Criminal law is a fast-paced area of practice that provides the opportunity for extensive courtroom experience and the reward of being able to help people and protect the justice system. Criminal lawyers do either criminal prosecution or criminal defense work.
Criminal prosecutors represent the federal, state, or local governments in cases against people charged with violating a criminal statute or ordinance. Federal prosecutors work in U.S. Attorney's Offices in each of the federal judicial districts and for the military. Those prosecuting state and local ordinances work in the state attorney's office (often called the Attorney General's Office), a county district attorney's office, or a city attorney's office. While almost all prosecutors are government employees, private lawyers sometimes prosecute ordinance and traffic violations for smaller communities. Prosecutors often describe themselves as public servants representing the interests of the public. They do not have clients in the same sense as lawyers in other practice areas, but represent the community's interests.
Criminal defense lawyers work either for the government in public defenders' offices, providing defense counsel to indigent defendants; or they work for private law firms, representing defendants who do not qualify as indigents. Private criminal defense lawyers typically work at small and medium-size firms. However, some large firms have lawyers who represent individual and institutional clients in regulatory investigations, criminal prosecutions, and internal investigations, covering subjects ranging from securities fraud inquiries and bank regulatory investigations to state and federal grand jury probes. Lawyers who do criminal defense work in private firms often come to private practice after having had government experience.
Those interested in criminal law need to have strong communication skills, enjoy litigation, handle multiple tasks and be well-organized, adapt to a sometimes hectic and unpredictable workload, and be excellent at negotiations. Criminal lawyers also need to be good listeners, be able to deal with people from all backgrounds, and be prepared to deal with stressful situations.
Core/Foundation Courses
These are the courses that --at a minimum – employers expect a student interested in the specialty to have. In addition, a student interested in criminal law should take at least one related clinical program (see below).
- Constitutional Law I
- Constitutional Law II
- Criminal Justice Administration
- Evidence
- Introduction to Criminal Procedure (first-year requirement)
- Introduction to Substantive Criminal Law (first-year requirement)
Recommended Courses
Students interested in this practice area should consider including one or more of the following courses as electives.
- Advanced Criminal Procedure
- Advanced Legal Writing
- Advanced Substantive Criminal Law
- Negotiation/Mediation
- Oral Communication
- Selected Problems in Constitutional Law: 4th, 5th & 6th Amendment
- Trial Advocacy
Enrichment Courses
These courses deepen or broaden the skills and substantive information that a lawyer in this field needs and also provide advanced courses for students interested in a specialty within this area of practice.
- Antitrust
- Business Organizations I
- Client Interviewing and Counseling
- Death Penalty Seminar
- Defender Function
- Federal Jurisdiction
- Gender and Crime Seminar
- Juvenile Justice Administration
- Juvenile Justice Seminar
- Law and Correctional Institutions
- Legislation
- Litigation in Criminal Cases
- Prosecution Function
- Psychiatry and the Law
- Racism and Criminal Justice Seminar
- Role of the Police in a Free Society
- Selected Problems in Criminal Justice Administration
- Selected Problems in Criminal Procedure
- Selected Problems in Policing Seminar
- White Collar Crime
Clinical Programs, Internships and Externships
The Clinical Semester is an intensive immersion learning experience open to a limited number of second-and third-year students in the fall semester. Students represent clients at the federal prison at Oxford, Wisconsin. The students develop their lawyering abilities by assisting their clients with a wide variety of problems, generally centering around the validity of federal convictions and sentences under the complex federal sentencing guidelines. The emphasis is on trying to find creative, thoughtful and exacting ways to answer clients' questions, and find solutions to their problems. Students accepted into the Clinical Semester take 13 credits of clinical work, and a two-credit seminar titled Legal Practice and Professional Identity.
The Criminal Appeals Project gives students an opportunity to be directly involved in the appellate process. Under the direct supervision of clinical faculty, students work in pairs on the appeal of two criminal convictions. The clinical, which is available to second- and third-year law students, requires a two-semester commitment.
Innocence
Project
In the Innocence Project, UW law students, under the direct supervision of clinical
faculty, investigate and litigate claims of innocence in cases involving inmates
in state and federal prisons in Wisconsin and elsewhere. The Innocence Project
is available to students who are accepted into the program in the summer after
their first or second year of law school and requires a one year commitment
(Summer full time, Fall 7 credits, Spring 2 credits).
Legal Assistance to Institutionalized Persons ( LAIP)
The Legal Assistance to Institutionalized Persons Project, known as LAIP, is the largest of the Remington Center's clinical projects. In LAIP, students work under the direct supervision of clinical faculty to provide legal assistance to state and federal prison inmates throughout Wisconsin.
