FCLC Executive Committee Member Zane Memeger Begins New Role as Executive Director for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project

FCLC Executive Committee member and past FCLC Officer Zane Memeger recently left Morgan Lewis to take on the Executive Director role for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, effective June 16, 2025. Before becoming Executive Director for the Project, Zane served on the Project’s board for eight years, where he was heavily involved in and chaired the Project’s Litigation and Policy Committee. Zane’s interest in innocence work began when he was a law student at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he led the law school’s Post-Conviction Assistance Project (P-CAP) as Litigation Director and Special Project Director. Zane is a former US Attorney (Philadelphia) whose practice as a partner at Morgan Lewis focused on government investigations and white-collar defense. Zane also maintained an active pro bono caseload at Morgan Lewis representing clients in affirmative litigation pursuant to the Federal Torts Claims Act. Before becoming US Attorney and a partner at Morgan Lewis, Zane was an Assistant US Attorney for more than 11 years where he investigated and tried cases involving organized crime, public corruption, government fraud, violent crime, and narcotics trafficking. With 18 years of law enforcement experience as a federal prosecutor, and more than a decade of experience working on issues related to wrongful convictions, Zane has a full appreciation of the dynamics in play that lead to innocent persons serving lengthy prison sentences for crimes they did not commit. Zane now leads a dedicated legal and administrative staff to “unlock the truth” and advocate on behalf of innocent persons to secure their freedom and remedy the flaws that led to their wrongful convictions. As the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is one of a dozen states that provide no compensation nor reentry services to exonerees post-release, the Project partially fills that gap by providing much needed reentry services to ensure an exoneree’s successful transition back into the community after serving often decades in prison.