Carine M. Williams
Of Counsel
Carine M. Williams focuses on high-stakes litigation and strategic counseling, especially in government-facing and appellate cases. As a founding member of the Public Service Initiative (PSI), Carine represents pro bono clients in habeas corpus and prisoner civil rights matters before state, federal and appellate courts. Her practice today draws broadly from nearly 20 years of experience in the law firm, not-for-profit and academic sectors.
Prior to rejoining the firm, Carine served as the chief program strategy officer at The Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to overturning wrongful convictions and to criminal justice system reform. In this role, Carine supervised all exoneration efforts, strategic litigation, policy advocacy, data science and research, and social work. Carine also is experienced with helping clients design and optimize corporate social responsibility/environmental, social and governance projects, with corporate monitorships and internal investigations, and with advising on other statutory, regulatory and contractual compliance matters.
After attending Yale Law School, Carine clerked for the Honorable Deborah Batts of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. For five years, she taught a constitutional rights enforcement seminar at Columbia Law School, and she is currently an adjunct professor with the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) initiative.
- Won habeas relief for numerous wrongfully convicted clients, including two members of the “Angola 3,” who were imprisoned and held in solitary confinement for decades, and favorably resolved a parallel 42 USC § 1983 suit challenging the unlawful solitary confinement conditions.
- Obtained dismissal of charges brought against students who were arrested during a lawful protest.
- Representation (through penalties resolutions and corporate monitorship) of a global automotive conglomerate facing federal and state penalty enforcement actions based on a high-profile emissions controversy.
- Assisting a Department of Justice appointed monitor with oversight of a global oil and gas enterprise convicted of Foreign Corrupt Practice Act violations.
Education
- Yale Law School, J.D., 2006
- Harvard University, B.A., magna cum laude, 2000
Admissions
- Florida, 2016
- New York, 2009
Courts
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Ct. of App., Second Circuit
- U.S. Ct. of App., Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Dist. Ct., S. Dist. of New York
- U.S. Dist. Ct., E. Dist. of New York
Memberships & Affiliations
- Executive board member, Federal Bar Council (FBC)
- Co-chair, Sentencing and Alternatives to Incarceration Committee
- Recognized as a top-rated lawyer for white collar crimes, appellate and civil rights law in New York by Super Lawyers 2020-2023
- Selected as one of New York’s Rising Star lawyers by Super Lawyers 2013-2019
- Named as one of the Rising Stars for demonstrating “first-rate legal skills, keen judgment, creativity and dedication” by New York Law Journal 2014