The Michigan Innocence Clinic is the first exclusively non-DNA innocence clinic in the country. Since its inception, the clinic has won the release of 40 men and women who had been wrongfully convicted of crimes and served anywhere from a few months to 46 years in prison.

“Unfortunately, almost by definition, early stage startups have no revenue and little money to pay attorneys for much needed legal services. Because the clinic is free of charge, I never have to turn away a client for inability to pay.”

~ Tifani Sadek, co-director of Michigan Law’s Zell Entrepreneurship Clinic

Dana Thompson, clinical professor of law and director of the Community Enterprise Clinic, said the food security network’s values, importance to Detroit, and wide range of legal needs has resulted in a long and mutually beneficial relationship.

“The past three and a half years of running the Detroit Justice Center have really driven home the importance of putting questions of incarceration front and center when we’re thinking about the future of the city.”

~ Amanda Alexander

“I never thought my career would have unfolded the way it has, but I’ve had the opportunity to work on projects that I think have made the world a better place. I never thought I’d be a municipal lawyer, but when the opportunity came up, I took it. And that’s how I’ve always tried to live my life. To go where I can do the most good,” said Eli Savit, U-M Law School alumnus and lawyer for the city of Detroit.

Interested in urban issues? Here’s a list of courses offered at the University of Michigan this fall through the College of Literature, Sciences and the Arts, the Law School, the Ford School of Public Policy, the School for Environment and Sustainability, the Ross School of Business, and the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

The U-M Law School’s Detroit Center for Family Advocacy (CFA) provides legal advocacy and social work services to low-income families to prevent the unnecessary placement and prolonged stay of children in foster care while also providing valuable training and experiences to law students.

Founded in 1991, the U-M Law School’s Community and Economic ​Development Clinic (CEDC) provides creative solutions to the transactional needs of community organizations and nonprofit groups.