Lara Bazelon Explained

Lara Bazelon
Birth Date:14 February 1974
Education:Columbia University (BA) New York University (JD)
Occupation:Law professor, journalist, essayist
Employer:University of San Francisco
Office:Barnett Chair in Trial Advocacy
Credits:The New York Times
Slate
The Atlantic
Relatives:David L. Bazelon (grandfather)
Emily Bazelon (sister)

Lara Bazelon (born February 14, 1974) is an American academic and journalist. She is a law professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law where she holds the Barnett Chair in Trial Advocacy and directs the Criminal & Juvenile and Racial Justice Clinics.[1] She is the former director of the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent in Los Angeles.[2] Her clinical work as a law professor focuses on the exoneration of the wrongfully convicted.[3]

She is the author of two nonfiction books: Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction (Beacon Press 2018)[4] and Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career is Good For Your Kids (Little Brown 2022),[5] [6] and the author of the novel A Good Mother (Hanover Sq. Press 2021).[7] [8]

Early life and education

Bazelon grew up in Philadelphia. Her father is an attorney and her mother is a psychiatrist.[9]

She attended Germantown Friends School,[10] where she was on the tennis team. She has three sisters: Emily Bazelon, an award-winning New York Times journalist and author; Jill Bazelon, who founded an organization that provides financial literacy classes free of charge to low income high school students and individuals;[11] and Dana Bazelon, senior policy counsel to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.[12] The Bazelon family are Jewish.[9] [13]

Bazelon is the granddaughter of David L. Bazelon, formerly a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,[14] and second cousin twice removed of feminist Betty Friedan.[15]

Bazelon graduated cum laude from Columbia University in 1996,[16] [17] and received her J.D. from NYU School of Law[18] where she was an editor of the NYU Law Review. Her note, Exploding the Superpredator Myth,[19] won the Paul D. Kaufman Memorial Award and was cited by Bryan Stevenson in his Supreme Court brief in Sullivan v. Florida, where he successfully argued that the Eighth Amendment forbade the sentencing of juveniles to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for crimes committed before the age of 13.[20] After law school Bazelon worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Harry Pregerson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[21]

Academic career

After seven years as a trial attorney in the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles, Bazelon was awarded a clinical teaching fellowship at the UC Hastings College of the Law.[22] From 2012 to 2015, Bazelon was a visiting associate professor and the director of the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent in Los Angeles.[23] In 2017, Bazelon joined the faculty of the University of San Francisco School of Law as an associate professor and the director of the Criminal and Juvenile and Racial Justice Clinics.[24] In 2019, she was awarded tenure.[25] In 2020, she was awarded the Barnett Chair in Trial Advocacy.[26]

Exonerations

While leading the Loyola Project for the Innocent, Bazelon was the lead counsel for Kash Register, who was exonerated on November 7, 2013, for a murder he did not commit after 34 years imprisonment.[27] Register won a $16.7 million judgment from the city and county of Los Angeles in 2016, the largest settlement in the history of Los Angeles.[28]

From 2019 to 2021, Bazelon and her law students at the University of San Francisco School of Law represented Louisiana prisoner Yutico Briley Jr., who was sentenced to 60 years with no possibility of parole at the age of 19 for an armed robbery he did not commit.[29] The story of Briley's exoneration — and the collaboration of Lara and her sister Emily Bazelon in helping to bring it about — was the cover story of the New York Times Magazine in July 2021, written by Emily Bazelon.[30]

Joaquin Ciria was freed after the San Francisco District Attorney's Innocence Commission, chaired by Bazelon, reinvestigated Ciria's case and recommended that the District Attorney seek to overturn his conviction.[31] San Francisco Superior Court Judge Brendon Conroy vacated Ciria's conviction on April 18, 2022, and he was released from jail on April 20, 2022, having serving 31 years in prison.[32]

Bar complaints

In 2018, Bazelon began filing bar complaints against prosecutors whom judges had found to have committed misconduct. But as Radley Balko wrote in the Washington Post, Bazelon met with no success: "none of the eight complaints resulted in significant disciplinary action."[33] Bazelon told the Washington Post she was particularly troubled by the case of Jamal Trulove, who was wrongfully convicted due to the misconduct of Assistant District Attorney Linda Allen. After the Court of Appeal overturned Trulove's conviction, Allen was allowed to retry him.[34] Following his acquittal, Trulove sued the city and county of San Francisco and received a $13.1 million judgment.[35] The State Bar of California took no action against Allen in response to Bazelon's complaint.[33] Represented by the law firm Jones Day, Bazelon took a writ to the California Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case by a vote of 5–1 with one justice recusing himself.[36]

