Michael Edward Tigar (born January 18, 1941, in Glendale, California)[1] is an American criminal defense attorney known for representing controversial clients, a human rights activist and a scholar and law teacher.
In law school Tigar was a member of Order of the Coif, worked as a research assistant to Ann Fagan Ginger documenting the era's explosion in civil rights and civil liberties litigation, and served as editor-in-chief of the California Law Review.
[2] In 1966, Tigar was hired as a law clerk by Justice William J. Brennan of the United States Supreme Court.
Brennan, however, fired him the week he began his job, following complaints made by conservative columnists and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, because of Tigar's activist background.
He made several trips to South Africa, working with organizations of African lawyers engaged in the struggle to end apartheid, and after the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, to lecture on human rights issues and to advise the African National Congress on issues in drafting a new constitution.
He has been actively involved in efforts to bring to justice members of the Chilean junta, including former President Pinochet.
[10] In 2016, Tigar donated his papers to the University of Texas Law School Library, which held a symposium to launch the collection in 2018.
In addition to activist clients, he has represented Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Rep. Ronald Dellums, Rep. John M. Murphy (during the Abscam scandal), former Gov.