Attorney Murphy is an accomplished and nationally recognized trial lawyer and has the highest rating available from other lawyers. He is an Instructor of Trial Advocacy at the University of Connecticut School of Law (where he has also taught Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility). He is also on the faculty of the Trial Lawyers College (based in Jackson, Wyoming), where he teaches lawyers from around the country how to best defend those accused of criminal misconduct. He is also on the faculty of the Trial Advocacy Institute (sponsored by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and the Connecticut Bar Association), where he teaches civil and criminal trial skills.

Attorney Murphy has successfully defended thousands of cases in state and federal court. A sample of some his criminal defense cases include: acquittal after a 7 week trial of all charges in a federal money laundering prosecution; acquittal of all charges after 8 weeks of trial in a multi-defendant drug prosecution; acquittal of robbery and conspiracy in state court; acquittals in numerous DUI trials. And while acquittals were not obtained in the following cases, the results were excellent for the client: after murder trial began, where client was accused of having assassinated a witness in another case, negotiated effective sentence of 7 years for Manslaughter First Degree; after federal trial began, no jail time for bank executive accused of $7 million bank fraud; after federal trial began, 4 months in halfway house for a Hartford police officer accused of raping a prostitute at gunpoint; no jail time and one day probation for a man who shot and killed his roommate. Also, Attorney Murphy was both the trial and appellate counsel in the case of State v. Miller, a leading case in Connecticut jurisprudence expanding the rights of citizens under the Connecticut Constitution.

Attorney Murphy is the former President of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, an organization of nearly 300 lawyers. Attorney Murphy is a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College; and a member of: National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (President 2000-2001); and the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

His publications and lectures related to criminal defense include: Ethical Considerations in Criminal Defense, National Business Institute (1996); Taking the Criminal Case to Trial, National Business Institute (1996); DUI Dealing with the New Laws and Regulations, Hartford County Bar Association (1993); The Many Changes in State and Federal Criminal Law, Hartford County Bar Association (1995); Strategies in Defending DUI Cases, National Business Institute (1996); Criminal Defense Litigation in Connecticut, National Business Institute (1996); Considerations of Ethics and Law for Criminal Defense Retainers, Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association (2001).