Alison Guernsey

Alison Guernsey serves as the Herschel G. Langdon Clinical Professor of Trial Advocacy and Director of the Federal Criminal Defense Clinic at the University of Iowa College of Law, where she supervises law students representing indigent clients in federal criminal cases across the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa and the Eighth and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeals.

Her educational background includes:

• BA, University of Michigan, 2001
• JD, University of Iowa College of Law, 2008

Professor Guernsey specializes in Federal Criminal Defense, Compassionate Release Work, Criminal Procedure (Adjudication), Trial Advocacy, and Appellate Advocacy. Her clinical program provides students with comprehensive hands-on experience in federal criminal defense proceedings including bail hearings, preliminary hearings, jury trials, and sentencing across diverse case types such as drug trafficking, firearms offenses, fraud, child exploitation, and habeas corpus petitions.

Prior to her faculty appointment, she served as Supervising Attorney for the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho, handling complex federal criminal cases while practicing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She also clerked for the Honorable Michael J. Melloy (Eighth Circuit) and the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore (Sixth Circuit), establishing a distinguished career in federal criminal justice before transitioning to legal education.