Steven Avery the Newest Client of Kathleen Zellner's Law Firm

Kathleen Zellner’s Downers Grove law firm is taking on the case of Steven Avery, the subject of Netflix documentary series “Making a Murderer.”

The law firm of Kathleen T. Zellner and Associates, P.C. will assume “the full and complete representation of Avery in all of his pending criminal matters,” according to a statement.

Zellner is regarded as one of the top 10 litigators in the United States, according to the National Law Journal.

In 2003, Avery was released from prison after spending nearly two decades behind bars after a wrongful rape conviction. In 2005, Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey were charged in the killing of photographer Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Her bones and belongings were found burned near Avery’s trailer. Both are serving life terms in prison.

The “Making a Murderer” documentary on Netflix has captured nationwide attention and strongly suggests that Avery was convicted on planted evidence.

Legal director of the Midwest Innocence Project and Wisconsin counsel Tricia Bushnell will help the firm with the case.

“The Zellner Law Firm is looking forward to adding Mr. Avery to its long list of wrongful conviction exonerations,” reads the statement.

Avery’s family has expressed confidence in Zellner’s ability to free Avery, according to the Daily Mail.

Zellner is currently representing Melissa Calusinski, a young woman convicted of beating a toddler to death at a Lake County daycare center in 2009. She’s attempting to get her conviction overturned.

The lawyer was named the 96th most powerful Chicagoan of 2015 by Chicago Magazine for helping overturn more convictions than any other private attorney in the U.S., as well as earning exonerations of 16 wrongfully imprisoned men.

She’s made appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, 60 Minutes, A&E, 20/20, Dateline and others, her website states.

Story published Jan. 8, 2016.