"Practicing Civil Rights Law: The First 50 Years Since the Dream Speech"
Robert A. Murphy, Senior Litigator with Casner & Edwards, LLP, Boston, will discuss his experiences in the criminal section of the civil rights division of the US Department of Justice in the 1960s, his experience as National Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in the 1970s, and opportunities for lawyers to do civil rights work today.
After graduating from Notre Dame Law School in 1966, Mr. Murphy’s first ten years as a lawyer were at the US Department of Justice in Washington, where he became Chief of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division. In addition to supervising the work of attorneys who prosecuted public officials in federal courts throughout the United States, Mr. Murphy personally prosecuted several major cases, including the shootings at Kent State, Ku Klux Klan bombings, and police brutality cases. On the civil side, he tried cases involving voting rights, employment discrimination, school desegregation and access to public facilities and accommodations.
After leaving the Justice Department, Mr. Murphy served for over three years as the National Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The Committee was established in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve leading members of the bar throughout the United States in an effort to ensure civil rights to all Americans.
Co-sponsored by the Career Development Office