Michael Meltsner (born 1937) is an American lawyer, the George J. and Kathleen Waters Matthews distinguished University Professor of law (and former

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

) at

Northeastern University School of Law Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as an evening program to meet the needs of its local community, NUSL is nationally recognized for its cooperative legal ...

and author. Meltsner was educated at Oberlin College and the

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

. As first assistant counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund he served as counsel in many leading civil rights cases of the 1960s, including those that led to the integration of Southern hospitals and medical facilities, and a moratorium on capital punishment. He represented

Mohammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

in the litigation that enabled his return to the boxing ring. Meltsner sits on the board of the Legal Action Center. He is a winner of many awards including a Berlin American Academy prize Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Hugo Bedau Award for capital punishment scholarship and an

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

Silver Gabel media award. In 2012

John Jay College The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts ...

(CUNY) conferred an Honorary Doctor of Laws calling him "the principal architect of the death penalty abolition movement in the United States."

Selected publications

*Philip G Schrag and Michael Meltsner, ''Reflections on Clinical Education'', Northeastern University Press, 1998, *''Cruel and Unusual: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment'', (Quid Pro Books Section Edition, 2011) *''The Making of a Civil Rights Lawyer'', University of Virginia Press, 2006, *''In Our Name: A Play of the Torture Years'', Norwood Press, 2010 *''Short Takes, A Novel'', Random House, 1979 *''Race Rape and Injustice'', University of Tennessee Press, 2012

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Meltsner, Michael American lawyers 1937 births Living people Northeastern University faculty