Hector Linares

Professor Linares teaches the Youth Defense section of the Law Clinic. He received his B.A. in International Relations and Latin American Studies in 2000 from Tulane University and his J.D. in 2003 from New York University School of Law. Professor Linares joined the faculty in 2017 and has been a clinical law professor since 2009. Prior to entering academia, he was a youth public defender in New Orleans at Juvenile Regional Services (now Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights).  He also practiced disability rights law as a supervising attorney at Disability Rights California. He began his career as the Southern Poverty Law Center Special Education Fellow at the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana. 
Professor Linares has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the Louisiana Public Defender Board, Louisiana Mental Health Advocacy Service, and the Innocence Project – New Orleans. He currently serves on the Louisiana State Law Institute’s Children’s Code Committee. Professor Linares is a member of the Gault Center’s National Advisory Board, a co-director of the Southern Youth Defender Center, and a certified Youth Defense Advocacy Program trainer. He has received national recognition for his work as a recipient of both the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) Award for Distinguished Advocacy for the Educational Rights of Children with Disabilities and The Gault Center’s Robert E. Shepherd Jr. Leadership Award for Excellence in Youth Defense.

Classes Taught: Youth Defense Clinic Section