Alan B. Morrison papers

Title: Alan B. Morrison papers

Dates: 1953-2001

Collection Number: MSS 2001-15

Creator/Collector: Morrison, Alan B.

Extent: 2.5 linear feet (2 cartons).

Repository: UC San Francisco. Tobacco Control Archives

Abstract: Materials relate to attorney Alan B. Morrison's involvement with Brown & Williamson litigation against Merrell Williams.

Language of Material: English

Collection is open for research.

Copyright has not been assigned to the Library & Center for Knowledge Management. All requests for permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the UCSF Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Library & Center for Knowledge Management as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Alan B. Morrison papers. UC San Francisco. Tobacco Control Archives

Donated by Alan B. Morrison in 2001.

Alan B. Morrison was born in 1938 and received his B.A. from Yale University in 1959. From there he went into the Navy as a commissioned officer until 1963. In 1966 he received his LL.B. degree from Harvard University and was admitted to the bar in 1967. In 1972, Morrison and consumer advocate Ralph Nader set up the Public Citizen Litigation Group (Washington, D.C., USA), a nonprofit operation dedicated to US constitutional issues. As an attorney with that group, Morrison was asked for advice on some of the legal problems surrounding Merrell Williams following his involvement with Brown and Williamson attorneys. Eventually he became co-counsel with Fox DeMoisey in the litigation that targeted Williams for allegedly photocopying and disseminating internal Brown & Williamson documents. After the end of this litigation, Morrison donated the papers he received on behalf of Williams to the UCSF Tobacco Control Archives.

The collection consists of two cartons and one box of photocopies, envelopes and photographs, and two shipping boxes. The two shipping boxes, containing the photocopies and envelopes, were received from attorney Alan B. Morrison, dating from his involvement with Brown & Williamson litigation against Merrell Williams. These boxes and their contents date from around 1993 to 1996, when Morrison was co-counsel with Fox Demoisey in Maddox et al. v Williams and Brown & Williamson v Williams. In that capacity he was the recipient of these two boxes, originally sealed by the court. A series of photographs was taken when the original boxes were opened by an archivist, because the boxes were marked as if still sealed. One box apparently contained photocopies of some or all of the contents of the other, but marked with red lines indicating the recipient and the case and sealed in ten individual manila envelopes. Seals on the envelopes were broken by archivists to examine and rehouse the papers. In addition to the papers, Morrison provided copies of the revised court order regarding the documents, lists of documents claimed to be privileged (attorney-client) communication or attorney work product (or for which such claims were abandoned), and letters from opposing attorneys. The documents (apparently from Brown & Williamson) represented by the photocopies date from approximately 1953 through 1992. These appear to be the same documents as found in other collections such as the Brown & Williamson "Cigarette Papers." For further reference on the history of these documents, see Michael Orey's Assuming the Risk (Little, Brown and Company: Boston, 1999), Chapter 16.