American author and radical attorney noted for being a crusader for the people’s rights against the all-powerful state. Kunstler specialized in protecting the rights of the unpopular, political dissidents, civil disobeyers and the militant poor. He epitomized a generation of white, middle-class attorneys who worked for civil rights, electrified by cases that were unpopular and with clients that had few allies in the legal profession. His deep mistrust of government fueled his enthusiasm to help the underdog in society. In 1994, he wrote his autobiography, “My Life as a Radical Lawyer.”
In 1919, Kunstler was an honor student at Yale University and later at Columbia Law School. He originally became a lawyer for the prestige, status and relatively high income given the respectable career. He served in WW II and was awarded the Bronze Star under the rank of Major. In 1948, he was admitted to the bar and worked as a conservative corporate lawyer until 1961.
In his 40’s, Kunstler left the corporate world and concentrated on the passionate defense of radical causes. In 1961, he took the case of the Freedom Riders to help break segregation in the South. His biggest case was his defense of the Chicago Seven in 1968. It was this case that catapulted the lawyer on to the national scene as a radical lawyer defending the underdog in the American legal system. His other clients included Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Lenny Bruce. He protested the Vietnam War and fought police brutality. In the 1970s, he defended Native Americans, members of the Black Panthers, revolutionaries, Yippies and Abbie Hoffman. In the ’80s and ’90s, Kunstler’s critics called him a relic of the 1960s who ran out of causes to support. He defended organized crime figure John Gotti and Malcolm X’s daughter Qubilah Shabazz from charges of trying to have Louis Farrakhan killed. In 1991, he won the acquittal of El Sayyid A. Nosair of charges of killing Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League. Unpopular with prosecutors, Kunstler capitalized on his fame by writing his books, “The Case for Courage,” 1962 and “Deep in my Heart,” 1966. In 1970, the lawyer with the long flyaway hair and signature bifocals perched above his forehead was almost thrown in jail for four years for contempt of court.
On 1/14/1943 he married his first wife with whom he had two children. In 1977, he met his second wife, Margaret Ratner while working on a legal case.
Kunstler had a pacemaker installed on 8/07/1995 to help stabilize his heart. He died of a cardiac arrest on 9/04/1995 in New York, NY.
Link to Wikipedia biography