STEPHEN B. BRIGHT
Yale Law School
127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 432-7430, [email protected]
https://law.yale.edu/stephen-b-bright
Georgetown University Law Center
600 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20001
www.law.george town.edu/faculty/stephen bright
250 Campsie Place, Lexington, KY 40508
July 1, 2023
Visiting Lecturer, Yale Law School
Visiting Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
Author (with James Kwak) of THE FEAR OF TOO MUCH JUSTICE: RACE, POVERTY, AND
THE PERSISTENCE OF INEQUALITY IN THE CRIMINAL COURTS (2023)
Subject of Robert L. Tsai, DEMAND THE IMPOSSIBLE: ONE LAWYER’S PURSUIT OF EQUAL
JUSTICE FOR ALL (Norton; March 2024)
LITIGATION EXPERIENCE:
Representation of persons facing the death penalty at trials, appeals and post-conviction
proceedings in state and federal courts in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana,
Maryland, Mississippi and South Carolina, including jury trials of capital cases in
Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi; four arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court;
arguments before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Eleventh and District
of Columbia Circuits, and the Supreme Courts of Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi;
representation of prisoners in federal class action suits challenging unconstitutional
conditions and practices in prisons and jails; representation of poor people accused of
crimes in challenging inadequate public defense systems; and representation of the
accused in numerous non-capital criminal cases as a public defender in the Superior
Court of the District of Columbia between 1976 and 1982. Cases include:
McWilliams v. Dunn, 137 S.Ct. 1790 (2017) (argued before the United States Supreme
Court, which held Alabama failed provide McWilliams with access to a mental health
expert to assist in the evaluation, preparation, and presentation of the defense in
violation of due process)
Foster v. Chatman, 578 U.S. 488 (2016) (argued before the Supreme Court, which held the
prosecution discriminated in striking African Americans in jury selection)
Snyder v. Louisiana, 522 U.S. 472 (2008) (argued before the Supreme Court, which held
the prosecution discriminated in striking African Americans during jury selection)
Amadeo v. Zant, 486 U.S. 214 (1988) (argued before the Supreme Court, which held there
was “cause” to excuse a procedural default and reversed conviction and death sentence
due to discrimination in excluding African Americans from jury pool)
Horton v. Zant, 941 F.2d 1449 (11th Cir. 1991) (conviction and death sentence reversed
upon showing the prosecutor’s systematic use of peremptory challenges against African
Americans as required at the time by Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202 (1965) (Swain
was later overruled in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) because of its “crippling
burden of proof”))
Brooks v. Kemp, 762 F.2d 1383 (11th Cir. 1985) (en banc), vacated and remanded, 478 U.S.
1016 (1986), adhered to on remand, 809 F.2d 700 (11th Cir. 1987) (en banc)
(represented Brooks in state and federal post-conviction review; briefed and argued the
case before the Eleventh Circuit, which vacated conviction and death sentence due to jury
instruction which shifted the burden of proof on intent)
Brooks v. State, 385 S.E.2d 81 (Ga. 1989) (represented Brooks on pretrial appeal to Georgia
Supreme Court, which held that an indigent defendant had a right to apply ex parte to
trial court for funds for expert and investigative assistance so as not to disclose strategy,
work product and attorney-client communications to prosecution before trial, and at a
