Join us for evening with R. Michael Cassidy, a law professor at Boston College who teaches and writes in the areas of criminal law, evidence, and professional responsibility. He is considered an expert in prosecutorial ethics and provides training nationally to public sector attorneys on their responsibilities under the Rules of Professional Conduct. In July 2021, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts appointed Cassidy to a four-year term on the Board of Bar Overseers, the arm of the State’s highest court that regulates, investigates, and disciplines Massachusetts attorneys.  

From BC Law Magazine Online:

Professor R. Michael Cassidy is no stranger to seeing his work in print. The longtime faculty member is a nationally recognized expert in criminal law and legal ethics. His scholarship has been published in multiple highly ranked law journals, he is the author or co-author of three casebooks in the field of professional responsibility, and he is the co-author of multiple editions of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence.

It was perhaps no surprise that when he decided to turn his many talents to writing fiction, he drew inspiration from a well-known criminal case.

“When the Past Is All Deception was factually inspired by the brutal murder of New England Law Professor Mary Jo Frug in Harvard Square in 1991,” Cassidy says. “I served as a prosecutor in Massachusetts when this grisly crime was committed, and I have been haunted by the slaying ever since.” 

Book Synopsis: 

Professor Mark Price has been removed from the classroom due to an explosive conflict with his students over issues of political correctness. As his problems on campus escalate, they pose complex challenges for his spouse, Susan Price, a partner at a prestigious Boston law firm who has been nominated for an appointment to the State Supreme Court.

The Prices' lives are tragically shattered by a gruesome stabbing in Harvard Square. The murder investigation unfolds through shifting perspectives: those of the Prices, their two teenage children, and the lead detective assigned to investigate the murder. Everyone is hiding something, but what? And why?