Kristen Stanley

Kristen Stanley is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Lawyering Program. She teaches Lawyering, Trauma-Informed Lawyering, Trauma and the Law, and the Death Penalty in America. She also regularly presents at various professional training programs for criminal defenders nationwide.

Before teaching, Professor Stanley represented death-sentenced individuals in their federal habeas corpus and state post-conviction proceedings. As an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Capital Habeas Unit of the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Tennessee, Professor Stanley represented individuals under sentence of death in their federal habeas proceedings in Federal District Court, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Supreme Court, and Tennessee state court proceedings. Professor Stanley also practiced in Louisiana where she represented people sentenced to death in state post-conviction proceedings.

Professor Stanley also has her Masters in Social Work. She specializes in understanding the effects of and effective treatment of trauma. Her focus is on the ways in which exposure to traumatic experiences impacts neurobiology, human development, brain functioning, and interpersonal relationships, particularly in the context of the criminal judicial system. She is also interested in the social, cultural, and political forces that shape exposure to, and recovery from, traumatic experiences.