Academic writing

Bazelon's scholarship examining issues at the intersection of criminal justice and ethics as well as restorative justice as an alternative to incarceration, has been published in The Fordham Law Review,[37] the Hofstra Law Review,[38] the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics,[39] the Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law,[40] the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law,[41] and the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology.[42] Bazelon is quoted frequently in national and local media as an expert on criminal justice issues.[43] She serves as a voting member of the ABA Criminal Justice Section's Council, the policymaking body for the organization on criminal justice issues.[44]

Journalism

Bazelon writes regularly about criminal justice issues with a particular focus on how the legal system is affected by racism, sexism, and other biases.[45] She has written for The Atlantic about the gender bias female trial lawyers face[46] and how the felony murder rule disproportionately impacts women and people of color.[47] Her long running series on wrongful convictions has appeared in Slate since 2015 and her Innocence Deniers article was Slate's cover story in 2018.[48] A feminist and progressive Democrat, she also regularly draws criticism from the left for her critiques of other Democrats and progressive-leaning institutions. Her New York Times op-ed "Kamala Harris Was Not A 'Progressive Prosecutor'"[49] sparked nationwide debate. Assessing the impact of Bazelon's critique, Politico wrote, "after a prominent law professor tore apart her record in a New York Times op-ed," Harris faced "months of criticism of [her career] as a district attorney and state attorney general, thwarting her efforts to win over reform-minded liberals."[50] Bazelon has also drawn criticism for her support for the Title IX regulations promulgated by the Trump Administration, writing in another New York Times op-ed that they were necessary to provide due process protections for the accused[51] following a lengthier article published in Politico Magazine.[52] She and her students in the USF Racial Justice Clinic represent students of color accused of Title IX offenses who lack the means to hire an attorney.[53]

Bazelon's article in New York Magazine, "Did David Simon Glorify Baltimore's Detectives?" which examined the role of officers who became characters in The Wire in contributing to wrongful convictions, will be re-printed in the forthcoming anthology Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit and Obsession (Ecco 2023) edited by Sarah Weinman.[54]

Bazelon's often contrarian positions have led to media appearances across the political spectrum including NPR,[55] MSNBC,[56] CNN,[57] Fox News,[58] and the popular podcasts Pod Save the People,[59] The Glenn Show,[60] The Fifth Column,[61] and The Unspeakable.[62] She is a founding member of the Academic Freedom Alliance, a coalition of "college and university faculty members who are dedicated to upholding the principle of academic freedom."[63]

Personal essays

A divorced mother of two, Bazelon writes frequently about her family. In 2015, The New York Times published Bazelon's essay, "From Divorce, a Fractured Beauty", as a Modern Love column.[64] The essay was also featured in the Modern Love podcast, read by the actress Molly Ringwald.[65] Bazelon's other personal essays in the New York Times include "Who Said Game of Thrones Wasn't For Kids",[66] "I Didn't Want Co-Sleeping to End",[67] and "I've Picked My Job Over My Kids"[68] which led to appearances on Good Morning America[69] and the Tamron Hall Show.[70] Her book, Ambitious Like A Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career is Good for Your Kids, published in 2022, is an expansion on that thesis.[71]

Chesa Boudin

Bazelon was an early supporter of Chesa Boudin's campaign to become San Francisco District Attorney in 2019, and served as a member of his policy team.[72] In 2020, Boudin appointed Bazelon to chair his newly created Innocence Commission, a panel of five experts serving pro bono to re-investigate credible claims of wrongful conviction and transmit its findings to the DA.[73] In 2021, acting on the recommendation of the Innocence Commission, DA Boudin conceded that Joaquin Ciria, convicted of murder in San Francisco in 1991, was factually innocent.[74]

During the campaign to recall Chesa Boudin, Bazelon was one of his most outspoken advocates.[75] Her defenses of Boudin were quoted in numerous media outlets including The New York Times,[76] The New Yorker,[77] The Atlantic,[78] and The San Francisco Chronicle.[79]

Personal life

Bazelon lives in San Francisco, California. She and her ex-husband, attorney Matthew Dirkes, share custody of their two children.[80]

Honors and awards

In 2020, Bazelon was elected to the American Law Institute.[81]

In 2017, Bazelon was a Langeloth Fellow and Mesa Fellow writer in residence.[82]

