Declan Tomlinson
dtomlinson@SanDiego.edu
(619) 260-4179
Professor of Practice; Academic Director, LLM in U.S. Law Online Programs
- LLM 1992, Georgetown University
- JD 1990, American University
- BBA 1986, Temple University
Areas of Expertise
Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Wrongful Convictions
Professional Experience
Professor Brooks has been a trial and appellate criminal defense attorney for more than 35 years and has handled many high profile criminal cases. He was the Co-Founder and Founding Director of the California Innocence Project from 1999-2023, and under his direction the project freed 40 innocent people from prison (including former NFL player Brian Banks). Professor Brooks travels around the world training lawyers and initiating innocence organizations, including dozens of innocence organizations in Latin America.
Professor Brooks is the author of the only legal casebook devoted to the topic of wrongful convictions, and the author of “You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You’re Innocent,” a book that details the causes of wrongful convictions based on his experience freeing innocent people from prison. He is portrayed by Academy Award nominated actor Greg Kinnear in the feature film, “Brian Banks."
Honors and Affiliations
Professor Brooks has been recognized several times by the Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California, and in 2010 and 2012, California Lawyer Magazine honored him with the “Lawyer of the Year” award. He was named “International Lawyer of the Year” by the California Bar International Section in 2020, and in the same year was named “Champion of Justice” by the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. In 2024, Professor Brooks was awarded the Ohtli Award for his work freeing innocent Latinos and assisting in launching innocence organizations in Latin America. The Ohtli award is the highest award given by the Mexican government to foreigners.
Scholarly Work
- Wrongful Convictions: Cases and Materials (4th ed., Vandeplas Publishing 2025)
- You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You’re Innocent (University of California Press 2023)
- Wrongful Convictions: Cases and Materials (3 ed., Vandeplas Publishing 2018)
- If Hindsight Is 20/20, Our Justice System Shouldn’t Be Blind to New Evidence of Innocence: A Survey of Post-Conviction New Evidence Statutes and a Proposed Model, 79 Albany Law Review (2016) (with Simpson & Kaneb)
- Wrongfully Convicted in California: Are there Connections Between Exonerations, Prosecutorial and Police Procedures, and Justice Reforms?, 45 Hofstra Law Review 373 (2016) (with Zach Brooks)