Samuel Dash

Professor Samuel Dash "has taught criminal law and trial procedure at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC since 1965.

"A native of Philadelphia, he developed an early passion for the rights of criminal suspects and defendants, especially Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. In 1949, while at Harvard Law School, he founded the Harvard Voluntary Defenders, and subsequently the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

"Later he served as a trial attorney with the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Chief of the Appeals Division of the District Attorney's Office of Philadelphia, and as the First Assistant District Attorney of Philadelphia and the District Attorney of Philadelphia. Eight years of private practice included partnerships in the Philadelphia firms of Blank, Rudenko, Klaus & Rome and Dash & Levy, where he specialized in trial practice. He also served as Executive Director of the Philadelphia Council for Community Advancement, a pioneer Philadelphia poverty program.

"In 1973-74, he gained national prominence as chief counsel and staff director of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, the Senate Watergate Committee.

"Professor Dash has served as a consultant to various commissions and government entities both here and abroad. He belongs to the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and the District of Columbia. He has held positions on the Boards of Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Common Cause, and membership in the American Law Institute. He has also chaired the Criminal Justice Section of the ABA and the ABA Special Committee on Criminal Justice in a Free Society. He belongs to the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility.

"As a Board Member of the International League for the Rights of Man, a private organization associated with the United Nations, he traveled to Northern Ireland to investigate the "Bloody Sunday" incident, and to the Soviet Union to investigate the treatment of activists. His writings include law review articles on criminal justice topics and three books: Chief Counsel (1976), Justice Denied: A Challenge to Lord Widery's Report on "Bloody Sunday" (1972), and The Eavesdroppers (1959, revised, 1998). He is currently writing a book on Fourth Amendment issues."


 * Director, Partnership for Responsible Drug Information