This program provides an opportunity for second-year students to work
as summer interns in district attorneys' offices throughout Wisconsin.
The student's summer experience is sandwiched between a spring classroom
component and a fall reflective seminar.
Public Defender Project
The Public Defender Project gives second-year students the opportunity to work
as summer interns in State Public Defender trial offices throughout Wisconsin.
The students' summer experience is sandwiched between a spring classroom component
and a fall reflective seminar.
The Restorative Justice Project gives students the opportunity to practice mediation skills and assess the effectiveness of an alternative dispute resolution process by providing mediation between the victims of crime and the criminal offenders. The project is open to students who have completed their first year of Law School.
Student Organizations and Related Activities
Volunteer Opportunities
Because of the public service aspects of many criminal law jobs,
employers are often interested in students who have a history of volunteer
activities; there are many volunteer opportunities in the Madison community
and through the Student Bar Association and other student organizations.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
The American Civil Liberties Union is a group whose primary goal is
to protect our civil liberties, as set out in the constitution and the
Bill of Rights. The ACLU was formed in 1920, and has been the party to
more litigation in the protection of the people, rather than for their
repression.
American Constitution Society
The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is a national organization of law students, law professors, practicing lawyers and members of the community. We want to help revitalize and transform legal debate, from law school classrooms to federal courtrooms.
The American Inns of Court is a legal mentoring organization rooted in the 800-year-old tradition of the Inns of Court in England. The goal of the American Inns of Court is to raise the standard of the legal profession by focusing on the development of skills, ethics, and professionalism. The James E. Doyle American Inn of Court, which meets in Madison, is comprised of judges, lawyers, law professors, and law students who meet approximately once a month. Inn programs provide creative, practical, interactive instruction in all areas of legal practice, particularly litigation. A dinner following the program provides a collegial atmosphere that encourages networking between all members, mentoring and skills development, and the exchange of concepts, ideas and techniques. If you are interested in becoming a student member of the James E. Doyle American Inn of Court, contact Professor Steve Meili.
There are three student journals -- Wisconsin Law Review, Wisconsin International Law Journal, and Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society -- that give students an opportunity to assist with and contribute to the Law School's scholarly publications. These publications provide invaluable training in legal research and writing. Students may receive credit for this activity.
Mock Trial
Mock Trial provides real trial experience at a competitive level.
Students participate in nationwide competitions that give them opportunities
to give opening and closing statements and direct- and cross-examine witnesses.
For the student interested in litigation it is an invaluable experience
to learn skills you may not get in the classroom. Students may receive
credit for this activity.
Moot Court
Moot Court is a mock appellate advocacy program that provides invaluable
experience for students in brief writing and oral advocacy. Students may receive
credit for this activity.
National Lawyers Guild
The Madison Chapter of the NLG is a community chapter with both lawyers
and law student members. The National Lawyers Guild is a nationwide organization
of lawyers and law students dedicated to working for social justice. Formed
in 1937 as the first racially integrated bar association in the country,
the Guild tries to bring together all those who recognize the importance
of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, farmers, and
minority groups upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends; who
actively seek to eliminate racism; who work to maintain and protect our
civil rights and liberties; and who view the law as an instrument for
the protection of the people, rather than their repression.
Faculty
Here are some of the faculty who teach or have an interest in this subject area:
Walter
Dickey
Room 5211B
(608) 262-1542
wjdickey@wisc.edu
Katherine
M. Findley
Room 1348
(608) 263-9576
kmfindley@wisc.edu
Keith Findley
Room 4315E
(608) 262-4763
kafindle@wisc.edu
Ben Kempinen
Room 3353
(608) 262-7908
kempinen@wisc.edu
Michele
LaVigne
Room 4318K
(608) 262-9859
mlavigne@wisc.edu
Judy E.
Olingy
Room 4318L
(608) 262-4870
jeolingy@wisc.edu
John A.
Pray
Room 4318G
(608) 263-7461
japray@wisc.edu
Mary Prosser
Room 4318-D
(608) 265-1159
mmprosser@wisc.edu
Krista
Ralston
Room 1348
(608)263-5577
kralston@wisc.edu
Meredith
Ross
Room 4318J
(608) 262-3764
mjross1@wisc.edu
David Schultz
Room 2348
(608) 262-6881
deschult@wisc.edu
Michael
Scott
Room 4318E
(608) 265-2741
mscott@wisc.edu
Michael
Smith
Room 9112
(608) 263-7762
mesmith4@wisc.edu
Frank
Tuerkheimer
Room 7106
262-3093
fmtuerkh@wisc.edu
In addition to our full-time faculty, the Law School's adjunct faculty members -- prominent practicing lawyers and judges -- bring their specialized knowledge and experience to the classroom. Adjunct Faculty List.