Murphy Joins School of Law Leadership Team

Russell Cothren

Tiffany Murphy

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas School of Law Dean Margaret Sova McCabe is proud to announce that Tiffany Murphy has been appointed as the school's associate dean for academic affairs.

"Professor Murphy has proven herself to be exceptional leader through her work in our Legal Clinic, participation in the SEC Leadership Program and commitment to students and the rule of law," McCabe said. "I know she'll be a great addition to our administrative team."

Murphy, associate professor of law and director of the Criminal Practice Clinic, was recently elected to the Eighth Circuit Bar Association Board of Directors. She is the first professor to be elected to the board, and her term will begin in January 2021. She was chosen as one of four U of A fellows to participate in the 2019-20 Southeast Conference Academic Leadership Development Program, which identifies, prepares and advances academic leaders for roles within SEC institutions and beyond.

"Being at the University of Arkansas School of Law has given me so many opportunities to become a better teacher, scholar and clinician," Murphy said. "I look forward to enhancing my leadership skills, growing as an administrator and serving our students and my colleagues in this role."

Murphy is an expert on the problems in protecting federal constitutional rights and actual innocence while pursuing post-conviction remedies. She has spent her career addressing and researching these issues and has represented individuals falsely convicted of violent crimes — in some cases securing their release through evidence and witnesses not considered in the original proceedings.

After seven years representing Karl Fontenot, who was convicted in 1984 of murder, kidnapping and robbery, U.S. District Judge James Payne ordered Fontenot to be released, citing newly discovered evidence that provides "solid proof of Mr. Fontenot's probable innocence." Murphy and Fontenot celebrated his freedom in December 2019. The case against Fontenot and his co-defendant, Thomas Ward, is the subject of the books "Dreams of Ada" by Robert Mayer and "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town" by John Grisham. It was also made into a six-part documentary series released in 2018.

Murphy joined the University of Arkansas faculty in 2014 after teaching at the Oklahoma City University School of Law as a clinical professor and directing the Oklahoma Innocence Project, which is where she originally encountered Fontenot's case.

Another case she started while working at the Oklahoma Innocence Project involved Malcolm Scott and De'Marchoe Carpenter who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life without parole. They served more than 20 years for first-degree murder before their cases were overturned in 2016. "The Long Road to Freedom" on Dateline NBC examined the cases of Scott and Corey Atchison, Scott's brother who was wrongly convicted of a separate crime. The episode featured interviews with Murphy and others connected to the cases. Murphy and Scott also appeared on MSNBC's Live with Craig Melvin before the Dateline episode aired.

In 2017, Murphy received the University of Arkansas Alumni Association Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Service, which recognizes professors who have benefitted the state, region or nation through their professional expertise.

Prior to her work in Oklahoma, Murphy was a clinical professor and legal director of the Midwestern Innocence Project at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Before that, she practiced at the Federal Defender's Office Capital Habeas Units in Philadelphia and Las Vegas. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan.

As associate dean for academic affairs, Murphy is responsible for the oversight of the registrar's office, adjunct faculty, curricular details and academic-related student matters. She replaces associate professor Will Foster who is returning to his full-time faculty position after more than four years in the role.