Lauren Gottesman is a Staff Attorney in the Innocence Project's Strategic Litigation Department, where she is responsible for executing a national litigation strategy aimed at preventing coerced and potentially false confessions. Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Lauren was a public defender at the Legal Aid Society's Manhattan Criminal Defense Practice. During her last year there, Lauren worked in Legal Aid's Decarceration Project, where she provided consultation, training, and direct advocacy regarding pre-trial detention issues. Lauren clerked for two years for the Hon. James L. Dennis on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. She graduated from Cardozo Law School in 2013 and from Trinity College in 2008.