Shawn Armbrust

Bio

Shawn has devoted her legal career to the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, where she represents people who have been convicted of crimes they did not commit and have helped turn a small nonprofit into one of the most successful innocence organizations in the country.

Shawn Armbrust has been the Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) since 2005.  In that capacity, she works to prevent and correct wrongful convictions in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. 

During her tenure, MAIP has helped free 21 innocent people, has helped secure the passage of several laws that would help prevent wrongful convictions, and has developed important relationships with prosecutors and government agencies in each of its jurisdictions.

Before joining MAIP, she clerked for the Honorable Gladys Kessler of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.  Prior to law school, she was the case coordinator at the Center on Wrongful Convictions at the Northwestern University School of Law.  She is on the Executive Board of the Innocence Network and is a member of the National Committee on the Right to Counsel. 

Ms. Armbrust graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center and with honors from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.