Professor of the Practice
Director, Innocence Project Clinic
esuter@ubalt.edu
410.837.6543
John and Frances Angelos Law Center
Administrative Assistant: Jaquetta Oram
410.837.6798
John and Frances Angelos Law Center, Room 433
Education
J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
M.A., University of Chicago
B.A., cum laude, Bates College
Areas of Expertise:
Criminal Law
Collateral Review
Appellate Advocacy
Forensic Evidence
Wrongful Convictions
Criminal Justice Reform
Erica J. Suter is director of the Innocence Project Clinic. The Innocence Project is a unique and collaborative position with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and University of Baltimore School of Law.
Within Baltimore Law, Suter has the rank of Professor of the Practice and runs the Innocence Project Clinic, teaching and supervising student attorneys who handle cases and advocate for reform within the school’s clinical law program. With respect to OPD, Suter provides agency-wide support and strategic vision to innocence litigation.
Suter works with OPD’s attorneys and staff both on individual cases as well as on broad reform goals. In collaboration with the Forensics Division, Suter serves as a resource and provides trainings to OPD attorneys and staff on relevant social science research (including coercive interrogation tactics, unreliable eyewitness identification practices), incorporating scientific research (including DNA testing) into legal arguments, and strategic ways to address newly discovered evidence. She collaborates extensively with the Post-Conviction Defenders Division.
Suter joins OPD and Baltimore Law from private practice, where she has been widely recognized as an accomplished appellate and post-conviction criminal defense attorney. In addition to her private practice, Suter has experience working with students enrolled in the Making an Exoneree class at Georgetown University, and as an adjunct professor at UDC’s David A. Clarke School of Law.
PUBLICATIONS
Ellis, Erica J. (2003). Accountability for Terrorism. In: J. Stromseth, ed., Accountability for Atrocities: National and International Responses. Ardsley, N.Y.: Transnational Publishers.
“Unger v. State, Court of Appeals Decision Vacates Defendant’s 1976 Conviction and Life Sentence” MCDAA Quarterly, Winter 2012-2013.
PRESENTATIONS
Preserving Issues for Appeal (presenter, MCDAA panel presentation), 2019
The Legacy of Serial: the Evolving Relationship of Media and Legal Practice (Moderator/organizer: panel presentation at NAPABA’s Annual Convention, 2017
Post Convictions and Petitions for Writ of Error Coram Nobis (Montgomery County Bar Association Presentation), 2014
Preserving Issues for Appeal (presenter, MCDAA educational seminar), 2012