Vanessa Potkin directs the Innocence Project's Special Litigation. She joined the Project in 2000 as its first staff attorney, and helped pioneer the model of post-conviction exoneration litigation used nationwide. Vanessa has worked to secure the release of more than forty wrongly convicted and imprisoned people, and helped obtain stays of execution and exonerate innocent individuals tried for capital murder and sentenced to death. Vanessa is a nationally recognized expert on wrongful convictions and their systemic causes, and handles a complex litigation docket, including cases involving faulty medical evidence and police misconduct. She's an Adjunct Professor at Cardozo Law School where she co-teaches a seminar and the IP legal clinic.