Jacqueline McMurtrie is the Betts, Patterson and Mines Professor of Law at the University of Washington School of Law. In 1997, she founded the Washington Innocence Project—the nation’s third innocence organization. Jackie oversaw Washington Innocence Project’s growth from its roots as a volunteer effort to a clinical law program supported by a flourishing social justice organization. She was lead or co-counsel in a number of the organization’s 15 exonerations. Jackie is a founding member of the Innocence Network, an affiliation of 67 organizations from all over the world.
Jackie’s dedication to improving criminal justice and advocating for the innocent has been recognized by the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Washington Defender Association, Washington Women Lawyers, and the University of Washington (UW). In 2012, she received the UW Outstanding Public Service Award; in 2013, she was awarded the WA-ACLU’s highest honor, the William O. Douglas award; and in 2019, she received the UW Faculty Lecturer Award, awarded to a faculty member whose research or scholarship has been widely recognized by their peers, and whose achievements have had a substantial impact on their profession and society as a whole.
