Jeffrey Urdangen
Jeffrey Urdangen, a clinical assistant professor of law, led his own criminal defense firm for over two decades before joining the law school's clinic faculty in 2003. He has been defense counsel in dozens of State and Federal jury trials, and has extensive experience representing persons charged with capital crimes. His pro bono work over the years on behalf of numerous notable and unjustly accused defendants has been a recognized contribution to the Chicago area legal community. Among those clients were Alejandro Hernandez, an innocent man prosecuted for the Nicarico murder in Naperville, Illinois, Kenneth Adams, exonerated with his “Ford Heights Four” co-defendants after serving 19 years in prison, and Paul Terry, freed after 27 years of wrongful imprisonment.
Since joining the Center, Mr. Urdangen has been co-counsel for Julie Rea Harper, acquitted by a southern Illinois jury in 2006 following her lengthy and wrongful prosecution for the murder of her own son. Presently, Mr. Urdangen and others at the Center represent Juan Rivera, who now awaits his third trial for rape and murder after forensic DNA testing excluded him as the donor of critical biological evidence recovered from the crime. Lake County, Illinois authorities nonetheless persist in an effort to gain another conviction in this notorious false confession case.
