Spring 2023: Criminal Defense Clinic

By Professor Patrick Metze, Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic. Originally published in the Spring 2023 Texas Tech Law Newsletter.

Year-end report on the 2022-2023 Criminal Defense Clinic, with caseload statistics, classroom dynamics, the Clifford Brown Award going to Pamela Gandy, and the traditional graduation farewell.

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

As is our custom, the students in the 2022-2023 Criminal Defense Clinic (CDC) were busy all year representing real people in real cases in real time. This year, the students handled 168 cases for 99 clients. Of these cases, 74 are still pending, 40 were disposed of through some type of negotiated plea, and 54 cases were dismissed. Cases consisted of 116 misdemeanors and 52 felonies. This is an average student case load of 21 cases and over 12 clients 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 2023 issue at Texas Tech Law.