William Kunstler
Controversial attorney and civil rights activist.
- died
- September 4, 1995
- field
- Law, civil rights activism
- nationality
- American
- known_for
- Defending the Chicago Seven; co-founding the Center for Constitutional Rights
Lore & Background
He served in the U.S. After the war, he practiced family and small-business law before entering civil-rights litigation in the 1960s.
Reader's Guide
William Kunstler was a polarizing figure in American law. I'm not a lawyer for hire. He also won a de facto segregation case regarding Washington, D.C.'s public schools and revived the concept of federal criminal removal jurisdiction in the 1960s.
Did You Know?
- Kunstler graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University in 1941.
- He served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the Pacific theater, rising to the rank of major and receiving the Bronze Star.
- The New York Times called him 'the country's most controversial and, perhaps, its best-known lawyer' after his defense of the Chicago Seven.
- Kunstler stated, 'I only defend those whose goals I share. I'm not a lawyer for hire. I only defend those I love.'
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