College of Law

FACULTY AND STAFF

 

J.D., Georgetown University Law Center (2010; Order of the Coif)
M.S., Gender Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science (2005; with distinction)  
B.A., Dartmouth College, English Literature and Studio Art (2003, cum laude)

Email: messer@uwyo.edu

Phone: 307-766-3118

Office: 403 Hill Hall

CV

Professor Esser joined the College of Law in 2023 and directs the College of Law's Defender Aid Clinic. She previously served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender, representing clients charged with federal crimes in the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming, as well as in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Prior to becoming a public defender, Prof. Esser was an associate at Arnold & Porter, LLP, where she maintained a pro bono case load that included prison condition cases and other matters related to criminal legal reform.

Prof. Esser clerked for the Hon. Rosemary Barkett on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Miami, Florida, and for the Hon. Russel F. Canan, Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division of the D.C. Superior Court in Washington, D.C.

Prof. Esser writes at the intersection of second look advocacy, sentencing law and conditions of confinement. In addition to directing the Defender Aid Clinic, Prof. Esser teaches courses in appellate advocacy and prison law. Her scholarship has appeared in the Fordham Law Review and the Iowa Law Review Online, and has been featured in the prominent legal blog, Sentencing Law & Policy. Prof. Esser has been interviewed about her scholarly work for the podcast Public Defenseless and has presented numerous times in front of practitioners working on second look advocacy.

 

Selected Publications

Meredith Esser, Extraordinary Punishment: Conditions of Confinement and Compassionate Release, 92 Fordham L. Rev. 1369 (2024).

Meredith Esser, Who Bears the Burden When Prison Guards Rape?, 109 Iowa L. Rev. Online 188 (2024).

 

Teaching: Defender Aid Clinic, Appellate Advocacy, Criminal Law Seminar: Prison Law and Policy