Mike Apsan-Orgera, J.D., LL.M.

Mike Apsan-Orgera, J.D., LL.M.Mike Apsan-Orgera, J.D., LL.M.Mike Apsan-Orgera, J.D., LL.M.
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Mike Apsan-Orgera, J.D., LL.M.

Mike Apsan-Orgera, J.D., LL.M.Mike Apsan-Orgera, J.D., LL.M.Mike Apsan-Orgera, J.D., LL.M.
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UCLA School of Law Prisoners' Rights Clinic

Nov. 11, 2024

Nov. 11, 2024Nov. 11, 2024Nov. 11, 2024

Michaela Firmage & Sylvie Lydon argued Avila v. Felder. Watch the argument here. Read the decision here. 

About Mike

Mike Apsan-Orgera; Senator Corey Booker

Mike Apsan-Orgera is a Summer Fellow in the Peter Gruber Challenging Mass Incarceration Clinic and the Criminal Justice Advocacy Clinic  at Yale Law School's Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization. His work focuses on systemic reform efforts aimed at combating mass incarceration and advancing criminal legal system equity.


Mike completed his LL.M with a specialization in criminal justice  at UCLA School of Law, where he ranked third in his class. He earned a distinction from the Judge Rand Schrader Pro Bono Program for his extensive pro bono contributions in the El Centro Legal Reentry Clinic and Legal Veterans Clinic. 


Mike earned his J.D., summa cum laude, from Nova Southeastern University – Shepard Broad College of Law. He was a member of Nova Law Review and received the Van Horn Group Pro Bono Award for his commitment to pro bono public interest work.


Mike's legal experience includes an externship with the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Los Angeles (Noncapital Habeas Unit), UCLA’s Prisoners’ Rights Clinic, and Nova’s Veterans Law Clinic and Disability Inclusion and Advocacy (DIAL) Law Clinic. He has also worked as a law clerk at multiple firms and organizations, including Reid Levin, PLLC, Ramey Litigation Group APC, Apsan Law Offices, Philips Corp., and Avaya, Inc.


Mike’s scholarly interests lie at the intersection of wrongful conviction, bail reform, and preventive detention. His research focuses on non-DNA exonerations of individuals who pleaded guilty to crimes they did not commit and how modern bail reform erodes the constitutional presumption of innocence by imposing pretrial preventive detention on legally presumed—and in some cases, factually innocent—individuals before trial.


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