Kathleen "Cookie" Ridolfi
*Santa Clara University School of Law Professor and Director of the Northern California Innocence Project*
Santa Clara Law Professor Kathleen "Cookie" Ridolfi is also a member of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice. Her role, however, is different from Uelmen’s. As director of the Northern California Innocence Project, she serves on the commission to represent the interests of falsely convicted criminal defendants.
"A lot of what I’m doing is drawing on my experience with the Innocence Project to educate other commission members about how difficult it is for an innocent person to prove his or her innocence," she says. "For example, when a witness represents to the commission that criminal defendants have equal access to crime labs, I can say, ‘yes, maybe in theory, but in practice, access is meaningless without the cooperation of police and prosecutors who control the evidence.’"
Ridolfi’s role as a leader is vast. At age 23, she was one of the "Camden 28," a group prosecuted for acts of civil disobedience in opposition to the Vietnam War. She represented herself in a four-month-long jury trial and was acquitted.
After obtaining her J.D. from Rutgers (where she also did her undergraduate work), Ridolfi became a leader in developing expert testimony in battered women’s cases and was a pioneer in the application of social science to jury selection. In 2004 she co-founded the Innocence Network, a collaboration of innocence projects across the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Ridolfi’s expertise is rivaled only by her passion. "DNA has put to rest the question of whether we convict innocent people. We do it, we now know why it happens, and we know what we have to do to fix it. I’m committed to making that happen."
Credibility and passion, Ridolfi has discovered, help overcome perceived obstacles to leadership. "Leadership," she says, "requires confidence and a belief in what you’re are doing." As the only woman on the commission for a time, and now, one of only two women (and one who does not wear suits), she has felt "personally challenged" at times. "I’ve had to remember that even if I feel a little uncomfortable, I have a job to do."
As Cullen sees it, "one of the critical attributes of leadership is a passion for positive change and the persistence to carry it out. It is what drives leaders when accepting the challenge of leadership. It takes more than hard work, and Professor Ridolfi has obviously lived out her commitment to creating a positive influence for the last 35 years."
Published in Santa Clara Law, Spring 2007
Northern California Innocence Project
National Innocence Network Conference (March 28 - 30, 2008)