O’Leary makes case for compassion

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As an assistant clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Renagh O’Leary and her students are changing lives.

They’re working on the Legal Assistance for Institutionalized Persons Project, a clinic that provides free legal services to Wisconsin inmates.

Under O’Leary’s guidance, students are taking on real cases, visiting clients in prison and learning how to resolve their clients’ range of legal troubles. O’Leary also joined the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to expand the program’s compassionate-release caseload, giving prisoners with serious health troubles and terminal illnesses an opportunity for early release.

“We are working with our clients during one of the most challenging periods of their lives, as they reckon with their life-changing diagnosis while also dealing with the challenges of incarceration,” O’Leary said. “Our LAIP students bring incredible energy and commitment to this work. In just the last seven months, their advocacy has led to four of our clients being released from prison early.”

O’Leary’s interest in clinical work started when she was a student at Yale Law School. She helped design a clinic to meet the educational needs of young people in the juvenile-justice system and worked, through another clinic, with adults who are faced with criminal charges.

“My law school experiences sparked my interest in clinical teaching and helped me appreciate how law school clinics can experiment with innovative approaches to addressing legal problems,” O’Leary said.

After receiving her law degree from Yale in 2014, O’Leary worked as a public defender at the Bronx Defenders. She said this nonprofit organization deals with the many legal entanglements encountered by people who are faced with criminal charges. These can stem from the possibility of losing their housing, children, jobs or immigration status.

“The Bronx Defenders’ holistic approach aligns with LAIP’s work,” O’Leary said. “In LAIP, we represent people in prison on a wide range of legal issues, not just those that are directly related to their criminal conviction.”

O’Leary joined the UW Law School in June 2018 as a clinical instructor for LAIP and became a clinical assistant professor in March 2019. She said the school’s commitment is unmatched, and she’s just as thrilled to be there as the school is to have her.

“We are extremely fortunate to have Renagh on our faculty,” said Margaret Raymond, UW Law School dean. “In just over a year at UW Law she has emerged as an outstanding mentor and role model who demonstrates a clear commitment to teaching law students the core skills she learned as a public defender.”