In 2016, Bazelon was a MacDowell writer in residence.[83]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lara Bazelon . University of San Francisco School of Law . 26 May 2016 . University of San Francisco . 30 May 2022.
  2. Web site: Loyola Project for the Innocent Client Finds New Life Helping Other Exonerees . Loyola School of Law . Loyola Marymount University . 30 May 2022.
  3. News: Gross . Terry . An Innocent Man Walks Free From A 60-Year Sentence With Help From A Journalist . 30 May 2022 . Fresh Air . NPR . July 8, 2021.
  4. News: Armour . Marilyn . Book Review: 'Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction to Find a Way Back' . 30 May 2022 . Juvenile Justice Information Exchange . The Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University . November 19, 2018.
  5. Book: Bazelon . Lara . Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career Is Good for Your Kids . April 19, 2022 . Little, Brown and Company . Boston, MA . 978-1-5491-8574-8 . 30 May 2022.
  6. News: Wright . Jennifer . Millennial men want 1950s housewives after they have kids . 31 May 2022 . New York Post . NYP Holdings . May 31, 2022.
  7. Book: Bazelon . Lara . A Good Mother . May 11, 2021 . HarperCollins . New York, NY . 978-1-335-91609-9 . 30 May 2022.
  8. News: Lyall . Sarah . Nail-biting, Nerve-shredding Novels That Will Keep You Up at Night . 31 May 2022 . The New York Times . 27 May 2021 .
  9. News: Wilensky. Sheila. Social, legal facets of bullying topic for author, Yale law grad. August 22, 2017. Arizona Jewish Post. September 12, 2013.
  10. Class Notes . 30 May 2022 . GFS Bulletin . Issuu . II 2020 . Germantown Friends School.
  11. News: Heller. Karen. Classes in financial literacy open eyes, doors. August 22, 2017. The Philadelphia Inquirer. subscription . April 11, 2012. A02.
  12. News: D'Onofrio. Michael. D.A. makes way for people to clear records. January 14, 2019. The Philadelphia Tribune. May 4, 2018.
  13. Web site: Emily Bazelon . Jewish Women's Archive.
  14. http://www.bazelon.org/about/inbrief/summer03.pdf In Brief
  15. News: Bazelon. Emily. Shopping With Betty. Slate. February 5, 2006. May 20, 2017.
  16. Web site: Welcome to New Board Member Lara Bazelon! . The Mesa Refuge . January 2020 . Mesa Refuge . 30 May 2022.
  17. Web site: 2022-01-18 . Bookshelf . 2022-05-30 . Columbia College Today . en.
  18. Web site: Sexual Assault Prosecution Panel Bios . Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College . John Jay College of Criminal Justice . 30 May 2022.
  19. News: Bazelon . Lara . Exploding the Superpredator Myth: Why Infancy is the Preadolescent's Best Defense in Juvenile Court . 30 May 2022 . New York University Law Review . 1 . New York University . April 2000. 75 .
  20. Web site: JOE HARRIS SULLIVAN, Petitioner, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Respondent . The Equal Justice Initiative . The Supreme Court of the United States . 30 May 2022.
  21. Web site: Arizona State University: Systemic Racism – Defining Terms and Evaluating Evidence . The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America's Founding Principles and History . 14 January 2022 . Jack Miller Center . 30 May 2022.
  22. Web site: Spring 2012 Workshop, The Talaris Center, Seattle, June 22-24, 2012, Participant Biographies . The National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism . 30 May 2022.
  23. News: Moreno . Feliz . Unstacking The Deck . 30 May 2022 . The Sun . 543 . March 2021.
  24. News: Lara Bazelon to Lead USF's Criminal and Racial Justice Law Clinics . 30 May 2022 . USF Lawyer . Issuu . Fall 2017 . University of San Francisco School of Law . Dec 6, 2017.
  25. Web site: Living the Law - Lara Bazelon earns tenure . University of San Francisco School of Law . 14 March 2019 . University of San Francisco . 30 May 2022.
  26. Web site: Temkar . Arvin . Lara Bazelon Named Barnett Professor of Trial Advocacy . University of San Francisco School of Law . 20 April 2020 . University of San Francisco . 30 May 2022.
  27. News: Powers . Ashley . Witness' sister helps free man convicted in 1979 killing . 30 May 2022 . The Los Angeles Times . November 7, 2013.
