Lynn W. L. Fahey graduated Magna Cum Laude from Vassar College and “With Distinction” from Cornell Law School. She has devoted her professional life to representing criminal defendants who are poor. Before founding Appellate Advocates, she spent more than 20 years with the Criminal Appeals Bureau of The Legal Aid Society, where she served as Assistant Attorney-in-Charge from 1986 to 1995.
In 2003, she was the first recipient of the New York State Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section award for “Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Appellate Advocacy.” In 2009, she was the first attorney to successfully establish a convicted New York murder defendant’s actual innocence.
She is one of the principal authors of the West book New York Criminal Law (first, second, and third editions), for which she has written the chapters explaining the law of homicide, assault, robbery, and burglary, among other crimes. She has lectured widely on criminal law, criminal procedure, and appellate practice under the auspices of various public defender organizations, bar associations, and the New York court system.