Paige Kaneb is a Supervising Attorney at the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP), which she joined in 2007.
Why do you write?
Because I hope to put ideas/arguments out there and help make change. Also to get people out of prison – the majority of my work is writing their stories and their claims in habeas petitions that need to be compelling enough to get the court interested (on habeas, you are not entitled to a response or a hearing unless the papers establish a prima facie case).
Is there a scholar who most inspires you?
John B. Kirkwood
What do you think has been your most impactful work?
My legal writing. But of my scholarship, each had very different impacts – Outside the Echo Chamber gets cited a lot in litigation, Innocence Presumed has led to attorneys litigating innocence claims in federal court reaching out for advice and briefing, and Hindsight is 20/20 was really helpful in getting the law changed in California.
What work are you most proud of and why?
I am most proud of the arguments I’ve created on behalf of our clients. I love telling their stories in a way that no one has done in the past and finding ways to show that they are innocent and didn’t get a fair trial. I love being able to create new arguments that no one has been making and that was part of the purpose for the first two articles I write – to get those arguments out into the world for others to use.
What’s your next project?
I want to write more on shaken baby syndrome, but not another long law review article. Shorter pieces can go in different places and formats and catch a broader audience. I really want to write a book about civil rights litigation that mixes case law and strategy and stories of the people, but I don’t foresee having time to do that any time soon.
