Rachel Wester (she/her/hers), Managing Attorney
Rachel Wester is the Managing Attorney at the Midwest Innocence Project. In her role, she maintains an active caseload, while also supervising legal staff and interns and overseeing all aspects of prioritizing, reviewing, investigating, and litigating post-conviction innocence cases across the organization. Rachel enjoys collaborating and organizing and is committed to being an approachable, reliable, and persistent team player.
Rachel started her legal career with MIP in 2015, previously serving as Staff Attorney and Nebraska Managing Attorney. Since that time, Rachel has been a part of several exonerations and client releases, including Rodney Lincoln, John Brown, and Ricky Kidd. She remains passionate about ensuring truth, fairness, and accountability in the criminal legal system.
As a first-generation college graduate, Rachel is proud to have earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Speech Communication from Columbia College. Outside of work, Rachel loves visiting local coffee shops and craft breweries. But if you really want to get her excited, ask her about St. Louis-style pizza or Bravo reality TV shows.