U Of M Law Grad Off to Big Firm But Keeps Working on "Innocence" Cases

my previous life at the Metro Times )
“We were consulted on everything and it was so much more meaningful because the work we were doing was very real. We were vested in the case. You know your work could really make it or break it,” Kloostra says.

Miller Canfield, she says gratefully, is supportive of her continuing on the case and she’s hoping to establish a pro bon “innocence team” of sorts – between working her billable hours.

“Being able to continue work on that case and others, I’ve been able to continue that passion. They’re very supportive of that even though the skills per se are very different,” Kloostra says. “If the skills I have can help someone who has been wrongfully convicted get out, I’d like to do that. These cases are fascinating and really inspiring. It doesn’t feel like work when you’re doing them.”

With an unknown number of wrongfully convicted people in Michigan prisons – some studies estimate 5 percent of prisoners are in for crimes they didn’t commit – Kloostra and other innocence teams have plenty of work out there.