Leslie E. Scott

Leslie E. Scott

Associate Professor of Law

Leslie Scott
Contact Info:
Campus: Riverfront Campus
Building: Dowling Hall
Room: 315
Phone: 313-596-0203
Leslie Scott
Areas of Expertise:
Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Evidence
Sentencing Law
Federal Criminal Practice
Federal Criminal Defense

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).