Barry Scheck is a nationally recognized and acclaimed defense lawyer and professor hailing from New York City. From staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society in the Bronx, to president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, his successful career has spanned 35 years, during which time he has helped to reform and reshape the United States justice system. He is perhaps most famous for co-directing The Innocence Project, which he founded at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1992 with Peter Neufield, also his partner in their law firm dedicated to civil rights, Neufield Scheck & Brustin, LLP. The Innocence project is a non-profit organization dedicated to overturning wrongful convictions through the use of DNA testing, and has exonerated over 300 men and women who served or were still serving prison sentences for crimes they did not commit.
Scheck is also known for serving on the defense team of O.J. Simpson in his highly publicized 1995 murder trial, as well as serving as the personal lawyer for other high profile defendants, including Hedda Nussbaum and Louise Woodward. Scheck has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work, including the New York State Bar Association gold medal in 2013, National Trial Lawyers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, and the 2009 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law. He has additionally been named one of the 100 Best Lawyers in America multiple times.
Born in 1949 in Queens, Scheck graduated from Horace Mann School in Riverdale, went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1971, and later his JD from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley in 1974. He is currently a professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he has been a faculty member for 30 years.
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Michael Pollan2013Author and Food Activist
Letty Cottin Pogrebin2011Author
Thomas Friedman2009Author & Journalist
Dr. Ruth Westheimer2008Sociologist and psychosexual therapist
Scott S. Cowen, Ph.D.2006President of Tulane University
Frédéric Brenner2004Photographer
Barry Scheck, Esq.2003Defense Attorney and Professor
Dr. Judah Folkman2002Medical researcher
Ruth Gruber2001Journalist and humanitarian
David Halberstam2000Journalist and Non-fiction Writer
Peter Yarrow1999Musician and Activist
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield1998Ice Cream Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists and Activists
Felix G. Rohatyn1996Former U.S. Ambassador and Investment Banker
Senator Charles E. Schumer1995Democratic Politician
Marion Wiesel1993Translator and Humanitarian Activist
Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe1992Physician and Medical Activist
Adam Michnik1991Journalist and Anti-Communist Dissident
Jonathan Kozol1990Author and Education Activist
Isaac Stern1989Violinist and Philanthropist
Eugene M. Lang1988Businessman and Philanthropist
Mathilde Krim, Ph.D.1987Scientist and Medical Researcher
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