Mark S. Brodin is Professor of Law and former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Boston College Law School. A graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School (where he served on the Law Review), Professor Brodin clerked for United States District Judge Joseph L. Tauro from 1972 to 1974. He was Staff Counsel with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association from 1974 to 1980, representing plaintiffs in civil rights actions including DeGrace v. Rumsfeld, 614 F. 2d 796 (1st Cir. 1980); N.A.A.C.P. Boston Chapter v. Harris, 607 F. 2d 514 (1st Cir. 1979); Harris v. White, 479 F. Supp. 996 (D. Mass. 1979); Cooke v. Sarni Original Dry Cleaners, 2 M.D.L.R. 1012 (1980), aff'd 388 Mass. 611 (1983) (trial counsel). Professor Brodin has published extensively in the areas of employment discrimination, constitutional criminal procedure, evidence and litigation. He is the author of numerous law review articles and co-author of Handbook of Massachusetts Evidence (Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Editions) with Hon. Paul J. Liacos and Michael Avery (Aspen, 2007), Criminal Procedure: Examples and Explanations (First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Editions) with Robert M. Bloom (Aspen, 2009) and Civil Procedure: Doctrine, Practice and Context (First, Second and Third Editions) (with Stephen Subrin, Martha Minow, and Thom Main) (Aspen 2008). Professor Brodin has served for brief periods as an appellate attorney with the Massachusetts Defenders Committee (now the Committee for Public Counsel) and as a special assistant district attorney with the Norfolk County District Attorney. His latest book, William P. Homans Jr.: A Life In Court, is a biography of the well-known Boston lawyer and activist. Professor Brodin was named BC Law's 2002-2003 Faculty Member of the Year by the Law Students Association. The Black Law Students Association awarded him the Ruth Arlene Howe Award in both 2005 and 2006, and the Anthony P. Farley Excellence in Training Award in 2008-200
Articles
Bush v. Gore: The Worst (or at Least Second-to-the-Worst) Supreme Court Decision Ever, Nevada Law Journal (2012)
In the stiff competition for worst Supreme Court decision ever, two candidates stand heads above...
Ricci v. DeStefano: The New Haven Firefighters Case and the Triumph of White Privilege, Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice (2011)
Ricci v. DeStefano is the most important recent Supreme Court pronouncement on one of the...
What One Lawyer Can Do For Society: Lessons From The Remarkable Career of William P. Homans, Jr., New England Law Review (2011)
Behavioral Science Evidence in the Age of Daubert: Reflections of a Skeptic, University of Cincinnati Law Review (2005)
The piece briefly traces the history of the use of social science in the courtroom,...
The Demise of Circumstantial Proof in Employment Discrimination Litigation: St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks, Pretext, and the 'Personality' Excuse, Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law (1997)
Since the enactment of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the courts...
Books
Criminal Procedure: The Constitution and the Police (Seventh Edition) (with Robert M. Bloom) (2012)
2013 Cumulative Supplement to Handbook of Massachusetts Evidence (with Michael Avery) (2012)
Civil Procedure: Doctrine, Practice, and Context, 4th Edition (with Stephen Subrin, Martha Minow, Thom Main, and Alexandra LaHav) (2012)
The fourth edition, written by respected scholars and experienced educators, includes both classic and new...
Contributions to Books
Foreword (with Benjamin J. Cantor), Courtroom Guide for Non-Lawyers: Including Glossary of 448 Legal Terms and 81 Suggestions for (2001)
Presentations
Moderator, panel discussion on torture and indefinite detention following performance of Michael Meltsner's "In Our Name: A Play of the Torture Years", New England Journal on Civil and Criminal Commitment (2012)
Political Repression Now and Then: The Persistence of Paranoia in American Politics, Supreme Judicial Court Historical Society, William P. Homans Jr. Endowment Program (2012)
Discussion of a comparison between the McCarthy period and the Islamophobia of today
Discussion of William P. Homans Jr.: A Life in Court, Flaschner Institute Author Series (2011)
William P. Homans Jr.: A Life in Court, Keynote Address at Half-Century Luncheon, Boston College Law School Reunion Weekend (2010)
William P. Homans Jr.: A Life in Court, to Senior Partners, Volunteer Lawyers Project (2010)
Popular Press
Book Review, Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned by John A. Farrell, Boston Globe (2011)
Justice is Served in the Au Pair Case, Newsday (1997)
Selected Professional Activities
Interview with Professor Mark Brodin about his book "William P. Homans Jr.: A Life In Court", Boston College Law School Webcast Archive (2010)
Boston lawyer William P. Homans Jr. devoted his fifty-year career to the defense of the...