Richard Gutierrez
Assistant Professor
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C1055
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Biography
Richard E. Gutierrez is an Assistant Professor of Law teaches Lawyering Skills I, Criminal Law, and other courses. He has extensive experience as a criminal litigator and has been recognized for his expertise in forensic evidence, serving on boards tasked with developing standards for forensic analysts and laboratories as well as training attorneys nationwide on effective litigation strategies for cases involving forensic evidence.
Prior to entering academia, Professor Gutierrez spent two years as a clerk with the Staff Attorneys Office for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He then served for a decade as an assistant public defender for the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender, spending most of that time as part of its Forensic Science Division, a specialized unit focused on litigating scientific and technical evidence, where he undertook groundbreaking litigation including by acting as lead counsel for the first admissibility hearings held in Illinois on probabilistic genotyping and firearms examination evidence. Professor Gutierrez’s interdisciplinary scholarship focuses on the intersection of forensic evidence with the criminal legal system.
He is specifically interested in questions surrounding the validity of pattern matching evidence, the legal system’s ability to appropriately vet scientific evidence, and juror perceptions of expert testimony. His work is published or forthcoming in law reviews and peer-reviewed scientific journals including the Journal of Forensic Sciences; Law, Probability, & Risk; Jurimetrics; and the UC Law Journal. Professor Gutierrez holds a B.A. in English and History from the University of Florida, and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.