Harvard Law School Graduates Discuss Careers in Death Penalty Defense

Harvard Law School graduates discussed working in death penalty defense at a virtual event hosted by the HLS library on Tuesday evening.

The panel discussion, entitled “Death Penalty Defense Work: Prof. Carol Steiker in conversation with HLS alumni,” was part of the library’s yearlong series of programs related to its art and history exhibit, “Visualizing Capital Punishment: Spectacle, Shame, and Sympathy.”

Moderated by HLS professor Carol S. Steiker ’82, the event featured HLS graduates from 2010 to 2021 discussing what it takes to become a public defender of those facing death sentences.

Nora A. McDonnell, a judicial law clerk in a New Mexico U.S. District Court, described hardships she initially faced as a capital defense lawyer.

“In my one year I lost everything, like my first client was executed,” McDonnell said. “Nothing legally worked. And it was totally wrenching.”

McDonnell also raised the question of the extent to which the law should grant religious liberties to people who are under warrant.

“I’m interested to see if there’s more there, or if we’re sort of at capacity in what they’re willing to allow, in terms of accommodating religious preferences and rights at an execution,” McDonnell said.

Megan E. Barnes, assistant federal public defender at the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the District of Arizona, talked about the importance of “being able to show up for your clients” and their families.

The panel also featured two members of The Powell Project, a team of lawyers that works to combat the death penalty: William E. Ahee, staff attorney at The Powell Project, and Julianne R. Hill, assistant director of The Powell Project.

During the event, Hill discussed changes in capital law.

“There is always so much to just push back on, and particularly at the trial level,” Hill said. “You can just pick anything that seems unfair and write a motion about it.”

Julia Welsh, a research and writing attorney at the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, talked about her experience pushing back against forms of capital punishment in Tennessee.

As a member of a specialized team on lethal injections, she said she helped demonstrate the state's lethal injection process was so “unbelievably uncoordinated” that the governor halted lethal injection executions until an internal review could take place.

Michael B. Admirand, senior attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights, talked about what he learned from his setbacks and gave advice for students who want to explore a career in capital defense.

“What I’ve always said, and what one of my mentors said, is you have to define victory very broadly,” Admirand said.