Megan D. Baca - Attorney

Megan D. Baca worked as the Assistant Legal Director and Director of Investigations at Loyola Project for the Innocent (LPI).  During her six years at LPI, Megan helped to free eight people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit and who cumulatively spent 196 years in prison.  

Megan began her work at LPI as a post-conviction investigator in 2017 and went on to become a staff attorney in 2018 before becoming Assistant Legal Director and Director of Investigations.  Megan's work focused on investigating and litigating claims of wrongful conviction.  Megan was also the recipient of the Innocence Project's Spanish Language Support grant which she used to increase access to post-conviction representation to Spanish speakers incarcerated in California.  Megan worked as a research assistant at the Northern California Innocence Project where she investigated the innocence claim of a man who had spent 40 years in prison based on the testimony of an eyewitness who had undergone hypnosis to create a composite drawing of the alleged perpetrator.  She has attended numerous trainings through the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Innocence Network, and the Western Regional Innocence Organizations.  Megan has also worked as a Post-Conviction Specialist for a number of law firms and legal organizations, and has done multiple direct appeals for indigent appellants through the California Appellate Project-Los Angeles.  

While studying at Santa Clara University, School of Law, Megan interned at the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office, the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, and the California Appellate Project-San Francisco.  Following law school, Megan worked on the ACLU-SF Bay Area’s What a Difference a D.A. Makes project and taught criminal law and procedure to youth incarcerated in Santa Clara County through Fresh Lifelines for Youth.  

She studied Spanish-English Court Interpretation and Translation at San Francisco State University and has received certifications for Advanced Spanish Language and Spanish for Lawyers from the University of Wisconsin and American University, Washington College of Law.  Prior to law school, Megan worked as a translator and Consular Assistant at the Venezuelan Consulate.