Leslie E. Scott
Leslie E. Scott
Associate Professor of Law


Degrees
- J.D. American University Washington College of Law '09
- B.A. University of Michigan ’04
Biography
Leslie Scott’s expertise lies at the intersection of race, mental illness, and criminal justice. Professor Scott worked for nearly seven years as a criminal defense attorney the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Western District of New York. Scott additionally completed judicial clerkships for the Honorable Victoria A. Roberts of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and the Honorable Senior Judges of the D.C. Court of Appeals.
Professor Scott joined the faculty of Detroit Mercy Law in 2019 as an Assistant Professor of Law. She was promoted to Associate Professor of Law in 2022. Currently, she serves on the ACLU of Michigan’s Lawyer’s Committee where she assists the ACLU’s legal department to identify cases and issues to pursue. Previously, she provided Detroit-area high school students mentorship through the Just the Beginning Foundation’s Summer Legal Institute, regularly spoke to Buffalo-area high school students about the role of public defenders in the criminal justice system, and helped found and was a board member of a Buffalo inner-city charter school that primarily served low-income, minority elementary school students.
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Courses Taught
Evidence and Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
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Selected Publications
Federal Prosecutorial Overreach in the Age of Opioids: The Statutory and Constitutional Case Against Duplicitous Drug Indictments, 51 U. Tol. L. Rev. 491 (2020).
“It Never, Ever Ends”: The Psychological Impact of Wrongful Conviction, American University, Washington College of Law Criminal Law Brief, Vol. V Issue II (Spring 2010)
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Selected Presentations
Michigan Center for Civic Education Project Citizen, Lansing, MI (virtually), July 23, 2020: Featured scholar on Public Policy, Safety, and Justice.
University of Toledo Law Review Symposium, Toledo, OH, October 11, 2019: Federal Prosecutorial Overreach in the Age of Opioids: The Statutory and Constitutional Case Against Duplicitous Drug Indictments.
Western District of New York Biannual Criminal Defense Seminar, Batavia, NY, October 13, 2017: Burrage and Beyond – Defending Death Results Cases (co-presenter).