Vanderbilt Law School has received a gift from the Anbridge Charitable Fund to endow the creation of The Gail Anderson Cañizares Innocence Clinic, which will support the exoneration of wrongfully convicted individuals in Tennessee while providing students with hands-on case experience.
“I am humbled by this transformative gift,” said Dean Chris Guthrie. “Thanks to the vision and generosity of Gail and Rob Cañizares, we will be able to provide our students with a transformative educational experience in pursuit of justice for the innocent.”
The clinic, which will function as a course available to 2L and 3L students, launches in the 2026 Spring Semester. Students will work on exoneration cases under the supervision of incoming Clinic Director Anne-Marie Moyes ’02, a long-time Federal Public Defender currently serving as Executive Director of the Korey Wise Innocence Project at the University of Colorado Law School. Moyes will join Vanderbilt next summer.
The clinic will coordinate with the Tennessee Innocence Project to source cases.
“The clinic will provide our students with an incredible opportunity to help vulnerable clients who are suffering as victims of wrongful convictions,” said Susan Kay, Associate Dean for Experiential Education and Clinical Professor of Law. “It is so wonderful that Anne-Marie Moyes will be coming home to Vanderbilt and bringing her wealth of experience and expertise to direct the clinic and teach our students.”
The Anbridge Charitable Fund is directed by Gail and Rob Cañizares. Gail, a lifelong educator, graduated from Vanderbilt in 1974 with BA in English and minors in French and Spanish, and has been passionately involved in the Innocence Project for more than 15 years. Rob served as President of MSA International and the Senior VP of Trane in Asia and Europe during his long and successful career. In their golden years Gail and Rob support their passion for Innocence work as well as educational projects at Cornell University and the University of Los Andes in Colombia, among others.
“The endowment of a legal clinic at Vanderbilt University Law, to work together with the Tennessee Innocence Project, is the ideal way for me to support Vanderbilt and the vital work of freeing the innocent,” said Gail Cañizares. “Attending the Innocence Network conferences is cathartic for me. I salute those who fight to free the wrongly convicted and I honor those whose freedom has been dearly won. I look forward to seeing future Vanderbilt Law school students and graduates fighting the good fight with the Tennessee Innocence Project.”
Dare to Grow
Rob and Gail’s generous investment fuels the extraordinary momentum of Vanderbilt’s historic Dare to Grow campaign, which surpassed its initial goal last fall and continues to push the boundaries for what’s possible to make an impact across campus and around the world. Support for the Dare to Grow campaign catalyzes some of the university’s most groundbreaking initiatives, including the Institute of National Security, Vandy United, Vanderbilt’s enhanced presences in New York City and West Palm Beach, signature programs like Opportunity Vanderbilt, Residential Colleges, and many more.
