Overview

Alison K. Guernsey directs the law school’s Federal Criminal Defense Clinic, one of only two trial-level federal criminal defense clinics in the nation. Under her supervision, law students represent indigent people charged with criminal offenses in the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa at all stages of the case from initial appearance through direct appeal.  

In addition to the Clinic’s traditional public-defense work, in 2018, Professor Guernsey launched the “Decarceration Project,” an initiative focused on legal advocacy for people serving long or particularly burdensome sentences in prison or while under community supervision. The project seeks to secure “second looks” of existing sentences—no matter the original crime of conviction—by asking courts and other decision-makers to reconsider whether those sentences remain justified given now-existing facts, changes in law, and evolving understandings of the purpose and effectiveness of carceral control.

Professor Guernsey’s client representation, teaching, advocacy, and scholarship focus on improving the fairness and effectiveness of the federal criminal legal system, with a particular emphasis on defense ethics, discovery and investigation, compassionate release, and supervised release. Professor Guernsey is frequently invited to teach lawyering skills, substantive federal criminal law, and legal ethics by courts and legal organizations nationwide.

Before joining the faculty, Professor Guernsey was the Supervising Attorney for the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho. Professor Guernsey clerked for the Honorable Michael J. Melloy, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore, U.S Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

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Research areas

• Supervised release 
• Second look litigation
• Federal criminal discovery
• Ethics in the criminal legal system

Teaching areas

• Criminal Law 
• Federal Criminal Defense
• Criminal Procedure (Adjudication)
• Federal Courts
• Trial Advocacy
• Appellate Advocacy

Professional affiliations and memberships

• Member, National Ass’n of Criminal Defense Lawyers (Corrections Committee)
• Member, Second Look Network, The Sentencing Project
• Member, Second Chances Working Group, FAMM
• Member, Iowa State Bar Association
• Member, Federal Practice Committee, U.S. District Court for the N. District of Iowa 
• Fellow, American Bar Foundation 
• Member, Executive Committee, Iowa Legal Aid Board of Directors
  • Board President (2024-2026)
• Member, CJA Panels for the U.S. District Courts for the N. and S. Districts of Iowa 
• Admitted to practice in the following jurisdictions:
  • State of New York (2009) 
  • State of Iowa (2017)
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (2008)
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (2009) 
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2011)
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (2022)
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa (2018)
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa (2018)               
  • U.S. Supreme Court (2019)

Awards and honors

• Appointed Member, Academic Advisory Board, U.S. Supreme Court Fellows Program (2025-2026 Term).

• Recipient, University of Iowa President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence (2025-26) 

• College of Law Nominee, University of Iowa President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence (2024-25)

• Recipient, University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center, Career Impact Award (Faculty) (2025) 

• College of Law Nominee, University of Iowa President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence (2023-24)

• Recipient, University of Iowa College of Law, Collegiate Teaching Award (2023-2024) 

• Recipient, AALS Pro Bono Honor Roll, University of Iowa College of Law (2024) 

• Recipient, Iowa Law Review Distinguished Alumni Award (2023) 

• College of Law Nominee, University of Iowa President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence (2021)

• Recipient, University of Iowa College of Law, Collegiate Teaching Award (2020-2021) 

• Recipient, Washington Lawyers Committee, Outstanding Achievement Award for work on Compassionate Release cases under the First Step Act of 2018 (June 2020) 

• Nominee, 2019 Distinguished Mentor Award, University of Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates (Feb. 2019)

• Recipient, Outstanding Assistant Federal Defender, National Ass’n of Federal Defenders (May 2017)