Brian A. Wilson

Biography

Brian Wilson (’96) is a lecturer and clinical instructor in the Criminal Law Clinical Program and supervisor of its Prosecutor Clinic, in which third-year students prosecute felony and misdemeanor cases in the Quincy District Court under his supervision. His students serve as the lead prosecutors on every aspect of their cases, including developing strategy, conducting investigations, and litigating each case from its pretrial stages through trial. He also lectures second- and third-year students on criminal procedure, evidence, trial advocacy, and ethics.

A 1996 graduate of BU Law and of the Prosecutor Clinic, Wilson began his career as an assistant district attorney in Norfolk County, Massachusetts under Hon. Jeffrey A. Locke (’80). Over the next 18 years, he argued numerous cases before the Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court of Massachusetts, including cases of first impression, and handled major felony cases in the Superior Court, including first-degree murder, motor vehicle homicide, drug trafficking, sexual assault, and other violent crimes. He also developed seminars and training materials for prosecutors and local police departments, and served on the faculty in trial advocacy workshops for MCLE and at Harvard Law School.

Upon returning to the law school to teach in 2015, Wilson brought the same passion to the pursuit of justice that was instilled in him as a student. “To come back to my roots, and work with some of the same faculty members who helped put me on this path, and to be able to teach my students what was taught to me, is really a great privilege,” he says.

Wilson has also employed his experience in counseling victims and his passion for social justice in leading BU Law’s Spring Break Pro Bono trips to Detroit in 2016, 2018, and 2019, where students worked with local nonprofit agencies to provide assistance to low-income families whose homes were at risk of tax foreclosure. “I enjoy watching our students make a difference in the lives of so many people who so desperately need their help,” Wilson says. “Seeing families who are at risk of losing their homes leave our counseling sessions with feelings of hope and relief, replacing the apprehension they often come in with, is truly a rewarding experience.”