The Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo Law will be made up of two components: a field clinic and a continuing legal education curriculum, according to the announcement.
The field clinic, called The Perlmutter Freedom Clinic at Cardozo Law, will focus on fighting wrongful convictions based on the misuse of scientific evidence and will work on obtaining clemency for people who are unjustly incarcerated.
The continuing education clinic, The Perlmutter Forensic Science Education Program, will offer educational resources to attorneys on how to use scientific evidence in the practice of law in order to avoid wrongful convictions.
The center will be led by executive director Josh Dubin, a prominent civil rights attorney who has been involved in The Innocence Project, a nonprofit group that works to exonerate wrongfully incarcerated people through DNA evidence. Dubin also owns a jury consulting and trial strategy business, Dubin Research and Consulting Inc.
"We are committed to seeking justice, equipping students and lawyers with the tools to confront junk science, and seeking clemency for those unjustly imprisoned," Dubin said in a statement Thursday.
Dubin is joined in the center's leadership by deputy director Derrick Hamilton, a lawyer who obtained his law degree while wrongfully incarcerated and then advocated for and secured his own exoneration after serving a 21-year sentence. Hamilton also led an effort to exonerate five other wrongfully incarcerated inmates, according to Thursday's announcement.
The work of the center's field clinic will include taking on clemency cases for people serving unfair sentences, with a focus on cases that emphasize the proper use of scientific evidence in the courtroom.
It will also train a group of law students each semester in cases involving "junk science" and will take on exoneration cases that involve the misuse of scientific evidence.
The $15 million donation that supports the center's creation was made both by Laura and Isaac Perlmutter themselves as well as their charitable foundation.
The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation, which is led by director Laura Perlmutter, is focused on charitable giving in the areas of health care, social justice, the arts and community initiatives.
"By supporting various causes and initiatives, the foundation helps fight discrimination and inequality, advocating for minorities, giving voice to those who have none, and making sure every person will have an equal opportunity, regardless of gender, race, or religion," the foundation's website says.
In addition to the donation to Cardozo Law, the foundation has also made contributions to The Innocence Project.
--Editing by Alyssa Miller.
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