BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Derron Parks
President
John Walker-Turner
President-Elect
Bridgett A. Greer
Treasurer
ShaRon Kelsey
Recording Secretary
Nakia V. Gray
Corresponding Secretary
Sharon Deberry
Immediate Past President
Hon. Sharon V. Burrell

Executive Officer
William Snoddy
Executive Officer


COMMITTED TO THE PRINCIPLES OF LEGAL EXCELLENCE, COMMUNITY SERVICE, AND INCREASED MINORITY PARTICIPATION IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW

In our October, 2008 issue, the Honorable Michele D. Hotten, penned an article with respect to the September 18, 2008 CLE presented by Billy MurphyJudge Hotten reminded us that Mr. Murphy opined what he believed to be the three keys to success: 1) Dream big; 2) Love your clients and your fellows; and 3) Realize that getting new business and servicing new business are two separate and distinct skills and therefore don’t be afraid to sign up that HUGE client.  In that issue you were promised Mr. Murphy’s  recommended reading.  That list is set forth below:

William H. Murphy, Jr
Recommended Book List for the Attorney - to – Be

(Listed in no particular order linked Amazon.com where available)

  1. Author: F. Lee Bailey
    1. To be A Trial Lawyer (1985)
    2. The Defense Never Rests
    3. For the Defense
    4. How to Protect Yourself Against Cops in California and Other Strange Places
  1. Author: Louis Nizer
    1. My Life in Court
  1. Author: Edward Bennett Williams
    1. One Man’s Freedom (1964)
    2. The Man to See (Evan Thomas)
    3. For the Defense (Robert Pack)
  1. Author: Adela Rogers St. John     
    Person of Reference
    : Earl Rogers
    1. Final Verdict (1962)
    2. The Trials of Earl Rogers
  1. Person of Reference: Clarence Darrow
    1. Trial of Clarence Darrow (any written document of the trial)
    2. Clarence Darrow: Collected Summations (JB: I found this: The Essential Words and Writings of Clarence)
    3. The Plea of Clarence Darrow
    4. People vs. Clarence Darrow (Cowan 1993)
    5. The Last Trials Clarence Darrow (Mcrae)
    6. The Story of My Life (Darrow)
  1. Author:  Michael Angelo Musmanno
    1. Dissenting Opinions of Justice Musmanno
  1. Author: Judge Herbert Stern
    1. Trying cases to Win: Evidence Weapons for Winning
    2. Wallace Stevens Art of Uncertainty
  1. Author: Lloyd Stryker
    1. The Art of Advocacy
    2. For the Defense
    3. Courts and Doctors
  1. Author: Frederick Trevor Hill  
    Person of Reference
    : Abraham Lincoln
    1. Lincoln the Lawyer

  2. Author: David Boies
    1. Courting Justice
  1. Author: Karen Donovan
    1. v. Goliath: The Trials of David Boies
  1. Author: Francis Wellman
    1. The Art of Cross Examination
  1. Author: Melvin Belli
    1. My Life on Trial
    2. Ready for the Plaintiff
    3. Melvin Belli: King of the Court Room (Mark Shaw)
  1. Author:  Johnny Cochran
    1. A Lawyers’ Life: Journey to Justice
  1. Author:  Morris Dees
    1. A Lawyers Life: The Morris Dees Story
    2. A Season for Justice: The Life and Times of Civil Rights Lawyer Morris Dees
  1. Author: Gene Fowler                     
    Person of Reference: William Fallon
    1. The Great Mouthpiece
  1. Author: Joe Jamail
    1. My Trial and Jubilations
  1. Author: Arthur Liman
    1. Lawyer: A Life of Counsel and Controversy (2003)
  1. Author: Percy Foreman
    1. King of the Courtroom
  1. Author: Dale Bumper
    1. The Best Lawyer in a One-Lawyer Town
  1. Author: J.W. Ehrlich
    1. Lost Art of Cross- Examination: Or, Perjury Anyone?