  28. News: Alpert Reyes . Emily . L.A. to pay $24 million to two men imprisoned for decades after wrongful murder convictions . 30 May 2022 . The Los Angeles Times . January 19, 2016.
  29. News: Sledge . Matt . A man serving 60 years for armed robbery is free after Jason Williams clears the way for release . 30 May 2022 . The New Orleans Times-Picayune . Georges Media Group . March 19, 2021.
  30. News: Bazelon . Emily . I Write About the Law. But Could I Really Help Free a Prisoner? . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times Magazine . July 2021 . The New York Times Company . June 30, 2021.
  31. News: Sharpe . Joshua . He spent 30 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction. A Chesa Boudin campaign promise will free him . 30 May 2022 . The San Francisco Chronicle . Hearst Newspapers . April 18, 2022.
  32. News: Choi . Kenny . Joaquin Ciria Set Free After Being Exonerated for 1990 SF Homicide; 'It Is a Happy Moment' . 30 May 2022 . CBS News Bay Area . CBS . April 20, 2022.
  33. News: Balko . Radley . Why prosecutors get away with misconduct . 30 May 2022 . The Washington Post . November 18, 2021.
  34. Web site: Jamal Trulove . The National Registry of Exonerations . 30 May 2022.
  35. News: Greschler . Gabe . Why Did San Francisco's New District Attorney Fire Seven Prosecutors? . 30 May 2022 . KQED . KQED . January 12, 2020.
  36. Web site: N RE THE ACCUSATION OF LARA BAZELON, AGAINST LINDA JOANNE ALLEN. . Horitz & Levy LLP . The Supreme Court of the State of California . 30 May 2022.
  37. Bazelon . Lara . Green . Bruce . Restorative Justice From Prosecutors' Perspective . Fordham Law Review . May 11, 2020 . 2020 . 1 . 3598618 . 30 May 2022.
  38. Bazelon . Lara . Ending Innocence Denying . Hofstra Law Review . 2018 . 47 . 2 . 30 May 2022.
  39. Bazelon . Lara . For Shame: The Public Humiliation of Prosecutors by Judges to Correct Wrongful Convictions . Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics . 2016 . 29 . 305 . 2764506 . 30 May 2022.
  40. Bazelon . Lara . Hard Lessons: The Role of Law Schools in Addressing Prosecutorial Misconduct . The Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law . Fall 2011 . 16 . 2 . 30 May 2022.
  41. Bazelon . Lara . Green . Bruce . Victims' Rights from a Restorative Perspective . Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law . 2020 . 17 . 1 . 30 May 2022.
  42. Bazelon . Lara . The Long Goodbye: After the Innocence Movement, Does the Attorney-Client Relationship Ever End? . Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology . Fall 2016 . 106 . 4 . 30 May 2022.
  43. Web site: Lara Bazelon . Change Industries . Color of Change . 30 May 2022.
  44. Web site: Criminal Justice Section . American Bar Association . 30 May 2022.
  45. News: Cowles . Charlotte . A Lawyer of Many Talents: Lara Bazelon Talks Family, Justice, and Ambition . 30 May 2022 . The M Dash . M.M. LaFleur . December 1, 2017.
  46. News: Bazelon . Lara . What It Takes to Be a Trial Lawyer If You're Not a Man . 30 May 2022 . The Atlantic . September 2018 . The Atlantic Monthly Group . September 2018.
  47. News: Bazelon . Lara . Anissa Jordan Took Part in a Robbery. She Went to Prison for Murder. . 30 May 2022 . The Atlantic . The Atlantic Monthly Group . February 16, 2021.
  48. News: Bazelon . Lara . The Innocence Deniers . 30 May 2022 . Slate . The Slate Group LLC . Jan 10, 2018.
  49. News: Bazelon . Lara . Kamala Harris Was Not a 'Progressive Prosecutor' . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times . January 17, 2019.
  50. News: Cadelago . Christopher . How Kamala Harris seized the moment on race and police reform . 30 May 2022 . Politico Magazine . Politico LLC . June 7, 2020.
  51. News: Bazelon . Lara . I'm a Democrat and a Feminist. And I Support Betsy DeVos's Title IX Reforms. . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times . December 4, 2018.
  52. News: Bazelon . Lara . The Landmark Sexual Assault Case You've Probably Never Heard Of . 30 May 2022 . Politico Magazine . Politico LLC . April 18, 2017.
  53. News: Poff . Jeremiah . This professor started a legal clinic for black students accused of rape. She's getting threats. . 30 May 2022 . The College Fix . The Student Free Press Association . December 17, 2018.
