Impact at CLIPI
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Hunt taught law in Africa and became an early pioneer in employment discrimination law, first in private practice and then for the Federal Department of Justice. He became a CLIPI attorney in 1973. At CLIPI, Hunt successfully litigated and then favorably settled the Blake case against the Los Angeles Police Department thereby integrating women into the police force – the first such broad consent decree in the nation. His efforts were instrumental in advancing civil rights protections and creating many thousands of good-quality jobs for minorities and women in Southern California.
After CLIPI, Hunt’s career faced significant personal challenges. He started his own private practice, but in 1994, he voluntarily resigned from the State Bar of California amid multiple client complaints. These issues led to criminal charges, which were later dropped, but his license was not reinstated until 2004, after he demonstrated recovery from alcoholism and successfully addressed the concerns raised by the State Bar. Despite these setbacks, Hunt’s earlier contributions to civil rights law remain a notable part of his legacy.
