““Of all the work I’ve done in my legal career, this
may be what – at the end of my career – at the
end of my life – what I’m most proud of.” ”

The Innocence Project has worked for years to exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals. Once those individuals were released from custody, they received compensation from the state or federal government – compensation that was subject to taxation.

In 2015, Congress passed the Wrongful Convictions Tax Relief Act, which gave those who had paid taxes on their compensation a one-year window to refile their taxes.

Another nonprofit group, After Innocence, provides reentry assistance and advocacy for America's wrongfully convicted. After Innocence wanted to make sure those wrongfully convicted knew about the tax changes. But they needed help.

Through a pro bono initiative, tax attorney Kelley Miller and her colleagues at Reed Smith – along with 20 law students from William & Mary – were tasked with locating these individuals to make sure they were aware of the opportunity and offer free legal services to help them get their tax refunds.

The Reed Smith team of Kelley Miller (Tax Group Associate), Vincent Occhino (State Tax Analyst), and Carlyle Bruemmer (Associate)

Tax Attorney Kelley Miller says that of all the work she’s done in her legal career, this project is what she’s most proud of.

The clock was ticking and there were a lot of people to find – people such as one gentleman who had never even jaywalked, but had somehow been wrongfully convicted of murder.

Finding the people who qualified turned out to be far more difficult than anyone had anticipated. Kelley and her team weren’t having much luck using standard Internet resources – and the one-year window was closing fast.

The team then turned to PeopleMap from Thomson Reuters, an online public records tool designed to access and organize data, to help find the right people at the right locations. Using powerful search results filters, the team found that using PeopleMap helped them quickly find the latest address or phone number.

Kelley and her team have already helped a lot of people get their refund, and they are working hard to extend the application deadline so they can continue to help wrongly convicted individuals.