Gopal Balachandran

An experienced criminal law practitioner and scholar, Balachandran led a team of lawyers and law students in representing Subu Vedam, whose conviction for murder in the 1980s, was ultimately overturned in 2025 due to numerous constitutional violations. The longest serving exoneree in Pennsylvania history, Vedam’s story garnered local, national and international media attention. Balachandran was featured in a long Penn Stater Magazine article: https://pennstatermag.com/collections/subu, and in a true crime docuseries, It Couldn’t Happen Here, on AMC: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4....

In addition to post-conviction matters, Balachandran plays an active role within the Pennsylvania criminal defense community. He has served as faculty member in the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania’s Appellate Academy and filed numerous amicus briefs on behalf of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the ACLU and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to weigh in on important criminal procedure, evidence and constitutional issues. He has also advocated for second chances through work with the Board of Pardons. Recognized throughout Pennsylvania, he was appointed by Governor Josh Shapiro as the law school representative for the Indigent Defense Advisory Commission (“IDAC”). IDAC is charged by statute to assist in the disbursement of state funds—a first in Pennsylvania—to indigent defense providers. Balachandran is also involved in the local community as a councilmember of the State College Borough Council. He was the first Indian-American to win an election to the Borough Council and received the highest votes ever for a primary candidate in the 2021 election.

Balachandran maintains an active and diverse scholarly agenda, ranging from articles and presentations in legal writing, creative nonfiction, storytelling, advocacy, and policing. He is particularly interested in the history of the Fourth Amendment and the development of its legal concepts and doctrines.

Prior to joining the law school, Balachandran worked as a public defender in Massachusetts, New York and Maryland, where his caseload ranged from possession of drugs to first-degree murder. Balachandran has secured numerous not guilty verdicts in serious felony cases and litigated cutting-edge criminal procedure issues that led to reversals in appellate courts.