Claire Powers

Claire Powers was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon. She attended Middlebury College, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in Political Science, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Geography. After working in private criminal defense in New York City and public defense in Seattle, she returned home to attend the University of Oregon School of Law, graduating Order of the Coif in 2018.

During law school, Claire served as a legal research and writing tutor and staff editor for the Oregon Law Review. Committed to the defense of indigent Oregonians, she worked as a law clerk for the Federal Public Defender of Oregon, represented clients charged with misdemeanors as a court-certified law student with the Metropolitan Public Defenders, and externed with the Oregon Innocence Project.

After graduating from law school, Claire spent two years clerking for Judge Marco Hernández at the U.S. District Court of Oregon. Before joining EJL, Claire worked for the Oregon Innocence Project’s Wrongful Conviction Review Program (later, the FA:IR Law Project) as a staff attorney focused on addressing systemic harms in the criminal legal system through mass case reviews and post-conviction challenges to unjust convictions and excessive sentences.