Andrea Michele Marsh

Andrea Michele Marsh

  • Lecturer
  • Director - Richard & Ginni Mithoff Pro Bono Program

Faculty Profile: Andrea Michele Marsh

Main Profile Content

Biography

Andrea Marsh is a Clinical Lecturer and the Director of the Richard and Ginni Mithoff Pro Bono Program in the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law. In her role leading the Mithoff Program, Ms. Marsh works with students, private lawyers, and nonprofit organizations to develop and execute pro bono projects that provide meaningful experiential learning opportunities to Texas Law students and provide free legal services to over 1,500 individuals annually.  

Ms. Marsh has professional experience in civil rights advocacy, criminal justice policy, and nonprofit fundraising and management. Prior to joining Texas Law, Ms. Marsh served as the Founding Executive Director of the Texas Fair Defense Project for ten years. At TFDP, Ms. Marsh worked with judges and bar leaders to create new standards and programs for the delivery of public defense services, led advocacy campaigns that resulted in legislation that protects the rights of poor people accused of crimes, and successfully challenged unconstitutional public defense procedures before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Texas Supreme Court, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Ms. Marsh maintains a number of volunteer positions related to her work to address civil rights violations in the criminal legal system and consults on state and national criminal legal system reform efforts.

Ms. Marsh is a graduate of Tulane University and Yale Law School. She clerked for the Honorable Keith P. Ellison of the United States District Court in Laredo, Texas. Ms. Marsh has been awarded several prestigious national public interest fellowships, including the Liman Public Interest Fellowship (2002-2003, Yale Law School), the Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship (2004-2006, Open Society Foundations), the Wasserstein Public Interest Fellowship (2005-2006, Harvard Law School), and the Humanities Institute Community Sabbatical Research Fellowship (2012-2013, University of Texas at Austin). Her work has been recognized with the State Bar of Texas’s J. Chrys Dougherty Legal Services Award (2014), an Impact Award from the Bar’s Poverty Law Section (2014), the Bar’s Michael K. Moore Award for Excellence in Research or Writing in the Area of Indigent Criminal Defense (2014), the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association’s Public Interest Award (2014), the Texas Law Fellowship’s Excellence in Public Interest Award (2009), and Texas Lawyer magazine’s Extraordinary Women in Texas Law Award (2008). 

Professional Activities

2020

2020-present

Board of Directors

Regional Public Defender Office for Capital Cases Local Government Corporation

2019

2019-present

Organizational Development Committee

Travis County Public Defender Office

2018

2018-2019

Travis County Indigent Legal Services Work Group

Travis County Commissioners Court

2018-present

Pro Bono Committee

Austin Bar Association

2017

April 6-7, 2017

Conference Reporter

Judicial Responsibility for Justice in Criminal Courts Conference, Monroe H. Freedman Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics at Hofstra University's Maurice A. Deane School of Law

2017-2020

Price of Justice Grant Advisory Committee

Texas Office of Court Administration

2017-2019

Curriculum Consultant, Private Assigned Counsel Mentoring Programs

Smart Defense Initiative, National Legal Aid and Defender Association

2016

2016-present

Committee on Legal Services to the Poor in Criminal Matters

State Bar of Texas

2016

Collection Improvement Program Rules Review Advisory Committee

Texas Judicial Council

February 20 and May 20, 2016

Facilitator

Texas Law Stakeholder Convening on Municipal Courts/Fines and Fees

2015

2015-2019

Public Defense Litigation Advisory Committee

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

2015-2019

Smart Defense Portal State Advisory Group

Texas Indigent Defense Commission

2015-present

Board of Directors

Texas Fair Defense Project

2014

2014-2016

Executive Committee

Yale Law School Association

2014-present

Pro Bono Work Group

State Bar of Texas

April 9, 2014

Invited Participant

Yale Law School Criminal Justice Theory & Practice Workshop

2013

2013-2017

Client Choice Project Advisory Panel

Texas Indigent Defense Commission

2013-2015

Texas Weighted Caseload Study Advisory Panel

Texas Indigent Defense Commission

2008

2008-2009

Harris County Public Defender Office Study Group

Harris County Commissioners Court

2007

2007-2020

Oversight Board

Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases

2006

2006-2012

Committee on Legal Services to the Poor in Criminal Matters

State Bar of Texas

2006-2010

Inmate Representation Work Group

Texas Access to Justice Commission

2005

2005-present

Discretionary Grant Review Team

Texas Indigent Defense Commission

2004

2004-2011

Board of Directors

Texas Criminal Justice Coalition