In pursuit of equitable outcomes

Daniel Bergmann 19L arrived at Emory Law with interests in both international human rights and the movement to end mass incarceration in the United States. The courses he took as a 2l, such as Transnational Criminal Litigation, deepened his interest in criminal law.

Then he took Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System, taught by public defender and adjunct instructor Annie C. Deets, which emphasized how the competency hearing process can delay a trial, keeping defendants in state custody indefinitely. The course also highlighted the vital role of prosecutors in moving toward a more holistic view of justice that goes beyond punishment and deterrence.

Deets got Bergmann thinking about how a prosecutor’s compassionate intervention at the initial stages of criminal proceedings can lead to more just outcomes for both defendants and the state.

“There is a space for prosecutors to do more work in pursuit of equitable outcomes,” Bergmann says. “It’s more than focusing on convictions and securing harsh penalties.”

Emory Law has always offered core criminal law and procedure courses taught by tenured faculty. These doctrinal, lecture-style courses include Criminal Law, Evidence, Constitutional Criminal Procedure: Investigations, Criminal Procedure: Adjudication, and White Collar Crime. They equip students with a solid foundation and help them determine if they want to dig deeper into criminal law. Students interested in issues of juvenile justice can also take courses taught by Randee Waldman, director of the Juvenile Defender Clinic at the Barton Child Law and Policy Center, where they can also gain hands-on experience working with juveniles.

In recent years, Emory has increased skills-based criminal courses taught by adjunct instructors “to help our students develop the skill-set they need to go out into the world,” says Associate Dean Kay Levine. She has assembled a diverse group of adjunct instructors, with a goal of offering five or six courses taught by her “crimi- nal skills posse” every semester.

“The diversity of offerings is so rich, it’s fantastic,” she says.

Skills-based criminal law courses include Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, DUI Trials, Expert Witness Examination, Access to Justice, Cross-Examination, and Advanced Criminal Trial Advocacy, which takes students through a murder trial. Many of the criminal law classes taught by adjunct instructors are small, with just 14 students. “We want them up on their feet,” Levine says, adding that Emory also offers a practicum in litigating competency hearings.

Interest in specialized criminal courses has grown with the explosion of true-crime blogs, documentaries, and podcasts. Students come to class eager to talk about the injustice, discrimination, and abuse of power they have learned about through their favorite podcasts. “Something has caught fire with our students,” Levine says. “They are much more open to the idea that there are breakdowns in the system and that people are fallible.”

Registrar Katherine Hinson said the small classes taught by adjunct instructors promote hands-on learning that can be applied in the workplace. “I love what Associate Dean Levine has done to keep our criminal course offerings exciting, new, and fresh,” she says, adding that the downside of small classes is that it can be hard for students to get a seat.

Levine recommends students take skills-based courses as 2ls, so they can focus on externships as 3ls, “and can get involved with actual cases.”

Students can build a toolkit that includes skills-based courses, doctrinal courses, the Trial Techniques Program, and externships, ensuring they graduate with the experience and perspective needed to land the job that will get them on the path to a rewarding career in criminal justice.

As a Bederman Fellow, Bergmann studied at The Hague Academy of International Law, where he was briefed on the International Criminal Court. He was struck by how students from countries other than the United States regarded a 20-year sentence as sufficiently harsh for a person convicted of war crimes, whereas Americans tended to perceive such a sentence as too light.

He externed with the Law Office of the Public Defender in DeKalb County and served as a judicial extern for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He interned at Human Rights First in Washington DC.

As graduation approached, he got an on-campus interview with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. The city’s new district attorney, Larry Krasner, was looking for progressive-minded prosecutors to be part of his organization-wide approach to addressing mass incarceration.

Bergmann did not realize he would be interviewing with Krasner until two police officers introduced themselves as Krasner’s security detail.

Krasner hired Bergmann, along with two other Emory Law students, former SBA President Nicole ElMurr 19L and Sergio Glajar 19L, who was president of the Criminal Law Society. “I was attracted to the idea of working in an office where progressive prosecution is not just an individual lawyer’s choice about how to do his job,” Bergmann says. “Here, progressive prosecution means that all levels of the organization are working together to approach criminal prosecutions in a more just and equitable manner.”

In the future, he hopes to be involved with bail reform and other progressive policies aimed at reducing the prison population.

For Peter Wosnik 17L 17T, criminal defense proved to be the right path, even though he spent his summer between 1l and 2l at a federal prosecutor’s office in Utah. Wosnik then took a detour into law and religion, serving as assistant managing editor for peer review for the Journal of Law and Religion and working toward his Master of Theological Studies. All the while, he kept taking criminal law courses. He externed with the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office in suburban Atlanta.

But for his first job after graduation, he got the opportunity to try criminal defense at the Walton County Public Defender’s Office. In just one year, he worked on 600 cases, including felony trials. “After that, I felt like I had the foundation to represent people,” he says. He started his own practice in fall of 2018, practicing criminal defense, working cases ranging from traffic violations to murder, as well as family law.

Looking back, he appreciates the core criminal law courses he took, as well as courses such as Professional Responsibility, which touched on the business skills needed for private practice. The Journal of Law and Religion is where he learned to draft professional correspondence and keep track of records.

Wosnik values the experience he got in the public sector, but private practice offers the long-term career he envisions.

“I wanted the autonomy and the ability to take cases where justice was a question and I felt I could make a difference,” he said. “I was drawn to the idea that the sky is the limit.”

Adjunct Professor Jason Costa 99C 06L is part of the "criminal skills posse" created to help offer valuable courses to students. He teaches Cross Examination and Access to Justice.

Courses Related to Criminal Law

• Access to Justice (Adjunct)
• Adv. Criminal Trial Advocacy (Adjunct)
• Adv. Evidence (Adjunct)
• Adv. Issues in White Collar Defense (Adjunct)
• Capital Defender Practicum (Adjunct)
• Constitutional Criminal Procedure (Full-time)
• Criminal Competency/Responsibility (Adjunct)
• Criminal Law (Full-time)
• Criminal Law Defense (Adjunct)
• Criminal Pretrial Motions Practicum (Adjunct)
• Criminal Procedure: Adjudication (Full-time)
• Cross-Examination Techniques (Adjunct)
• Domestic Violence: U.S. Legal Response (Adjunct)
• DUI Trials (Adjunct)
• Evidence (Full-time)
• Expert Witness Examination (Adjunct)
• Federal Prosecution Practice (Adjunct)
• Human Trafficking (Adjunct)
• International Criminal Law (Full-time)
• Juvenile Defender Clinic (Full-time)
• Mental Health Issues in Criminal Justice (Adjunct)
• National Security Law (Full-time)
• National Security Law Workshop (Full-time)
• Sentencing Practice (Adjunct)
• Sentencing: Past, Present, & Future (Adjunct)
• Transnational Criminal Litigation (Adjunct)
• Trial Practice Advocacy (Adjunct)
• Trial Techniques (Adjunct)
• White-Collar Crime (Full-time)
• White-Collar Crime Workshop (Adjunct)