Christopher Murell

For the last nineteen years, Chris has been a fierce, dedicated, and successful advocate for clients at trial and on appeal. His experience includes securing acquittals for felony cases ranging from drug possession to murder, having the Louisiana Supreme Court overturn his clients' conviction and death sentence,  being part of trial teams that have won millions of dollars for clients, and representing clients in high profile civil rights lawsuits against police across the South. 

Christopher Murell was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. He graduated summa cum laude from Emory University with a B.A. in philosophy, and was also inducted into the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa. Chris attended New York University School of Law, one of the top 6 law schools in the U.S. There, he was awarded the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Fellowship. He also served as research assistant to the renowned civil rights, social justice, and capital defense luminary Professor Anthony G. Amsterdam.

Chris opened the Murell Law Firm in the summer of 2021. The Firm provides top level criminal defense at all levels spanning from complex RICO murder indictments and murders of federal witnesses to state court felonies to federal and state appeals. We have extensive, specialized experience in serious felony matters, such as murder, violent felonies, and complicated federal investigations. We also work on high profile civil rights cases including police beatings, jail abuse and deaths, and litigation on behalf of classes of people oppressed by the criminal justice system. 

Our firm provides vigorous, dedicated, client-centered representation to everyone who hires us. We deliberately limit our the number of cases we accept so that every client gets the individual, personal service that he or she deserves. 

Before opening his own law firm in the fall of 2021, Chris worked for preeminent Louisiana trial attorney Lewis Unglesby. While there, Chris was part of the trial team with Mr. Unglesby that won multi-million dollar verdicts for their clients. Chris made opening and closing arguments, as well conducted direct and cross-examinations of opponents' witnesses at trial. He also had immense success in criminal and civil litigation. A federal court suppressed all evidence against his client in a gun case. Chris successfully navigated motions to dismiss his clients' federal civil rights cases. He authored and won successful pre-trial and mid-trial writs in the Louisiana Supreme Court, having adverse trial court and court of appeals decisions reversed. Recently, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an $8 million verdict in an asbestos case where Chris took the lead on briefing. The Louisiana Supreme Court refused to review or overturn that decision. Chris was called as an expert witness in criminal trial practice in a lawsuit challenging the underfunding of public defenders. 

Before joining the Unglesby Law Firm in 2018, Chris was the Executive Director of the Capital Appeals Project and Promise of Justice Initiative in New Orleans. In addition to his duties as director of these offices, Chris acted as lead and associate counsel on capital direct appeals, including successfully arguing to have a death sentence reversed in front of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Chris also helped craft a class action lawsuit regarding the chronic underfunding of indigent defense in Louisiana, and testified in front of the Louisiana legislature about that topic.

Chris moved to Louisiana in 2008 to take a job at the revamped Orleans Public Defenders office (OPD), following Hurricane Katrina. Chris went on to try approximately two dozen cases in front of juries, achieving acquittals for nearly all these clients, and having his sole conviction while lead counsel quickly reversed due to the State hiding exculpatory evidence. He also tried more than seventy-five cases before judges and conducted hundreds of evidentiary hearings and witness examinations. Chris authored numerous successful pretrial writs in the Fourth Circuit and Louisiana Supreme Court. During his last three years at OPD, Chris co-founded the capital trial division of the office and focused solely on death penalty and juvenile life-without-parole cases. Chris has trained extensively in methods of cross-examination and voir dire, including the Colorado Method. He has been invited to train young lawyers from around Louisiana on trial methods.

Chris began his career with a two-year fellowship at the Georgia Capital Defender, where he was part of the trial team that secured a life verdict in the capital trial of Brian Nichols.