, and 52 cases were dismissed. Cases consisted of 96 misdemeanors and 40 felonies. This is an average student case load of over 11 clients per student and almost 20 cases per student, which is well in excess of the clients and cases promised in the clinic catalogue.

This column is reproduced only in brief. Read the whole thing in the Spring 2015 issue at Texas Tech Law.