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Don A. Murray
About Don
Biography
EDUCATION
I went to Williams College where I majored in History. After Williams, I went to the University of Florida College of Law (now named the Levin College of Law). I graduated from law school with honors.
LEGAL EXPERIENCE
During law school, I got a clerkship working for an amazing lawyer named Bill DeCarlis. Bill is a criminal defense lawyer of some considerable reputation in the Southeast, and working with Bill changed my life. To me at the time, Bill seemed like a super hero, and for good reason. He is a former Aerospace engineer who worked on the Apollo program before going to law school. He flew his own airplane. He collects Corvettes. Bill was amazing to clerk for because he took his clerks everywhere. When Bill went to Court, I went to Court. When Bill talked to clients, I was in the room. I had the privilege of shadowing one of the finest criminal defense lawyers in the nation. I met some of the most amazing criminal defense lawyers, including legendary Bobby Lee Cook on a case we did in Atlanta.
Working for Bill set me on fire. From the moment I started working for him, law school became suddenly so much more interesting to me. Despite working almost full time for Bill, my grades skyrocketed. I started making straight A's. It was amazing. I lived and breathed criminal defense, but everything about law school became intensely interesting to me. It was one of the most exciting times of my life.
After law school, I parlayed my experience working with Bill to land a job as a trial lawyer for the Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Division, in New York City, where I took on a substantial caseload of criminal cases. There I handled all manner of criminal cases and took many cases to trial. While at the Legal Aid Society, I was engaged to prepare a chapter on the cross examination of witnesses with criminal convictions for a multi volume series of books for criminal defense lawyers called "Criminal Defense Techniques."
After six years at the Legal Aid Society, in 1996, I formed the law firm Shalley and Murray with my friend and colleague at the Legal Aid Society, James Shalley. We limit our practice to criminal defense. At this point, we have grown the business to two locations, including one location in New York City and one location in Westchester County. Over the years, we have handled all manner of criminal defense cases from the least to the most serious.
We have had some interesting successes, including a successful false confession defense in Westchester, where we successfully defended a person who had been accused of stealing $60,000 worth of lottery tickets from a store where he was the manager. They had managed to extract a full, written "confession" from him but we were successful nonetheless. (Confession was extracted after 14 hours of non-stop interrogation and various promises that he could be released if he simply signed a confession. There was no corroborating evidence.)
LEGAL CONSULTANT TO ENTERTAINMENT WORLD
Over the years, I have been consulted by a variety of television and movie producers and writers on small points of New York criminal law and procedure for television programs, movies, articles, and novels. Most recently, I was engaged to consult more directly on the NBC miniseries "The Slap" to help them understand how an arraignment in New York City would look and sound. If you haven't seen the show, one of the characters (played by Zachary Quinto) is arrested and must be arraigned. They invited me to the set to be there to answer questions about things like, who would stand where and to make sure that the things people said at the arraignment made sense. As it turned out, I was able to catch a mistake in terminology that nobody but a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor would have caught but it was fun to hear the corrected term in the show and know that it was a result of my influence. At the end of the day's shooting, they surprised me by asking me to be in a scene (in the background). I actually made it into the show for about six seconds, in a hallway scene where the real actor Peter Sarsgaard walks by me on the way to the courtroom. This was all quite a fun, exciting, and fascinating experience. To see "my scene" and read about my impressions of the experience, visit this page on my website:
LEGAL INTERESTS
I enjoy legal research and writing. If I can identify a particularly juicy legal issue, especially if it involves a Fourth Amendment search and seizure issue, I am happy. I recently accepted a case for a lower fee than I would normally have accepted primarily because I thought the search and seizure issues were so compelling. We ended up doing a suppression hearing, and I wrote a 40 page memorandum. The judge granted the suppression and my client was spared a minimum sentence of 7 years in prison. Of course, winning suppression of significant evidence at suppression hearings is among the rarest of all achievements for any criminal defense lawyer. I felt a bit like Luke Skywalker blowing up the Death Star. But part of the allure of being a criminal defense lawyer is taking on a case against all the odds.
