https://frankreport.com/2020/06/30/clare-bronfman-replaces-mark-geragos-hires-famed-black-lawyer-ronald-s-sullivan-jr/
ccording to Wikipedia, Ronald Sullivan is 54, a law professor at Harvard Law School, who was elected President of the Black Law Students Association there. He served as an editor of the Harvard Black Letter Law Journal, now known as the Harvard Journal on Racial and Ethnic Justice.
Prior to joining Harvard, Sullivan was the Director of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia and worked at the D.C. law firms of Baach Robinson & Lewis and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. Sullivan worked on high-profile cases, including those involving President Clinton.
At Harvard, Sullivan teaches criminal law and upper level criminal procedure. He is the director of the Criminal Justice Institute. He writes on criminal law, criminal procedure, democracy, and race. He also serves as the official faculty advisor for Harvard Law School’s chapter of the Black Law Students Association.
Among his high profile cases, he represented one of the Jena Six defendants and was part of the legal defense team for ex-NFL New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez in a double murder case. While Hernandez was serving a prison sentence for another murder, of which he had been convicted, he was found not guilty in the double murder case.
Last year, Sullivan joined the legal defense team of Harvey Weinstein, a movie mogul facing multiple charges of rape and sexual assault.
Sullivan’s decision to represent Weinstein met with criticism from Harvard University students, faculty, and administrators, including an online petition by students seeking the removal of Sullivan as Faculty Dean of Winthrop House.
The Dean of Harvard College, Rakesh Khurana, announced on May 11, 2019, that he would not renew the appointment of Sullivan as Faculty Dean when his appointment expired.
Sullivan had some tax issues. On November 19, 2019, the United States Tax Court ruled that over $1 million in unpaid taxes was owed by Sullivan, who had not filed income tax returns between 2005 and 2013.
There is no doubt that Sullivan, a Democrat, close to Obama, and Clinton [Clinton appointed Judge Garaufis] will be taken seriously, no doubt a lot more seriously than an embattled Geragos was at the time leading up to Clare’s plea deal.
Sullivan is known as one of the leading law professors and one of the leading black lawyers in the nation. That alone will require special consideration by the court.
In defending his role in representing Weinstein, Sullivan made an excellent point when he wrote, “It is particularly important for this category of unpopular defendant to receive the same process as everyone else – perhaps even more important. To the degree we deny unpopular defendants basic due process rights we cease to be the country we imagine ourselves to be.”