Eve Brensike Primus

Eve Brensike Primus serves as the Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she directs the MDefenders Program and Public Defender Training Institute while leading the Data for Defenders project. Her acclaimed teaching in criminal procedure, evidence, and habeas corpus has earned multiple university-wide teaching awards.

Her academic credentials include a BA from Brown University (magna cum laude) and a JD from the University of Michigan (summa cum laude), where she served as Michigan Law Review articles editor and Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition board member.

Primus specializes in structural reform of the criminal legal system with concentrated focus on indigent defense reform. Her research examines constitutional erosion in criminal procedure, false confessions, eyewitness identification failures, and evidence-based defense advocacy through social science integration. She actively promotes systemic change in public defense infrastructure and Miranda rights preservation.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• Michigan Law Student Teaching Award (2025)
• Michigan Law Student Outstanding Faculty Award (2024)

Through MDefenders and the Public Defender Training Institute, Primus develops next-generation public defenders via clinical education and professional development programs. The Data for Defenders initiative demonstrates her commitment to securing research funding for evidence-based defense strategies and indigent defense reform advocacy.

She maintains leadership of the Data for Defenders project that operationalizes social science research in criminal defense, alongside MDefenders' student training programs and the Public Defender Training Institute's nationwide professional development network for public defense attorneys.