This past spring, Stephen Ross Johnson, ( ’02), stepped back into the classroom. He was on a mission to reestablish the University of Tennessee College of Law Legal Clinic’s commitment to bringing justice to those who have been wrongfully convicted.
“As a student and then professor, I have worked to help those with claims of wrongful conviction seek release from prison,” said Johnson. “The clinic has always played an important role in this arena in Tennessee. When I was recently asked to work on a wrongful conviction case involving DNA testing in East Tennessee, I realized that it was time to reinvigorate this work with students.”
For over two decades, Johnson, a partner at Ritchie, Johnson & Stovall, P.C., has defended criminal cases in state and federal courts throughout the United States, ranging from complex white-collar financial crimes to death penalty cases. He is second vice president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is a past president of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
He has been involved in the innocence movement in Tennessee for over two decades. In his appellate practice, he has successfully represented persons wrongfully convicted of serious felony matters on appeal and collateral review, including state post-conviction and federal habeas corpus proceedings. He assisted in the efforts that resulted in the passage of the Tennessee Post-Conviction DNA Analysis Act of 2001 and the Tennessee Post-Conviction Fingerprint Analysis Act of 2021.
In 2000, Johnson, a student at the time, was one of the founding members of an innocence project at Tennessee Law. This all-volunteer project was led by professors, local lawyers, and students to assist individuals with innocence and wrongful conviction cases.
“It was the first of its kind in Tennessee,” says Joy Radice, director of clinical programs and associate professor of law. “What began as a robust pro bono project, quickly evolved into a full-year clinic course in 2009 taught by Stephen and other lawyers who were experts in the field.”
As word spread about the work, the clinic was flooded with requests for help and students led by Johnson took on a growing number of complex cases. Over time, it was clear that a more organized and resourced non-profit was needed to fill this very big access-to-justice gap.
“In 2018, we made a difficult decision to temporarily shut down the Innocence and Wrongful Convictions Clinic and develop the Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP), a statewide organization with a mission to exonerate individuals with innocence claims,” explains Johnson. The students in the clinic’s community economic development clinic worked to incorporate the non-profit. Stephen Ross Johnson was the founding president of the board, and Radice served as a founding board member.
TIP, with alumnae Jessica Van Dyke (’11) as its first executive director, is now a thriving organization housed in Nashville and Memphis. With the non-profit up and running, and requests from incarcerated individuals exceeding the resources of any one organization, Johnson felt the time was right to return his attention to work in East Tennessee and Appalachia.
The new Wrongful Convictions Clinic aims to maintain a small caseload of clients with wrongful convictions claims referred by local courts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, or through collaborations with innocence clinics across the country. “The growing attention to wrongful conviction work in Tennessee, even by prosecutor’s offices, means that these types of referrals are made frequently,” says Johnson.
In the spring of 2024, Tennessee Law faculty approved piloting the clinic as a new four-credit Wrongful Convictions Clinic course. The first registration was a success, with more than double the expected number of the students trying to enroll in the class. The clinic has run successfully for two semesters with Johnson as the lead professor. Radice and Tyler Dougherty, clinical teaching fellow, developed curriculum and supervised students.
“Training students to work on these cases not only introduces them to a complicated area of law but also teaches them critical advocacy skills, including drafting legal arguments, working with witnesses, and conducting meticulous investigation,” says Dougherty.

The course includes a seminar that teaches students the foundational law and skills needed to work on their cases. The professors supervise students’ work in weekly meetings outside of class where students receive individualized feedback and guidance to assist their clients.
“This clinic has taught me that lawyers need to be able to work on multiple fronts to truly advocate for our clients,” says third-year student Katie DeReus. “For the first time, I learned from an expert about the science of DNA and how new testing can benefit my client. I worked with an investigator. I identified a new part of the law that could help our client. It’s been amazing. I hope to continue this work in the future.”
“It’s exciting to revive our longstanding work in this area,” says Radice. “For many former students, this clinic experience helped shape their careers or led them to important pro bono commitments long after graduation. I hope that a new Wrongful Conviction Clinic will continue the legacy of significant victories for people without access to lawyers that began in 2000.”