黑料门

Renowned criminal defense lawyer Dean Strang joins Loyola鈥檚 faculty

Dean Strang never planned to become a lawyer 鈥� he wanted to be an editorial cartoonist. But during his undergrad years, he thought he should pursue a more practical profession. Taking a cue from his aunt Eileen, a 鈥渂listeringly smart鈥� and trailblazing lawyer he had long admired, Strang enrolled in law school in 1982. After stints in employee benefits litigation work, he found himself practicing criminal law鈥攊ncluding a run as Wisconsin鈥檚 first federal defender. In 2006, Strang began representing Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man accused of murder in a case that received worldwide attention after the 2015 release of the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer. Here, the School of Law鈥檚 distinguished professor in residence discusses his most important lessons, what needs to change in the criminal justice system, and why he鈥檚 optimistic about the next generation of law leaders.

What is the most important thing you learned from working on Steven Avery鈥檚 case?

It was one of the only cases I鈥檝e had in which I was convinced that law enforcement planted essential pieces of evidence. It鈥檚 much more common to have questions about whether the police lawfully seized something than to have real questions about whether the police themselves created or placed the evidence they claim to have found. And that鈥檚 a tough defense to have to make, particularly in a rural area. 鈥� The police institutionally, as a whole, tend to be respected and not suspected of that kind of gross misconduct.

And I鈥檓 the grandson of a police officer. After my own parents, he鈥檚 probably the most significant contributor to my own formation as a person. I had to grapple with a duty to the truth as I believed it to be, and a duty to a client to say, 鈥淲e can鈥檛 trust the police here. We can鈥檛 trust the evidence they say they found.鈥� I had to balance that with a whole lot of reluctance as a practical matter and as a personal matter to make that argument and to present that evidence. That was a learning experience and a reminder of how important it is to try to take yourself out of a case 鈥� to make it about your client and what kind of society we want to live in.

What do you think needs to change in the legal and criminal justice systems?

All of us are so steeped in the idea of punitive response as an answer to fears, an answer to social disruptions, an answer to violence, and an answer to drug and alcohol problems. We鈥檙e so steeped in it that we don鈥檛 even see it. We can鈥檛 break out of it because we鈥檙e not aware of just how enmeshed in it we are. So rethinking whether punishment is something that makes sense鈥攁nd to what extent it makes sense鈥攊s an important first step in this. 

Recognizing that the institutions of state power, whether they鈥檙e the police, the courts, the corrections departments, probation, and parole鈥擨鈥檓 not talking about the military at the moment鈥攁ll of them exist and always have existed predominantly to control pretty narrow subsets of our population and to control them repressively. We are beginning to awaken to that and willing to talk about it. That there are deep structural inequities in how these institutions work, and indeed how they鈥檙e designed to work, is an important emerging or coalescing point of recognition, I think. It allows us to then begin to talk about, what do we want to do differently?

I think we鈥檙e seeing a broader awareness of how pervasive mental health problems are鈥攁nd I include drug and alcohol abuse in that鈥攁nd how ill鈥憇uited the tools of criminal justice and corrections are in actually fixing those problems rather than making them worse. I see a number of areas in which there seems to be a coalescing awareness or willingness to hear and listen, that I wouldn鈥檛 have seen present five years ago.

Do you think there have been improvements in the criminal justice system over the last few years?

The last five years have seen a broad awakening of engagement with questions of systemic injustice. And embraced within the idea of systemic injustice are deep inequalities in the way race affects people鈥檚 experience, ethnicity affects people鈥檚 experience, recent arrival as an immigrant affects people鈥檚 experience, class as an overarching factor affects the experience of people with our government institutions鈥攊ncluding those that immodestly and inaccurately claim to be a criminal justice system. 

I think that media鈥攂oth the traditional media and social media鈥攈ave had a significant pull in this broader engagement that I sense is spreading rapidly. The impact of social media is obvious because people now can connect in France, Algeria, Canada鈥攚herever鈥攁nd share common concerns or detect common patterns in inequality and injustice. All of this, at least, has coincided with a rising level of interest in the true-crime genre, which is cyclical. I have sensed it on stages, at lecterns, by the way an audience engages in individual cases or in the minutiae of police process, investigative process, court rules, rules of appellate courts. 

Regarding the guilty verdict for your client Steven Avery, you were quoted in the media as being disappointed, understandably, and that you had 鈥渢hat feeling of failure and inadequacy that never goes away.鈥� Do you still feel that way?

Yes, and probably more. Part of my experience in the last five years has been meeting, hearing from, and reading the work of people who鈥檝e been more engaged, for longer, with all of these problems than I have. In some ways, as a practicing lawyer, you are a creature of the clients you have right now鈥攖heir immediate problems. And you have to be oriented toward that. We鈥檙e in the business of personal service鈥攏ot trying to fix the world but trying to help one person fix their life or have their life not come completely undone. But it gives you a very microscopic focus. [Regarding] why I feel more inadequate and more the sense of failure? It鈥檚 just as I recognize the breadth of possible engagement and the obligation to try to engage more broadly, I鈥檓 ever more acutely aware of my human limitations.

What are your greatest strengths as a lawyer?

I鈥檓 a pretty good writer in the world of practicing lawyers. I鈥檓 a relatively creative thinker about how to approach practical but recurrent problems that you actually see in the practice of law鈥攈ow to attack those in a new or creative way. I do well with clients as a rule; I rarely end up with a broken relationship with a client. I really treasure clients as people who鈥檝e got usually much more to offer the world than they鈥檝e been given credit for having. 

What about as a professor? What do you think are the greatest strengths you bring into the classroom?

Curiosity, a commitment to learn myself and to share the project of learning with students, and to try to be a collaborator and a companion in the project of learning. Genuine enthusiasm for addressing the shortcomings of our legal system, for exposing and trying to change or at least help position students to change, over time, the inanities and falsities of legal doctrine. And I like students. I like people who are engaged in the project of learning鈥攖hey want to be something more tomorrow than they perceive themselves as being today, and I find that hugely appealing. 

What would you say to students who want to come to law school or are coming to law school, but they鈥檙e not exactly sure what they want to focus on? What might you tell them?

Good for you. That was me. In fact, not only did I not know what I wanted to focus on鈥擨 did know what I 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 want to focus on, which was anything having anything to do with criminal law. And here I am, 35 years later. That鈥檚 part of the magic of education, that you maybe go in not knowing what you want, or having an idea about what you want, and end up in a very, very different place鈥攁nd glad for the journey that got you there.

Don鈥檛 get me wrong 鈥� it鈥檚 wonderful to see people come in on fire about something鈥攍ike intellectual property 鈥� or antitrust law, or whatever it might be鈥攂ut it鈥檚 not essential. There鈥檚 lots of room to explore. I was that student, and I鈥檓 here to tell you that I don鈥檛 regret a bit coming into law school uncertain of what I wanted to do three years later with a law degree. It鈥檚 enough that the drive to go to law school is focused on the beginning date, on your first day of law school. And if you鈥檙e enthusiastic about the possibilities of studying law, you can find something that will allow you to lead a meaningful life. 鈥揔risti Turnbaugh