Director of the Mizzou Law Innocence Clinic Earns Missouri Bar Award for Appellate Advocacy

Published on Aug. 27, 2021

Emily Danker-Feldman, the director of the Innocence Clinic at Mizzou Law, was one of three lawyers recognized with the 2021 David J. Dixon Appellate Advocacy Award. This award was created by The Missouri Bar Foundation to recognize outstanding achievement in appellate practice by young lawyers practicing in the state.

From the Missouri Bar:

“Danker-Feldman’s dedication to her work is evident in her love of words and deep empathy for individuals, especially those in the justice system. “I prefer to get people out of prison than to put them in,” she explains.

Danker-Feldman received her bachelor’s degrees in economics and English from Georgetown University and obtained a dual degree in law and social work from Washington University, where she was also President of OUTLaw, the LGBTQ* law student organization.

In May 2020, Danker-Feldman joined the Midwest Innocence Project as Supervising Attorney and Director of the Innocence Clinic at the University of Missouri School of Law. In her roles, she supervises the review and litigation of prospective DNA cases involving eyewitness misidentification in Missouri and teaches a Wrongful Convictions seminar course as well as leads an Innocence Clinic.

‘I became a lawyer because mass incarceration, with its targeting of people of color, struck me as one of the most pressing human rights violations in the United States,’ Danker-Feldman stated. In my experience, power comes down to who must see and understand and accommodate whom, whose experience is legible and whose isn’t. People—incarcerated people, wrongfully convicted people, people with a criminal history—deserve to have their stories heard.'”