Martin Stolar

Martin Stolar (April 2, 1943 – July 1, 2024) was a prominent American civil rights attorney and movement lawyer in New York City. He was best known for representing anti-Vietnam war protesters, Black Panthers, Attica prisoners and members of Occupy Wall Street among many others.

Early life Stolar was the middle son of Sig Stolar and Jesse (Staum) Stolar and was raised in Rochester, New York. Stolar graduated from the University of Rochester in 1965 and took a summer job with a Bronx storefront lawyer. He then enrolled at New York University School of Law and graduated in 1968.

The Panther 21 The commune also represented the Panther 21. They were a group of twenty-one Black Panther members who were arrested and accused of planned coordinated bombing and long-range rifle attacks on two police stations and an education office in New York City in 1969. At the time, the eight-month trial was the longest and most expensive in New York State history. All the clients were acquitted.

After a decade of litigation, the federal court found in 1985 that police surveillance of political activity violated constitutional protections of free speech. This ruling resulted in a consent decree which put in numerous restrictions how the NYPD may use surveillance and informants on political, ideological or religious activities.

Attica After the Attica Prison Rebellion in 1971, Stolar was a key architect of the Attica Brothers Legal Defense through the New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

Stolar, Alterman and Gulielmetti (1975–1989)

Solo practice (1989–2024) During the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City there were 1,800 protestors arrested. Stolar led the mass defense committee of the National Lawyers Guild in defending the protestors and personally handed more than 250 cases.

The process used during the mass detention at the Republican Convention were then replicated later for Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter.

Personal life Stolar had two daughters with his long-term partner Veronika Kraft. They were together from law school until Kraft's death in 1986. He married Elsie Chandler, a criminal defense lawyer at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, in 1993. They remained married until his death.