Cori Ferrentino
USC Gould School of Law

Correen Ferrentino is the founding and managing attorney at Ferrentino & Associates, Inc., a boutique criminal defense firm. She is an experienced trial attorney with more than 28 years of experience in state and federal court. She has tried more than 55 jury trials and more than 500 court trials.

An accomplished trial attorney, Ferrentino has won most of the cases she has tried. Notably, she won a reversal in a homicide case at a habeas evidentiary hearing, then re-tried the case and the jury acquitted her client of murder. He was released after nine years in prison and this case is currently listed in the National Registry of Exonerations. She has also had hundreds of cases dismissed outright. Additionally, Ferrentino is an accomplished appellate and post-conviction attorney with three recent life case reversals. Ferrentino's practice currently focuses on white collar litigation, major criminal trials, and various forms of post-conviction relief. She is a certified criminal law specialist, certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.

Prior to starting her own firm, Ferrentino worked as a deputy public defender in Orange County for 10 years from 1997-2006. She tried felony and misdemeanor cases, worked in various collaborative courts including drug court and spent three years in the mental health unit representing individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness.
Prior to her tenure as a deputy public defender, Ferrentino worked as an associate attorney at Stokke & Riddet and the Law Offices of William J. Kopeny. She handled felony and misdemeanor matters and provided litigation support to the partners.

Ferrentino earned a BS in Psychology from the University of California, Irvine in 1986 and went on to earn her JD from Loyola Law School in 1994. While at Loyola, Ferrentino clerked for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, the Loyola Center for Conflict Resolution and worked as an extern for the Hon. Sheila Sonenshine (Ret.) in the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division Three.

Ferrentino is an appointed member of the Criminal Justice Act Trial and Capital Habeas panel in the Federal District Court, Central District, representing indigent individuals charged with crimes in federal court and on death row in state prison. She is also a panel member for the California Appellate Project and Appellate Defenders, Inc., state organizations that handle appeals for indigent criminal defendants.
    

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

Annenberg Media
September 19, 2023
Re: Thomas Lenz

Thomas Lenz was quoted by Annenberg Media about the United Automobile Workers union ready to go on strike. "Strikes affect the livelihoods of those who choose to stop working. To the extent those persons aren’t earning money to spend that means stores, restaurants, and other businesses might not be as busy. If a strike lasts a long time bills might not get paid as easily, if at all," Lenz wrote.

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