  54. Book: Weinman . Sarah . Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit, and Obsession . 2023 . Ecco Press . New York, NY . 978-0-06-283988-6 . 30 May 2022.
  55. News: Simon . Scott . When Prosecutors Are 'Innocence Deniers' . 30 May 2022 . Weekend Edition Saturday . NPR . January 13, 2018.
  56. News: Reid . Joy . For the Prosecution . 30 May 2022 . Kamala: Next in Line . MSNBC . October 21, 2020.
  57. News: Professor: Hiring woman prosecutor 'offensive' . 30 May 2022 . CNN politics . CNN . September 26, 2018.
  58. News: Alyssa Milano pans proposed Title IX changes . 30 May 2022 . Fox News . December 11, 2018.
  59. News: Play the Long Game . 30 May 2022 . Pod Save the People . PodKnife . Crooked Media . January 15, 2019.
  60. News: Loury . Glenn . Parents, Children, and Systemic Racism . 30 May 2022 . The Glenn Show . BloggingHeads.tv . August 6, 2021.
  61. News: Foster . Kmele . Welch . Matt . Moynihan . Michael C. . This Podcast is Violence . 30 May 2022 . The Fifth Column . Podchaser . 357 . Substack . May 13, 2022.
  62. News: Daum . Meghan . What Is a "Good Mother?" Lara Bazelon on Female Ambition, Biological Realities and Going To Trial . 30 May 2022 . The Unspeakable Podcast . The Unspeakable Podcast . October 24, 2021.
  63. Web site: Founding Members . Academic Freedom Alliance . 30 May 2022.
  64. News: Bazelon . Lara . From Divorce, a Fractured Beauty . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times . September 24, 2015.
  65. News: Ringwald . Molly . Fractured Beauty . 30 May 2022 . Modern Love: The Podcast . WBUR . November 23, 2016.
  66. News: Bazelon . Lara . Who Said 'Game of Thrones' Wasn't for Kids? . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times . December 11, 2015.
  67. News: Bazelon . Lara . July 13, 2018 . I Didn't Want Co-Sleeping to End . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times.
  68. News: Bazelon . Lara . I've Picked My Job Over My Kids . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times . June 29, 2019.
  69. News: Mom says she has 'picked my job over my kids' in opinion essay, sparks debate . 30 May 2022 . Good Morning America . ABC . July 2, 2019.
  70. News: Hall . Tamron . Do Traditional Housewives Still Exist in 2020? . 30 May 2022 . The Tamron Hall Show . ABC . December 1, 2020.
  71. News: Belkin . Lisa . The Work-Life-Balance Library Welcomes Another Title . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times . April 19, 2022.
  72. News: Redmond . Tim . The Chron's bizarre (but predictable) attack on Chesa Boudin . 30 May 2022 . 48hills . San Francisco Progressive Media Center . January 14, 2020.
  73. Web site: The Innocence Commission . San Francisco District Attorney . City of San Francisco . 30 May 2022.
  74. News: Barba . Michael . DA Chesa Boudin's Innocence Commission Helps Free Man 3 Decades After Conviction in SoMa Murder Case . 30 May 2022 . The San Francisco Standard . The San Francisco Standard . April 18, 2022.
  75. News: San Francisco Decides: The District Attorney Recall Election . 30 May 2022 . San Francisco Decides . The Commonwealth Club . May 17, 2022.
  76. News: Arango . Tim . San Francisco's Top Prosecutor Will Face a Recall Election . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times . November 10, 2021.
  77. Wallace-Wells . Benjamin . The Trial of Chesa Boudin . 30 May 2022 . The New Yorker . Condé Nast . July 29, 2021.
  78. News: Brownstein . Ronald . Why California Wants to Recall Its Most Progressive Prosecutors . 30 May 2022 . The Atlantic . The Atlantic Monthly Company . April 28, 2022.
  79. News: Cassidy . Megan . Chesa Boudin and San Francisco's bitter debate over crime . 30 May 2022 . The San Francisco Chronicle . Hearst Newspapers . August 17, 2021.
  80. News: Bazelon . Lara . Divorce Can Be an Act of Radical Self-Love . 30 May 2022 . The New York Times . September 30, 2021.
  81. Web site: Professor Lara Bazelon . The American Law Institute . 30 May 2022.
  82. Web site: Lara Bazelon . The Mesa Refuge . 30 May 2022.
  83. Web site: Lara Bazelon . MacDowell . 30 May 2022.

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