This article was originally published in the summer 2025 issue of Res Gestae.
When Heidi Nestel (JD ’97) entered the S.J. Quinney College of Law, she initially wanted to be a defense attorney. She was passionate about the constitution and felt her calling lay in defending it. During her second and third years of law school, however, Nestel became interested in a brand-new area of criminal law.
“I met Professor Paul Cassell and learned that victims of crime have rights, which was really new. Utah passed its bill of rights for victims and its constitutional amendment in 1994, right as I started law school, and Professor Cassell was a driving force behind those laws,” Nestel recalls. “It was an exciting time to learn about criminal law, because there was this huge change. Victims would now have rights in the criminal justice system.”
Professor Cassell represented the families of 89 victims of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1996, and she volunteered to research some of the legal briefs he worked on for that case.
“That lit a fire in me. Once I learned victims had rights, that aligned more with my interests and passions. I’ve been doing it ever since,” she says.
Advocating for crime victims throughout Utah
Beginning in law school and for a short time afterward, Nestel worked for the Utah Office of the Guardian ad Litem, representing abused and neglected children in court. She also worked as a mediation coordinator for the courts and says she loves mediation because it brings parties together so they can resolve their own legal disputes.
“I enjoyed that program, but within a year I got my dream job: prosecutor for the Davis County Attorney’s Office. I was initially hired as an administrator of their victim advocate program, which was a new profession—because victims could have their own advocates to get them through the court system,” Nestel says. “They told me at the time that maybe in six months to a year they would give me cases. Within six weeks, I was assigned all the domestic violence cases to prosecute.”
Nestel prosecuted in the juvenile court for five years and worked on special victim crimes, including sexual assault, as well. After eight years with Davis County, she was recruited by the Utah Council for Victims of Crime to start a nonprofit, the Utah Crime Victims Legal Clinic, in April 2005. Twenty years later, Nestel continues to serve as executive director.
“It was only supposed to be a three-year pilot project sponsored by the Department of Justice. I had an agreement that Davis County would let me come back. Once we started the clinic, though, we had so much support and there was clearly a need. Many victim advocates and prosecutors wanted victims to have our services,” she says.
The Utah Crime Victims Legal Clinic (UCVLC) provides free legal services to crime victims in criminal district, justice, juvenile and appellate courts. Staff members also provide criminal justice professionals with education about victims’ rights and connect crime victims with other resources and services.
“I have a great passion for helping victims of crime. I’ve seen that having a legal advocate in their corner makes such a difference in their lives,” Nestel says. “We have amazing prosecutors in Utah, and in general, they care about and understand victims’ rights. But it’s a different experience to make sure a victim has an attorney, especially when they are struggling with the legal system. It’s been the greatest honor of my career to stand next to victims and facilitate them having a voice in court.”
Working with a fellow professor to create case law
Though the UCVLC is based in Murray, Utah, it is a statewide program that helps victims in every county. Nestel says the clinic was also established to create good case law defining victims’ rights to help not only individual clients but victims across the state.
“Paul Cassell has been instrumental in helping our clinic take these cases because he understands how to argue and bring these issues to the appellate courts,” she explains. “We work side-by-side with our victims in the district court, and when there’s an adverse ruling that hurts victims’ rights, we ask Paul to help us appeal it. He has done it masterfully.”
The UCVLC team recently worked with Cassell on a case where the Utah Supreme Court ruled unanimously that victims cannot be forced to testify at “rape shield” hearings.
“This ruling sets an important precedent in Utah—and perhaps will be followed elsewhere—that rape victims should not be forced to disclose private sexual history information in any pre-trial proceedings,” Cassell said of the case.
Nestel was also excited about the Utah Supreme Court’s decision.
“Attorneys try to force our clients to testify at these pre-trial hearings, and it’s terrifying for them. Victims almost get to the point where they want the case to go away rather than being confronted in a courtroom. This is one more step toward protecting them,” she says. “Paul Cassell also worked with our clinic four or five years ago on a case that prevents attorneys from subpoenaing victims for preliminary hearings. That was another victory, and we’ve had a couple others. It’s been a great partnership.”
Connecting with current Utah Law students
One of the other benefits to working with Professor Cassell is discussing issues with his students.
“Once you practice in the field, you don’t do as much contemporary research, but the students are often fresh and more in tune with recent legal precedents or policy ideas than we are,” Nestel explains. “The students have been a great resource for us. I also usually speak to his class every year about victims’ rights, and I meet with students who are interning with the prosecutor’s office or public defender’s office.”
Throughout the year, Nestel also has interns from Utah Law, as well as from Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. It’s become one of her favorite parts of the clinic.
“The majority of people I’ve hired over the years have been former interns who worked at the clinic during law school. They developed a passion for the work we do, and we got to see their skills and commitment,” she says. “No matter what the interns end up doing, they’re going to understand victims’ rights and be stewards over those rights. I’ve loved working with aspiring attorneys because I know they’ll make a big difference.”
Though the Utah Crime Victims Legal Clinic has been serving clients for 20 years—and crime victims have had recognized rights for more than 30 years—Nestel says victims are still in the background and trying to be seen and heard.
“Victims are always going to have to fight for their rights because the defendant has the primary position at the podium. I know that will continue to be a challenge, and I look forward to it,” she says. “I love when the judges start recognizing us when we’re in court and that we’re building relationships with prosecutors and law enforcement across the state.”
She also wants the clinic to continue to grow and serve even more clients.
“I’m excited that our clinic is established and we get more referrals than we can handle. It gives me hope that we’ll be able to continue to sustain our relevance and the importance we bring to the state,” she says. “There’s still a lot of work to be done.”