rights, criminal justice and other types of cases to fight discrimination and protect civil rights.”
Karlin graduated with Order of the Coif honors from the University of California Berkeley School of Law in 1974. He became active in the Berkeley community during law school by volunteering with a group that counseled tenants and encouraged tenant organizing. His work also focused on issues of constitutionality, including working on an appellate brief to defend Berkeley’ s rent control ordinance. On the academic front, he was part of a group that argued for the development of externship programs for clinical opportunities.
Karlin’ s first job after law school brought him to Morgantown, WV, where he joined the North Central West Virginia Legal Aid Society. Although he was new to the state, Karlin found mentorship from his supervisor, Larry Starcher, who later became a justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
“ Justice Larry Starcher was responsible for bringing me here, and even though I worked with him less than two years, he certainly taught me a lot about West Virginia and practicing law,” says Karlin.
After Starcher left Legal Aid to become a circuit judge, Karlin was appointed as its interim director. He became the official director in 1976 and held the position until 1981 when he decided to open his own firm.“ I wanted to do more civil rights work, and I wanted to practice law without the increasing constraints on what a legal aid attorney could do in the 1980s,” he says.“ I did not want to go the route of established firms. I wanted to represent working people in discrimination, retaliation, civil rights and sexual harassment cases and do some criminal law. Most of all, I wanted to be free to take the cases I wanted to take.”
Working alongside one other attorney, today most of Karlin’ s cases involve harassment, discrimination, wrongful discharge and personal injury. He stresses that operating a private practice allows him to take cases that make a big difference in his clients’ lives and align with the firm’ s moral and political values.
“ I consider myself privileged to be able to make a good living in a law practice where neither economic pressure nor the policies of the firm require me to represent clients in cases where I either don’ t like
Karlin with Barry Scheck and Nina Morrison of the Innocence Project at the Supreme Court of Appeals of WV. Photo by Matt Harvey / The Exponent Telegram.
the case, don’ t believe in the case and / or would rather not represent the client,” says Karlin.“ This has allowed my firm to sometimes get involved in controversial cases without concern that someone might disapprove of our involvement.”
Karlin also places high value on cases that provide opportunities for education and community involvement. In his early days of private practice, he successfully represented a victim of domestic violence who was charged with first-degree murder in defense of her children and herself.
“ It was very special to work on a case where my client was innocent under the law and where the case also educated the community about an important social issue,” he says.“ It was also a special privilege to stand up in a courtroom representing my client with the support of many in the community sitting behind me, especially given the jury’ s verdict of not guilty.”
More recently, Karlin has worked with the Innocence Project to free a West Virginian from a wrongful prison sentence.
“ Can you imagine anything more horrible than being sentenced to prison for a minimum of 40 years when you were only 19 years old for a horrendous crime you did not commit?” he says.“ Despite the protections of our criminal justice system, innocent people do get convicted and even in some cases plead guilty because of poor legal advice or simply fear that worse things will happen if they do not plead. There is a saying in both the Jewish and Muslim holy writings to the effect of,‘ Whoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world.’ Working with the Innocence
Project and ultimately succeeding in this case made this quote very real for me.”
Although Karlin is not a native West Virginian, he has developed strong ties to West Virginia University College of Law, where he is a dean’ s partner and helped create and teach the pre-trial litigation course. He has also received the college’ s Justitia Officium Award.
His community service includes being chairperson of the West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board, co-chair of fundraising for Legal Aid and a member of United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties’ allocation committee. He serves on the board of the West Virginia Fund for Law in the Public Interest, which provides stipends for law students working in public interest internships and attorneys working in public interest jobs after law school. He has also been active in several professional organizations and served as past president of the West Virginia Association of Justice.
Karlin has been recognized with several awards and honors, including the Sid Bell Memorial Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia. While he appreciates this acclaim, he places higher importance on his wife and their family and friends, the relationships he has developed with clients and the fulfillment of having done work that benefits society.
“ It is good to look in the mirror and believe that, win or lose, you tried and, most often, succeeded in helping someone get through hard times, in righting a wrong and in contributing in some small way to a more just world,” he says. •
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