Spring 2016: Criminal Defense Clinic

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

As is our custom, the students in the 2015-2016 Criminal Defense Clinic were busy all year representing real people in real cases in real time. This year, the students handled 144 cases for 80 clients. Of these cases, 60 are still pending, 28 were disposed of through some type of negotiated plea, and 56 cases were dismissed. Cases consisted of 103 misdemeanors and 41 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 2016 issue at Texas Tech Law.