trial before a jury which rejected death penalty and imposed a sentence of life imprison-
ment)
Isaacs & Dungee v. Kemp, 778 F.2d 1482 (11th Cir. 1985) (represented Dungee in federal
habeas corpus proceedings in United States District Court and Circuit Court of Appeals,
which set aside conviction and death sentence due to trial court’s failure to grant a
change of venue; later secured a plea disposition in Georgia courts that avoided the death
penalty)
Mississippi Publishers Corp. v. Coleman, 515 So.2d 1163 (Miss. 1987) (represented capital
defendant in persuading trial court to close proceedings to the media and public; briefed
and argued appeal in which the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the trial court)
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS:
Yale Law School, Visiting Lecturer in Law, 1993-2023 (J. Skelly Wright Fellow, 1993-94,
1996 & 2008-09; Visiting Lecturer since 2009) (courses: capital punishment since 1993;
capital punishment clinic, 1998-2021)
Georgetown University Law Center, Visiting Professor of Law, 2017-23; Visiting Lecturer,
2008-10; Visiting Associate Professor, 1997 (advanced criminal procedure and capital
punishment)
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Harvard Law School, Visiting Lecturer in Law, 1997-99, 2001-04, 2006 (advanced criminal
procedure); 1994 (advanced criminal procedure, prisoners’ rights and post-conviction
remedies)
University of Georgia School of Law, Visiting Lecturer, 2011-13 (right to counsel; equal
justice in criminal cases)
Georgia State College of Law, Professor of Practice, 2016-19 (advanced criminal procedure)
University of Tennessee College of Law, Advocate in Residence, 2010, 2014 (participated
in classes on innocence and counsel, and delivered lectures on criminal justice issues)
American University, Washington College of Law, Fellow in Law and Government (Fall
2010) (capital punishment)
University of Maryland School of Law, Distinguished Visitor, Fall 2007 (participated in
classes and delivered lecture)
University of Chicago Law School, Lecturer in Law, 2005-06 (right to counsel)
Emory Law School, Senior Lecturer in Law, 1998-2002; Visiting Lecturer in Law, 1997
(capital punishment)
Northeastern University School of Law, Visiting Lecturer, Summer, 1996 (capital
punishment)
St. Mary’s University School of Law, Institute on World Legal Problems, Innsbruck, Austria,
Lecturer, Summer, 1996 (the death penalty and international human rights)
Florida State University College of Law, Tobias Simon Scholar in Public Interest Law,
Spring, 1992 (one of three instructors in course on race, gender and the law)
Executive Director, District of Columbia Law Students in Court Program, Washington, D.C.,
a clinical program in trial advocacy for third-year law students which provides legal
assistance to poor people in civil and criminal cases in the District of Columbia, operated
by a consortium of the American, Catholic, George Washington, Georgetown and
Howard Universities in Washington, D. C. (February 1, 1981 to September 17, 1982;
supervising attorney in the criminal division of the program, August 20, 1979 to January
31, 1981)
PREVIOUS POSITIONS:
Southern Center for Human Rights, a public interest legal program that provides
representation to persons facing the death penalty and to prisoners in challenges to cruel
and unusual conditions and practices in jails and prisons, and advocates for right to
counsel for poor people accused of crimes, judicial independence and an end to economic
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and racial discrimination in criminal courts. (Director, September 20, 1982 to December
31, 2005; President and Senior Counsel, January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2016.)
Public Defender Service, Washington, D.C. Representation of indigent persons accused of
crimes in the District of Columbia courts (Trial attorney, 1976 to 1979)
Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, Lexington, Ky. Representation of indigent
persons in jail conditions, welfare rights and other civil litigation (Attorney, 1975-76)
LAW REVIEW ARTICLES AND ESSAYS:
(available at Stephen Bright Bibliography)
(with Sia M. Sanneh) Fifty Years of Defiance and Resistance After Gideon v. Wainwright,
122 YALE LAW JOURNAL 2150 (2013)
Counsel for the Poor: The Death Sentence Not for the Worst Crime but for the Worst
Lawyer, 103 YALE LAW JOURNAL 1835 (1994)
Neither Equal nor Just: The Rationing and Denial of Legal Services to the Poor When Life
and Liberty Are at Stake, 1997 NYU ANNUAL SURVEY OF AMERICAN LAW 783 (1997)
Discrimination, Death and Denial: The Tolerance of Racial Discrimination in the
Infliction of the Death Penalty, 35 SANTA CLARA LAW REVIEW 433 (1995)
(with Patrick Keenan) Judges and the Politics of Death: Deciding Between the Bill of
Rights and the Next Election in Capital Cases, 75 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 759
(1995)
Political Attacks on the Judiciary: Can Justice Be Done Amid Efforts to Intimidate and
Remove Judges From Office for Unpopular Decisions? 72 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LAW
REVIEW 308 (1997)
Others on the right to counsel:
Independence of Counsel: An Essential Requirement for Competent Counsel and a
Working Adversary System, 55 HOUSTON LAW REVIEW 853 (2018)
Rigged: When Race and Poverty Determine Outcomes in the Criminal Courts, 14 OHIO
STATE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW 263 (2016)
The Continuing Denial of Counsel and Assembly-Line Processing of Poor People Accused
of Crimes, 61 ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY LAW JOURNAL 605 (2016-2017)
Legal Representation for the Poor: Can Society Afford This Much Injustice? 75 MISSOURI
LAW REVIEW 683 (2010)
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The Right to Counsel in Death Penalty and Other Criminal Cases: Neglect of the Most
Fundamental Right and What We Should Do About It, 11 WAYNE STATE JOURNAL OF LAW
IN SOCIETY 1 (2010)
Death by Lottery ) Procedural Bar of Constitutional Claims in Capital Cases Due to
Inadequate Representation of Indigent Defendants, 92 WEST VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW 679
(1990)
Judicial Independence:
Elected Judges and the Death Penalty in Texas: Why Full Habeas Corpus Review by
Independent Federal Judges Is Indispensable to Protecting Constitutional Rights, 78
TEXAS LAW REVIEW 1805 (2000)
Can Judicial Independence be Attained in the South? Overcoming History, Elections and
Misperceptions About the Role of the Judiciary, 14 GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY LAW
REVIEW 817 (1998)
Race, Poverty, the Death Penalty and Fairness:
The Death Penalty and the Society We Want, 6 FRANKLIN PIERCE LAW REVIEW 369 (2008)
The Failure to Achieve Fairness: Race and Poverty Continue to Influence Who Dies, 11
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 23 (2008)
Will the Death Penalty Remain Alive in the Twenty-first Century?: International Norms,
Discrimination, Arbitrariness and the Risk of Executing the Innocent, 2001 WISCONSIN
LAW REVIEW 1 (2001)
Is Fairness Irrelevant? The Evisceration of Federal Habeas Corpus Review and Limits
on the Ability of State Courts to Protect Fundamental Rights, 54 WASHINGTON & LEE
LAW REVIEW 1 (1997)
The American Bar Association’s Recognition of the Sacrifice of Fairness for Results: Will
We Pay for Justice?, 4 GEORGETOWN JOURNAL ON FIGHTING POVERTY 183 (1997)
Casualties of the War on Crime: Fairness, Reliability and the Credibility of Criminal
Justice Systems, 51 MIAMI LAW REVIEW 413 (1997)
The Electric Chair and the Chain Gang: Choices and Challenges for America’s Future, 71
NOTRE DAME LAW REVIEW 845 (1996)
The Death Penalty as the Answer to Crime: Costly, Counterproductive and Corrupting,
36 SANTA CLARA LAW REVIEW 1069 (1996)
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The Politics of Crime and the Death Penalty: Not “Soft on Crime,” But Hard on the Bill of
Rights, 39 ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY LAW JOURNAL 479 (1995)
LECTURES AND SPEECHES (published or available on the web):
Race & Poverty in the Criminal Courts, Joseph L. Rauh Lecture, David A. Clarke School of
Law, University of the District of Columbia (2017)
Yale Law School Commencement Address (2016), video, text
50 Years After Gideon: Stephen Bright Urges Overhaul of Indigent Defense System,
Presentation at the American Bar Association’s 2013 Summit on Indigent Defense
Improvement, Dallas (2013)
Yale Law School Commencement Address (2012), video
Massive Indifference: Routine Violation of the Constitutional Right to Counsel in Death
Penalty and Other Criminal Cases, Vanderbilt Law School (2011), video
The Intersection of Race and Poverty in the Criminal Justice System, University of
Tennessee College of Law (2010), transcript
Keynote Address: Capital Punishment and the Criminal Justice System – Courts of
Vengeance or Courts of Justice? Conference on the Death Penalty in the Twenty-first
Century, 45 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 279 (1995)
In Defense of Life: Enforcing the Bill of Rights on Behalf of Poor, Minority and
Disadvantaged Persons Facing the Death Penalty, 57 MISSOURI LAW REVIEW 849 (1992)
Other presentations on various criminal justice, corrections and public interest law topics
at annual meetings of the American Bar Association, universities, meetings of
professional associations, and other programs. (1976 to present)
BOOK CHAPTERS:
Imposition of the Death Penalty upon the Poor, Racial Minorities, the Intellectually
Disabled and the Mentally Ill, in United Nations, MOVING AWAY FROM THE DEATH
PENALTY at 115 (2015)
The Politics of Capital Punishment: The Sacrifice of Fairness for Executions, a chapter in
AMERICA’S EXPERIMENT WITH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (James R. Acker, Robert M. Bohm &
Charles S. Lanier, eds., 3d ed. 2014)
Discrimination, Death and Denial: The Tolerance of Racial Discrimination in the
Infliction of the Death Penalty, a chapter in FROM LYNCH MOBS TO THE KILLING STATE
(Charles Ogletree & Austin Sarat, eds. 2006)
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Why the United States Will Join the Rest of the World in Abandoning Capital Punishment,
a chapter in DEBATING THE DEATH PENALTY (Hugo Bedau & Paul Cassell, eds. 2004)
Capital Punishment: Accelerating the Dance with Death, a chapter in THE REHNQUIST
COURT: JUDICIAL ACTIVISM ON THE RIGHT (Herman Schwartz, ed. 2002)
Legalized Lynching: Race, the Death Penalty and the United States Courts, a chapter in
THE INTERNATIONAL SOURCEBOOK ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (William A. Schabas, ed. 1997)
PANEL DISCUSSIONS (selected):
Is the Criminal Justice System Defensible? A debate between Judge Harvie Wilkinson III
and Stephen Bright, MARSHALL PROJECT, Nov. 21, 2014.
National Symposium on the Modern Death Penalty, American Bar Association and The
Carter Center (2013) (discussion with President Carter and closing remarks)
Breaking the Most Vulnerable Branch: Do Rising Threats to Judicial Independence
Preclude Due Process in Capital Cases? panel discussion, American Bar Association
Meeting, Atlanta, 31 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW 123 (1999)
Human Rights and Human Wrongs: Is the United States Death Penalty System
Inconsistent with International Human Rights Law? panel discussion, American Bar
Association Meeting, Toronto (1998), 67 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 2793 (1999)
Carter Center Symposium on the Death Penalty, held at The Carter Center (1997), 14
GEORGIA STATE LAW REVIEW 329 (1998)
The Modern View of Capital Punishment, a debate with Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 34 AMERICAN CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW 1353 (1997)
Reflections on a Quarter-Century of Constitutional Regulation of Capital Punishment, a
panel discussion, 30 JOHN MARSHALL LAW REVIEW 399 (1997)
Capital Punishment: Is There Any Habeas Left in this Corpus?, panel discussion, American
Bar Association meeting, 27 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW REVIEW 560 (1996)
The O.J. Simpson Case and Capital Punishment, panel discussion, Association of the Bar
of the City of New York, 38 HOWARD LAW JOURNAL 247 (1995)
The Death of Fairness? Counsel Competency and Due Process in Death Penalty Cases,
American Bar Association meeting, 31 HOUSTON LAW REVIEW 1106 (1994)
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NEWSPAPER OP-ED ARTICLES:
Our Jury System Is Racially Biased. But It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way, WASHINGTON
POST, March 27, 2019
Lawyers, Not Another Commission, for the Poor, NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL, December 2,
2013 (with Sherrilyn Ifill and Virginia Sloan)
Violating the right to a lawyer, LOS ANGELES TIMES, March 18, 2013 (with Sia M. Sanneh)
Term ‘boy’ is proof of racial animus, FULTON COUNTY DAILY REPORT, August 25, 2010
Mickle’s ‘home cooking’ not good for indigent defense, FULTON COUNTY DAILY REPORT, April
27, 2008 (response to Is the process choking PD system? by Judge Andrew A. Mickle,
FULTON COUNTY DAILY REPORT, April 11, 2008)
Georgia beggars indigent defense, FULTON COUNTY DAILY REPORT, January 24, 2008
Let’s try Brian Nichols properly the first time, ATLANTA JOURNAL & CONSTITUTION,
November 7, 2007
Full review is necessary, NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL, May 9, 2005 (with Virginia Sloan)
Judging from state’s latest execution, the price of life is a ‘real’ lawyer, ATLANTA JOURNAL
& CONSTITUTION, August 21, 2002
Executing children: Kentucky can end practice by enacting law in this session, COURIER-
JOURNAL, Louisville, Ky., March 17, 2002
A Smooth Road to the Death House, NEW YORK TIMES, February 7, 2000
Hanging the Judge: Demagogues, politicians chip away at U.S. court system, ARIZONA
REPUBLIC, June 6, 1997
Quality of death penalty lawyers is indefensible, N.Y. DAILY NEWS, Sept. 8, 1994
Death Sentence Lottery, THE WASHINGTON POST, July 3, 1990
The Coppola Execution: An Unseemly Rush to Death, THE WASHINGTON POST, August 15,
1982 (with Russell F. Canan)
MAGAZINE ARTICLES:
Turning Celebrated Principles into Reality, THE CHAMPION (published by the National
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) (2003) (regarding the right to counsel)
The Killing Machine, THE NATION, October 9, 2000
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Developing Themes in Closing Argument and Elsewhere, LITIGATION (the journal of the
American Bar Association Section of Litigation) (2000)
Death Penalty Moratorium: Fairness, Integrity at Stake, American Bar Association
CRIMINAL JUSTICE Magazine (Summer 1998)
Gideon v. Wainwright at 35: Glimpses at a Dream Yet to be Realized, THE CHAMPION
(1988)
Challenging Racial Discrimination in Capital Cases, THE CHAMPION (1997)
Obtaining Funds for Experts and Investigative Assistance, THE CHAMPION (1997)
Does the Bill of Rights Apply Here Any More? Evisceration of Habeas Corpus and the
Denial of Counsel to Those Sentence of Death, THE CHAMPION (1996)
EXPERT TESTIMONY:
Commonwealth v. Ronald Collins, Jr., Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, Feb. 7,
2008, on the prejudice resulting from the deaths of two witnesses who had testified at
original trial that had been reversed on appeal)
Quitman County v. Mississippi, Circuit Court of Quitman County, Mississippi, on the
inadequacy of the system for providing legal representation to poor people accused of
crimes, following remand in State v. Quitman County, 807 So.2d 401 (Miss. 2002)
Bailey v. State, Court of Common Pleas of Aiken County, S.C., on the obligations of counsel
in capital cases, quoted with approval by the South Carolina Supreme Court in Bailey v.
State, 424 S.E.2d 503, 507-508 (S.C. 1993) (holding that lawyers appointed to capital
cases in South Carolina must be reasonably compensated, not limited to amount set in
state statute)
In re William Andrews, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization
of American States, February 22, 1996, on racial discrimination in the infliction of the
death penalty
Commonwealth v. Wilson, Circuit Court of Kenton County, Kentucky, No. 87-CR-166,
decided March 5, 1997, on the effectiveness of Wilson’s defense counsel
Commonwealth v. Willoughby, Circuit Court of Fayette County, Kentucky, No. 83-CR-
00152-2, February 11, 1998, on the effectiveness of Willoughby’s counsel
In re Ditshwanelo – Tlhabologang Maauwe and Gwara Brown Motswetla v. Attorney
General of Botswana, High Court of the Republic of Botswana (1999), affidavit
regarding the obligations of counsel in capital cases
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TESTIMONY BEFORE COMMISSIONS
AND LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES:
United States Commission on Civil Rights: testimony on racial discrimination in the
criminal justice system (April 15, 1999)
United States Senate Judiciary Committee: testimony regarding the Innocence Protection
Act (June 27, 2001); testimony in opposition to the nomination of Edward Earl Carnes
to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (April 1, 1992); and testimony
regarding the inadequacy of court-appointed counsel in capital cases (February 21, 1990)
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights of the United States
Senate Judiciary Committee: testimony regarding the death penalty (February 1, 2006)
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security of the of
the Committee on the Judiciary, United States House of Representatives: testimony
regarding the Innocence Protection Act (September 22, 2009) and the Prison Abuse
Remedies Act (April 22, 2008)
Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives:
testimony regarding the Innocence Protection Act (June 20, 2000)
Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S.
House of Representatives: testimony regarding racial discrimination in the infliction of
the death penalty (July 11, 1991); and proposed federal death penalty legislation and the
Racial Justice Act (May 9, 1990)
Testimony on the right to counsel, capital punishment and other criminal justice issues
before committees of the Connecticut, Georgia and Texas legislatures
BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS:
American Law Institute (elected in 2022)
Board of Directors, Texas Defender Service, a non-profit, public interest legal project
providing representation to people facing the death penalty in Texas (2000 to 2013)
U.S. Program Advisory Committee, Human Rights Watch (2003 to 2010)
Advisory Board, New Perimeter, an affiliate of DLA Piper LLP, which provides legal support
for projects of global concern, including health care, hunger, housing, economic
development, law reform and human rights (2005 to 2010)
Advisory Committee on the Revision of the American Bar Association Guidelines for the
Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases, which made
recommendations adopted by the ABA in February, 2003, published in 31 HOFSTRA LAW
REVIEW 913 (2003)
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Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons (2005-06), which studied the issues
of safety and management in prisons and issued a report, Confronting Confinement,
setting out its findings and recommendations in 2006
Steering Committee, American Bar Association Death Penalty Moratorium Project (2002
to 2006)
Board of Directors, New World Foundation, which supports organizations working to
strengthen and expand civil rights and the active participation of citizens in American
democracy (2000 to 2006)
Board of Directors, Georgia Justice Project, a non-profit organization providing legal
representation and other assistance to poor people charged with crimes (1999 to 2003)
Board of Directors, National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys (1996 to 2002)
M ember, American Bar Association Task Force on Habeas Corpus Review of State Capital
Cases (1988-89), which studied the post-conviction of review of capital cases and made
findings and proposals, which were adopted with minor revisions by the ABA House of
Delegates in February, 1991, and published as Toward a More Just and Effective System
of Review in State Death Penalty Cases, 40 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 1 (1990);
Minority Report of Stephen B. Bright, id., at 209
Board of Directors, Texas Resource Center, a non-profit, public interest legal project which
recruited attorneys and provided direct representation to persons facing the death
penalty in Texas (1988-1996)
HONORS AND AWARDS:
American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award (1998)
Agitator (and Newsmaker) of the Year, for contributions to bringing about creation of a
public defender system in Georgia (2003), and Attorney of the Year for success in the
Supreme Court and elsewhere (2017), by the DAILY REPORT (Georgia legal newspaper)
Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty, presented by the American Civil Liberties Union, for
“extraordinary contributions to civil liberties in the United States” (1991)
Kutak-Dodds Prize, presented by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, for
“extraordinary vision and inspiring leadership in the struggle against capital punish-
ment; for his powerful advocacy on behalf of death row inmates; and his unwavering
conviction that those who face the worst penalty have a right to the best lawyers” (1992)
Champion of Justice Award, Equal Justice Initiative (2019)
Griffin Bell Award for Courageous Advocacy, awarded by the American College of Trial
Lawyers (2019)
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Progressive Champion Award, presented by the American Constitution Society in recog-
nition of “decades of service and unwavering commitment to defending human rights in
the criminal justice system” (2017)
Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers (2008)
Lifetime Achievement Award (2017) and Significant Contributions to Criminal Justice
Award (1999), presented by the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
The Mike Farrell Human Rights Award, presented by Death Penalty Focus (California)
(2011)
Thomas P. Sullivan Justice Award, presented by the Center on Wrongful Convictions at
Northwestern Law School for advancing the interests of justice and fairness in the
criminal justice system (2018)
Thomas J. Waldrop Truth and Justice Award, presented by the Criminal Law Section of the
Atlanta Bar Association (2017)
Social Justice Award, presented by the Athens (Georgia) Justice Project, for “providing
inspiration and hope to so many” (2009)
Indigent Defense Award, presented by the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
for “zealous fight for indigent defense issues spanning over three decades, . . . often the
first voice standing alone, speaking the truth to power[,] inspir[ing] many of us to add
our voice” (2008)
Paul H. Chapman Award, presented by the Foundation for the Improvement of Justice, for
“advocacy for those individuals who cannot afford legal representation” and efforts to
create comprehensive solutions with regard to indigent defense in Georgia (2006)
Admitted to University of Kentucky Hall of Distinguished Alumni (2015), College of Arts
& Sciences Hall of Fame (2006), and College of Law Alumni Hall of Fame (2000);
received the Henry R. Heyburn Alumni Public Service Award, presented by College of
Law Alumni Association (1998)
Human Rights Award, presented by the Society of American Law Teachers (2003)
Ben F. Johnson Jr. Public Service Award, presented by the Georgia State University College
of Law for public service exemplified by the college’s founding dean, Ben Johnson (2003)
Furman Award (named for William Henry Furman, a petitioner in Furman v. Georgia, 408
U.S. 346 (1972), which declared that the death penalty as carried out at the time was
unconstitutional), by the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy for “outstanding
achievements on behalf of capital clients through litigation or advocacy” (2000)
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Award for Leadership in Human Rights, presented by the Columbia Human Rights Law
Review, Columbia Law School, “for longstanding commitment” and “extraordinary
commitment to the field of human rights” (1999)
Brandeis Medal, presented by the Brandeis Society of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law,
Louisville, Kentucky (1998)
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights for “enormous contribution to the defense of
human rights and dignity for people on death row” (1993)
John Minor Wisdom Professionalism and Public Service Award, presented by the American
Bar Association’s Section on Litigation for “high standards of professionalism and
outstanding contribution in promoting an open profession and an open system of
justice” (1991)
Durfee Award for “significantly enhancing the human dignity of others through law,” the
Durfee Foundation, San Diego, California (1988)
HONORARY DEGREES
University of Kentucky (2019), Quinnipiac University (2018), Centre College (Kentucky)
(2018), Georgetown University (2015), Berea College (Kentucky) (2008), Emory
University (2006), John Jay College of Criminal Justice (2005), Northeastern University
(2004), University of Louisville (2002), University of Central England, Birmingham,
United Kingdom (2001)
BAR MEMBERSHIP:
Member of the Georgia Bar. Formerly member of the bars of the District of Columbia,
Florida and Kentucky.
Also admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States
Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Eleventh and District of Columbia Circuits, and
a number of federal district courts.
EDUCATION:
J. D., College of Law, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 1974.
B.A., Political Science, University of Kentucky, 1971.
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