Alfred L. Brophy is an American legal scholar. He is retired. He held the Paul and Charlene Jones Chair in law at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

from 2017 to 2019.

Early life

Brophy was born in Champaign, Illinois. He graduated summa cum laude from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree. He earned a J.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where he was an editor of the ''Columbia Law Review'', and a Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he held a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Fellowship.

Career

Brophy was a law clerk to John Butzner of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district cou ...

and practiced law with

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates (known as Skadden) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm comprises approximately 1,700 lawyers and is the fourth highest ...

in New York. He taught at the

University of North Carolina School of Law The University of North Carolina School of Law (branded as Carolina Law) is the law school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Established in 1845, it is one of the oldest law schools in the United States and is the oldest law sch ...

from 2008 to 2017, where he became the Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law. He has held the Paul and Charlene Jones Chair in law at the

from 2017 to 2019. He has a

intracranial hemorrhage Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) refers to any form of Hemorrhage, bleeding Internal bleeding, within the Human skull, skull. It can result from trauma, vascular abnormalities, hypertension, or other medical conditions. ICH is broadly categorized ...

stroke and is retired now. Brophy is the author of several books, co-author of two casebooks, and co-editor of three other volumes. He has been the co-editor of the '' American Journal of Legal History'' from 2016 to 2018. In August 2017, in the wake of the

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a White supremacy#United States, white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, whi ...

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

, Brophy argued that Confederate monuments should remain, as "removal facilitates forgetting." Though at certain points he has supported renaming of campus buildings and also removal of some monuments, he is generally against removal of monuments and renaming. Instead, he has argued for counter-monuments and for more contextualization of monuments.See, e.g.
Alfred L. Brophy, Thomas Ruffin: Of Moral Philosophy and Monuments, North Carolina Law Review (2009)Alfred L. Brophy, The Law and Morality of Monument Removal, South Texas Law Review (2010)

Works

*''Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921'' (2002) *''Reparations Pro and Con'' (2006) *''Transformations in American Legal History'' (co-editor, 2009 and 2010) *''Integrating Spaces: Property Law and Race'' (co-author, 2011) *''Companion to American Legal History'' (co-editor, 2013) *''University, Court, and Slave: Proslavey Thought in Southern Colleges and Courts and the Coming of Civil War'' (2016) *''Experiencing Trusts and Estates'' (co-author 2017) (co-author, 2nd ed. 2021) *''Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies'' (co-editor, 2019) *''Francis Daniel Pastorius Reader: Writings by an Early American Polymath'' (associate editor, 2019)

References

Living people American lawyers Columbia Law School alumni Harvard University alumni Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom people University of North Carolina School of Law faculty University of Pennsylvania alumni American legal scholars Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-legal-academic-bio-stub