About
Marc Murphy is a Professor of Practice, a trial attorney with nearly 40 years of experience as a prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, and litigator of complex civil matters including class actions and civil fraud. He was a partner in both Frost Brown Todd’s predecessor firm and Stites & Harbison, practicing around the country. He has argued before state and federal appellate courts, served as the Commonwealth‘s Attorney for Jefferson County (Louisville) Kentucky, and, in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps in Cold War Europe and in Central America was twice awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. He was Louisville‘s White Collar Criminal Defense Attorney of the Year 2018. In addition to his course load as a Professor of Practice he partners with the Office of Professional Development to enhance student experiences and their connection to the practice of law in Louisville and beyond.
Professor Murphy graduated from the University of Notre Dame, Phi Beta Kappa, and the University of Louisville School of Law, where he was an editor of the law review. He received the Justice John S. Palmore Leadership Award. While a student at the law school he wrote the briefs for Petitioner in the Supreme Court case of Ray Oliver v. United States, 466 U.S. 170 (1984). He has taught legal studies in undergraduate programs for the University of Louisville, the University of Maryland, and Florida State University.
Professor Murphy is also an award-winning political cartoonist for the Louisville Courier-Journal and other local and national publications. He is a member of the board of the Cartoonists Right Network International, an organization dedicated to defending human rights and free speech around the world. In 2023 he delivered the inaugural McGaughey Lecture on Press Freedom at Murray State University.
During the racial justice movement in the wake of Breonna Taylor’s killing he represented protesters arrested in Louisville, and spoke, wrote and marched as an ally. He is training with The Perception Institute, a consortium of mind science researchers, educators and social justice advocates to provide bias interventions and counseling.