William H Murphy Jr

Judge William H. “Billy” Murphy, Jr. is the founder and a senior partner of Murphy, Falcon & Murphy in Baltimore. With more than 42 years of practice in state courts, Judge Murphy has been successful in over 90% of his state court cases and over 40% of his federal cases–four times higher than the national average of 9%.

In the courtroom, he’s known as an expert litigator with a calm and calculated approach for getting to the truth. Judge Murphy is most energized when battling the powerful to protect the rights of the innocent and under-represented. 

Judge Murphy is legendary among trial attorneys, known for his creative and systematic approach to commanding any situation in court. At every turn, he has been able to out-strategize, out-organize and simply out-work his opponents. His exceptional ability to cross-examine any witness has led him to countless victories. “In court, you only know, at best, 60 percent of what’s going to happen. The other 40 percent is unexpected. You state your theme. Then you improvise and, at the end, restate the theme,” he says.

His 1998 victory for boxing promoter Don King became a legendary case in sports history and garnered wide-spread attention throughout the nation. In a case of wire fraud charges brought on by UK-based bank, Lloyd’s of London, Judge Murphy defended Mr. King’s participation in fraudulently claiming $350,000 of refunds from a cancelled boxing match. Through his extensive knowledge on the case and fearless cross-examination of Mr. King’s former accountant, all nine counts were ultimately dismissed.

In 2008, Judge Murphy and his team at Murphy, Falcon & Murphy reached a $54 million settlement with Constellation Energy on behalf of homeowners in the Baltimore area whose private drinking wells were contaminated by coal ash.

In August 2010, he and his team of attorneys represented 23 plaintiffs who were awarded $34.33 million in damages after a Baltimore City jury found that they had been permanently injured in a carbon monoxide release at an Inner Harbor restaurant.

Judge Murphy is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland School of Law.