College of Law

Faculty and Staff

B.S., Radford University (2002)
J.D., Seattle University School of Law (2008), magna cum laude

Email: lmclane@uwyo.edu
Office: 410 Hill Hall

Publications
Presentations
CV

Office Hours: Please set up an appointment via email. Appointments may occur in person or via Zoom.

Professor Lauren McLane joined the UW College of Law as an Assistant Professor and Director of the Defender Aid Clinic in July 2018. Professor McLane completed her J.D. at Seattle University School of Law in Seattle, Washington, in 2008, and her B.S. degree in Communication at Radford University in Radford, Virginia, in 2002. Prior to becoming a law professor, Professor McLane served in a variety of positions in the area of criminal defense. In 2009, she began her career as a public defender in King County, Washington, at The Defender Association where she represented indigent clients accused of crimes in a wide range of cases at both the misdemeanor and felony levels. In 2014, Professor McLane joined the private law firm of Padula & Associates where she continued her work in criminal defense. In her time as both a public defender and private practitioner, Professor McLane represented her clients at all stages of criminal defense practice and tried a significant number of jury trials, including felony trials that included serious charges such as murder. In 2017, Professor McLane joined the Innocence Project Northwest at the University of Washington School of Law where she investigated innocence claims made by Washington state prisoners and advocated and litigated for access to post-conviction DNA testing.

Early on in her career, Professor McLane became interested and highly competent in the area of forensic science; she has been published in this area, including her contributions to a publication accepted by the Journal of Forensic Sciences in 2014 and a book chapter in 2015-2016. Professor McLane has also been recognized for her contributions to criminal defense work in the state of Washington, including a President’s Award from the Washington Defender Association in 2013 and a Champion of Justice Award from the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in 2017. In 2011, Professor McLane began to train other lawyers in the areas of forensic science and pretrial and trial advocacy; she remained highly sought-after by lawyers and criminal defense entities for both technical assistance in case work as well as trainings and seminars until she left Washington state for the UW College of Law in July 2018.

Professor McLane’s primary research and scholarly interests lie at the crossroads of criminal law and forensic science. In her work, she has returned numerous times to questions about forensic science and its application in criminal courts, critically analyzing whether proper science is being admitted in courtrooms. Related to this area, Professor McLane is also interested in researching, teaching, and writing centered on concepts of meta- and accelerated learning for law students and lawyers. One of Professor McLane’s purposes for teaching law school is to help students master complex areas of the law and then practically apply those concepts and principles to the real world of lawyering.

Teaching:

Forensic Evidence, Advanced Criminal Procedure (in collaboration with the UW Criminal Justice Department), Torts, Sentencing Law & Policy.