Zach Buchanan, Staff Attorney
Zach Buchanan joined the Midwest Innocence Project in August 2022 as a supervising attorney. In his role, Zach maintained an active caseload and coordinated MIP’s internship program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. In 2023, Zach was given the title of Staff Attorney and he now focuses on reviewing, investigating, and litigating cases across the organization’s five-state region; in addition, he works to identify and rectify public policy failures leading to wrongful convictions.
Before joining MIP, Zach began his legal career in the federal public defender system, handling appeals for clients on death row. A native Mississippian and a first-generation college graduate, he received his B.S. from Mississippi State University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School. At his core, Zach roots his work in his faith and the call to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.
When Zach isn’t working, you can probably find him taking board game night a little too seriously, ordering excessively spicy food he swears he enjoys, or trying to convince his dog Bowser that it really is time to leave the dog park. And if you’ve got serious time to spare, ask him about the law school musical he worked on.