R. Michael Cassidy
Professor R. Michael Cassidy teaches and writes in the areas of Criminal Law, Evidence and Professional Responsibility. He is considered an expert on the subject of prosecutorial ethics, and provides training nationally to public sector attorneys on their responsibilities under the Rules of Professional Conduct. He is quoted frequently by the media on subjects relating to criminal law and ethics, including appearing in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Globe.
Professor Cassidy’s scholarly work has been published in prestigious journals such as the Northwestern Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, the William & Mary Law Review, and the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, to name just a few. He is the author or co-author of three casebooks in the field of legal ethics.
In July, 2021, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts appointed Professor Cassidy to serve a four-year term on the Board of Bar Overseers. The BBO is the arm of the State’s highest court that regulates, investigates and disciplines attorneys in Massachusetts.
Among his many other professional and community activities, Professor Cassidy has served as a member of the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, as Editor-in-Chief of the Massachusetts Law Review, as a member of the Governor's Commission on Corrections Reform, as a Member of the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission, as an Advisor to the National District Attorneys' Association, as a member of the SJC’s Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Evidence Law, and as a member of the SJC’s Standing Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct. He has also served as a legal consultant to the United States Department of Justice on issues of police misconduct and prosecutorial ethics. Professor Cassidy was elected to the American Law Institute in 2012.
Professor Cassidy received his B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame, and his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Following law school he served as law clerk to the Honorable Edward F. Hennessey, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and then as a litigation associate at the Boston law firm of Foley Hoag. After leaving private practice, Professor Cassidy worked as a prosecutor in Massachusetts. From 1993 to 1996, Professor Cassidy served as Chief of the Criminal Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office under Attorney General Scott Harshbarger.
From 2015-2018 Professor Cassidy served as the founding Faculty Director of BC Law's Rappaport Center for Law & Public Policy. He served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Law School from 2007-2010 and as Associate Dean for Administration and Finance from 1996 to 2002.
The graduating classes of 2005, 2010, 2016, 2019 and 2020 voted to award Professor Cassidy the Emil Slizewski Distinguished Teaching Award in recognition of his extraordinary devotion to quality instruction in the classroom.
