William H. (Chip) Mellor serves as President and General Counsel of the Institute for Justice, which he co-founded. Mellor litigates cutting-edge constitutional cases nationwide protecting economic liberty, property rights and the First Amendment. Among his accomplishments are breaking open Denver’s 50-year-old taxi monopoly, ending the funeral industry’s monopoly on casket sales in Tennessee, defending of New Jersey’s welfare reform and launching the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago. He has teamed up with University of Chicago professor Richard Epstein on amicus briefs in eight property rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Wall Street Journal wrote of the Institute and its clients, "Meet the new civil rights activists. Their belief is that the right to earn a living free from excessive regulation is guaranteed by the Constitution." "The Institute for Justice's influence is being felt across the nation," noted Investor's Business Daily.

Mellor's views and writings have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, National Law Journal, Reason, Investor's Business Daily, "CBS Evening News", CNN, "Today", ABC News "Nightline" and numerous other publications and programs.

From 1986 until 1991, Mellor served as President of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, a nationally recognized "think tank" located in San Francisco. Under his leadership, the Institute commissioned and published the path-breaking books on civil rights, property rights, and technology and the First Amendment that serve as the Institute for Justice's long-term, strategic litigation blueprint.

Prior to Pacific Research Institute, Mellor served in the Reagan administration as Deputy General Counsel for Legislation and Regulations in the Department of Energy. From 1979-1983, Mellor practiced public interest law with Mountain States Legal Foundation in Denver, Colorado. Mellor received his J.D. from the University of Denver School of Law in 1977. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1973.

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The Institute for Justice is the nation’s premier libertarian public interest law firm.Their litigants are in courts across the country preserving freedom of opportunity and challenging government’s control over individuals’ lives. They sue governments when they stand in the way of entrepreneurs who seek to earn an honest living free from arbitrary and oppressive government interference. They litigate on behalf of individuals whose private property rights are threatened by government excesses.They represent parents who seek to choose the education that best meets their children’s needs. They defend individuals’ rights to publish and access information regardless of the communications medium involved.

Their cases demonstrate that individual initiative, freedom of enterprise, freedom of speech, private property rights, and the legal protection of these liberties are vital to the future of all Americans, but especially those at the bottom of the economic ladder. The Institute for Justice’s clients and cases illustrate the tangible benefits of liberty and the need for greater protection of basic American freedoms.

Books & Tapes

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