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Dennis Cunningham (1936-2022) was a lawyer who practiced law in Illinois, New York, and California. One of the founding members of the People's Law Office in Chicago, Illinois, he specialized in public interest and civil law centered on injustice perpetuated by the government with cases on environmental activism, police brutality, civil disobedience, prisoners' rights, and political injustice. Notable clients include Akil Al Jundi, Judi Bari, and Fred Hampton. This collection covers his career as a lawyer from 1967-2019 in 45 manuscript boxes. The collection is arranged into two main series, case/subject files and professional files. Materials are arranged alphabetically within series and primarily include court documents, notes and annotations, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs.

Court documents (motions, briefs, appeals, affidavits), correspondence, police records, ephemera, photos, tweets, transcripts, notes, and newspaper clippings relating to the career of lawyer Dennis Cunningham.

The Dennis Cunningham Papers covers Cunningham's professional career from 1967-2019 in 45 manuscript boxes totaling approximately 22.5 linear feet.

This collection consists primarily of court and trial documents, drafts and annotations, correspondence, notebooks with commentary on cases, transcripts, research materials, newspaper clippings, photographs, and various ephemera collected during Cunningham's career.

Strengths of this collection include coverage of most of Cunningham's career with notable cases from his time in Chicago, New York, and California. More extensive collections feature materials covering not only the trial but behind-the-scenes processes such as meetings, research and notes, and settlements or payment. The collection also features a variety of notebooks detailing Cunningham's comments on cases and his challenges with the Bar Exam in the State of California.