Professor Sullivan is a leading theorist in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure, trial practice and techniques, legal ethics, and race theory. He is the faculty director of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute and the Harvard Trial Advocacy Workshop. Professor Sullivan also serves as Faculty Dean (formerly, “Master”) of Winthrop House at Harvard College. In 2009, he became the first African American ever appointed Master in Harvard’s history.
Professor Sullivan has merged legal theory and practice over the course of his career in unique and cutting-edge ways. Indeed, he is sought out to represent clients in cases that many in the legal community deem “impossible.” Illustratively, Professor Sullivan secured an acquittal in the double murder case of former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez. He successfully represented the family of Michael Brown in reaching a settlement with the city of Ferguson on a wrongful death claim, even after the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute the case. He secured an acquittal in one of the country’s largest Residential Mortgage Backed Securities Fraud cases – a six count federal indictment. Finally, Professor. Sullivan was recently hired as a special prosecutor to lead the prosecution of the former Governor of Missouri, who ultimately resigned from office.