Larry Cunningham

Larry Cunningham joined St. John’s as an Assistant Professor of Legal Writing in 2008.  He received his B.S., summa cum laude, from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif, served on the law review, and was executive director of the moot court and mock trial organization.  After graduating from Georgetown, he clerked for the Honorable Claude M. Hilton, then-Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

Professor Cunningham had extensive practice and teaching experience before coming to St. John’s.  He served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office where, as a member of the office’s Appeals Bureau, he litigated post-conviction matters in state and federal court.  He was also the Mental Health Coordinator, supervising approximately fifteen lawyers litigating post-adjudication insanity review proceedings, and he served on felony-homicide duty, where he responded to crime scenes, questioned suspects, and prepared search warrants.  Professor Cunningham was previously an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Alexandria, Virginia, where he prosecuted juvenile delinquency offenses and gang cases. 

Professor Cunningham was a professor for three years at Texas Tech University School of Law, where he taught criminal justice-related courses and directed a criminal litigation clinic. During that time, he was pro bono counsel in a successful, high-profile appeal challenging the prosecution of pregnant women for delivering controlled substances to their fetuses.  His work on the case led to the reversal of several convictions.  He has also taught as a visiting professor at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law and Stetson University College of Law and as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School.

Professor Cunningham has published widely in the fields of criminal justice, juvenile justice, animal law, appellate litigation, and legal education.  His articles have appeared in the Georgetown Law Journal, Syracuse Law Review, Quinnipiac Law Review, and the peer-reviewed journal Criminal Justice Ethics, among others.  He has been a frequent speaker on legal education and other topics before bar associations, law schools, and other organizations.  In June 2008, he testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, on the legality of laptop searches at the international border.

In 2008, Professor Cunningham established a blog on New York Criminal Law and Procedure.  The blog provides summaries of recent decisions from New York's appellate courts, analysis of important issues in New York criminal practice, and news of interest to practitioners and judges about the criminal justice system.

Professor Cunningham teaches legal writing and legal research. 

Larry Cunningham