In addition to being active in the greater Boston trial and appellate bars, over the years the firm’s principal has made a point of giving back to the community.

Starting in 1998 Mr. Murphy volunteered as a coach of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Mock Trial program in Newburyport. The next year he established the Ipswich High School Mock Trial. For the next twelve years he was the team’s primary contact, coach, and advisor; it started with six students and grew to more than 20. Meeting with students weekly from November to March each year, he gave advice and support to many high school students and some have gone on to law school.

He has also served as a judge in the Student Trial Advocacy Competition, a mock trial competition for law students sponsored by the American Association of Justice. Since 2010 he has volunteered as an advisor to the Harvard Trial Advocacy Workshop; he has also been a judge for the American Bar Association’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition and for New England School of Law’s Moot Court competition.

Since approximately 2002 he has been an active member of the Essex County Bar Association’s Conciliation program, volunteering to mediate and settle cases in Superior Court. He participated in a similar program during the 1990s in the Boston Municipal Court.

Locally, since 2011 Mr. Murphy has been his town’s Moderator, the only duly elected official representing town meeting, the legislative body for Massachusetts towns. He is also active in the Ipswich Rotary Club taking part in a number of community-service tasks, including Lend-A-Hand, helping the elderly or disabled, and cleaning trash from the side of the highway.