PERSONAL
I am a bit of a geek. I taught myself computer programming from a book I borrowed from the library because my family couldn't afford a computer when home computers were new and expensive in the early 1980's. Since then I learned a variety of computer programming languages (on an actual computer). I own and throw boomerangs. Yes, they do return if you throw them right (and it isn't too windy).I am a tournament level Scrabble brand Crossword Game player, former Scrabble champion of Gainesville, Florida while I was in law school. I play the mandolin, the guitar, and a little Irish tin whistle. After reading Moonwalking with Einstein, I taught myself some memorizing techniques and learned how to memorize a deck of cards in short order. My best time for memorizing a deck of cards was just under ten minutes. Nothing the pros couldn't do easily, but not bad for a dabbler like me.
Practice Areas
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Practice Area
Fees and Rates
Cost
Payment Methods
- Cash
- Check
- Credit Card
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Chat withLicenses
Licensed in New York for 34 years
State: New York
Acquired: 1992
No misconduct found
Licensed in Florida for 36 years
State: Florida
Acquired: 1990
No misconduct found
Location
Shalley and Murray
80-02 Kew Gardens Road, Suite 702, Kew Gardens, NY, 11415-1204
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Don A. Murray's Reviews
Avvo Review Score
8 Client Reviews
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Showing 6 - 8 of 8 reviews
Posted by Jimmy | July 24, 2018 | Hired Attorney
Very pleasant to work with
Don was a pleasure to have as my attorney. He explains everything thoroughly and is very patient in answering your questions. You can tell that he is well-seasoned and knows the drill. Anyone who needs a lawyer is wise to choose him.
Posted by Elena | March 27, 2017 | Hired Attorney | Criminal Defense
An excellent attorney
I would recommend atty. Don Murray without reservation! He represented my son on a misdeameanor DAT and was courteous, professional and thorough during the entire process. He explained exactly what the charges meant, what the possible ramifications and outcomes were and what to expect. He put my son ...
Posted by anonymous | August 05, 2016 | Hired Attorney | Lawsuits & Disputes
Highly recommended! The best¡
I had talked to a lawyer from another firm who made me feel like my case would not turn out positive and told me I would have to pay alot of money, while making me feel hopeless. I decided to continue seeking a better lawyer and I came across Shalley and Murray. I called the firm and spoke to Don Mur...
Don A. Murray's Lawyer Endorsements
"Mr. Murray is an extremely capable attorney committed to providing highest quality representation to his clients. I endorse him without reservation."
"It is a rare thing in my profession to refer my clients to one attorney only, but for clients of mine who have criminal defense matters that is exactly what I do -- I refer them to Don A. Murray."
"I endorse this lawyer."
"Don Murray is an excellent criminal defense attorney. He is knowledgeable, responsible, and a pleasure to deal with. He is intimately familiar with the workings of the New York Criminal Courts and is well known among judges, defense attorneys and prosecutors. His reputation is unmatched among his peers and he is a good friend to have in a pinch. I wholeheartedly endorse him as an attorney."
Mahmoud Rabah
Criminal defense lawyer
Experience
Work Experience
1996 - Present
Founding Partner, Shalley and Murray
2014 - 2014
Consultant to "The Slap" Miniseries, NBC
1990 - 1996
Public Defender, The Legal Aid Society
1988 - 1990
Law Clerk, Law Offices of William DeCarlis
Associations
1996 - Present
Queens County Bar Association
1990 - Present
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Sample of Legal Cases
Assault Case Dismissed
Assault Charges Dismissed.
Felony Gun in Car Queens County
Dismissal
Armed Robbery Dismissed With Alibi Video
Dismissal
Education
1989
University of Florida, Fredric G. Levin College of Law
JD - Juris Doctor
1986
Williams College
B.A.
Speaking Engagements
2013
High School Speaking Engagement
Teenagers and the Criminal Justice System
1999
Cardozo Law School Intensive Trial Advocacy Faculty
Opening Statements
Publications
1999
Queens County Bar Association Journal
Discovery in Criminal Cases
1995
Criminal Defense Techniques
Chapter 26, Impeachment by Prior Conviction
Languages
English
Activity
Legal Answers
Legal Guides
Legal Answers
Q&A
After getting sentence can I do more cooperation to reduce my sentence or get probation instead of going jail?
14 Jul 2015
Q&A
ACD NY Drug Test Possession of a Controlled Substance?
23 Jun 2015
Q&A
What happens after getting caught shoplifting at Target?
20 Jun 2015