Michael Semanchik
Michael Semanchik is a staff attorney at the California Innocence Project and has been with CIP since 2010. Michael was instrumental in exonerating NFL linebacker Brian Banks in 2012. For his work on the case, California Lawyer Magazine named Michael Attorney of the Year in 2013. Along with litigating innocence cases, Michael supervises four clinic students and manages marketing, in-office volunteering, and CIP events. This year, Michael and two other attorneys from CIP walked from San Diego to Sacramento to protest the incarceration of 12 innocent inmates and deliver clemency petitions to Governor Brown. He has presented at numerous schools and universities and appeared in the media over two dozen times. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA