Billy Murphy Jr.

Murphy was born in Baltimore's Cherry Hill neighborhood to William H. Murphy Sr., one of the first African-American judges to serve on Baltimore's district court, and community and political activist Madeline Wheeler Murphy.[2][3][4] Murphy attended Baltimore City Public Schools, graduating from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. In 1965, he completed a B.S. in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before going on to the University of Maryland School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and earned his J.D. in 1969.[5][6]

From the beginning of his career, Murphy was especially active as an advocate in civil rights-related cases.[2] In his first successful case, he defended the First Amendment rights of a controversial Black Panther Party newspaper. Murphy gained particular public prominence as a criminal defense lawyer, in which role he drew public attention to the history of injustice toward African-Americans.[7][8]

In 1980, Murphy was elected to Baltimore's Circuit Court (Maryland's highest-level trial court), on which he served as a judge for two and a half years.[2][9] He resigned in 1983 to pursue an unsuccessful primary challenge to incumbent Baltimore mayor William Donald Schaefer in that year's mayoral election.[10] In his campaign, he spoke of an "other Baltimore" which, he said, had been neglected by those focused on improving the city's public image, leaving it without the investment of resources that could help to address its long-term problems.[11]

Murphy then returned to practicing law. In 1986, he partnered with longtime collaborator Richard Falcon to found the firm now known as Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, in which Murphy continues to serve as a senior partner.[7] Here, his practice has focused on civil litigation, including several high-profile cases representing Fortune 500 companies.[2] In 1994, The Baltimore Sun described Murphy as having "a reputation for pushing client advocacy to its legal limits", in an article in which Murphy explained his role as preventing "the rules [from being] bent against unpopular people."[12] Murphy's work has earned numerous honors, including recognition as the "Top Attorney in Maryland" by Baltimore Magazine Super Lawyers, for both 2009 and 2010, and listing among the American Trial Lawyers Association's "100 Top Trial Lawyers in the U.S.", in 2011.[7] In 2004, the University of Baltimore presented Murphy with its inaugural Charles Hamilton Houston Award for Lifetime Achievement in Litigation.[6]

Murphy appeared as himself in The Wire, season 5, episode 7: "Took" (airdate February 17, 2008).[13]

In 2015, Murphy served as attorney for the family of Freddie Gray, who died during an encounter with the Baltimore police.[14][15][16] Murphy has long been critical of the ways law-enforcement practices can unfairly harm African-Americans.[10] Even in 1999, Murphy denounced "zero tolerance" as an approach to policing and advocated requiring police officers to carry "audiotape recorders" as a means of improving courtesy and making officers "less inclined to commit perjury."[17][18]

Murphy's ties to Marilyn Mosby, the State's Attorney who filed charges against the officers involved in the Gray case, became a source of controversy when defense attorneys alleged, in a motion to dismiss the case, that those ties constituted a conflict of interest on her part.[19] (The motion also alleged several other potential reasons for dismissal.) Specifically, Murphy donated to Mosby's campaign, served as one of 14 members of her transition team, and represented her in an Attorney Grievance Commission proceeding, which the State's Attorney's office characterized as "frivolous."[20] The Fraternal Order of Police also publicly called for Mosby to recuse herself from the case.[21] In response, the prosecution asserted that none of the reasons alleged constitute a legal basis for charges to be dismissed; they also pointed out that "Murphy's $4,000 contribution to Mosby's campaign" amounted to "just 1.3 percent of her overall campaign funds" and was comparable to a $3,250 donation by the "Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents Baltimore police officers."[20] Throughout the controversy, Murphy defended Mosby and asserted that there would be no conflict of interest.[22]