 
CLE coordinated by Hon. Michele Hotten

Cross Examination of Witnesses
featuring Billy Murphy, Jr., Esq.

Thanks to the persistent efforts of past JFB President, the Honorable Michele Hotten, co-chair of our CLE Committee, we were honored to have esteemed trial attorney William H. “Billy” Murphy, Jr. address the J. Franklyn Bourne Bar Association on September 18 concerning lessons learned during his remarkable thirty- nine-year career.

Billy graduated in 1965 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a BS degree in electrical engineering and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1969, where he was also a member of the Law Review staff.  He clerked for the Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals upon graduation and later entered the private practice of law.

Billy spent three years as an Associate Judge on the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, and in private practice, has handled a myriad of complex, high profile criminal and civil case in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the United Kingdom.

He has received accolades from every corner of the globe for his extraordinarily gifted strategy in the courtroom. The Baltimore Magazine once rated him as one of the twenty five smartest individuals in Baltimore, remarking: “When we set out to find Baltimore’s smartest people, we were looking for the kind of smart that turns us on:  passionate, smart, sexy smart—what we like to call drop dead brilliant…it is Murphy’s mental agility that makes him the master defender”.

Billy’s clientele includes Microsoft; Sony; Coca-Cola; H&R Block; Don King Productions; Merck and Company; Johnson & Johnson; W.R. Grace & Company; the Baltimore Orioles and its owner, Peter Angelos; the Washington Redskins and its owner, Dan Snyder. He has represented the families of brain-damaged children in medical malpractice suits and has successfully represented pro bono the Baltimore City public school children and the mentally challenged school children in state and federal courts to secure more educational funding.

Billy has received countless awards during his illustrious career for legal excellence and advocacy, including being named “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association “for tireless advocacy on behalf of juveniles in the Maryland boot camps and for protecting the rights of Maryland citizens.” One of his crowning achievements was creating the William H. and Madeline W. Murphy Scholarship Fund following the deaths of his parents for African American law students who achieve scholastic excellence while attending the University of Maryland School of Law.

Billy encouraged us to expand our horizons in the legal and business arenas to communities beyond our neighborhoods and borders. He has recognized that there is fertile ground in other countries and other venues to collaborate and partner with others in providing a gamut of legal and business services He encouraged us to embrace these new lucrative opportunities and challenged us to dispel any limits which are either set by others or which are self-imposed in order to maximize the potential gold mine of these ventures.  He exhorted us to “think outside the box”, and left us with what he believes are three keys to success:  1) Dream big; 2) Love your clients and your fellows; and 3) Realize that getting new business and servicing new business are two separate and distinct skills and therefore don’t be afraid to sign up that HUGE client. Mr. Murphy’s recommended reading list for practitioners will be published in our next issue.

Honorable Michele Hotten.

President:  Derron Parks
President-Elect:  John Walker-Turner
Treasurer:  Bridgette Greer
Corresponding Secretary:  Nakia Gray
Recording Secretary:  ShaRon Kelsey
Past President:  Sharon Deberry
Executive Board Members:  Hon. Sharon V. Burrell and William Snoddy

October Newsletter
CLICK HERE

President's Message
CLICK HERE

Billy Martin Featured at Scholarship Awards Banquet
November 5, 2009
CLICK HERE

JFB Pro Bono Legal Clinics Bowie & Takome Park
October 31, 2009

CLICK HERE

JFB Election Nominations
CLICK HERE

JFB General Body Meeting & ELECTIONS
November 19, 2009

CLICK HERE

FOR THE BAR'S GOOD
Chief & Administrative Judge Missouri's Orders affecting the 7th Judicial Circuit
CLICK HERE

Billy Murphy's Ultimate Trial Lawyer Reading List
CLICK HERE


With
Howard U. Sch. of Law
&
Black Women's Bar Association of Suburban Maryland