J. Kirk Osborn

Chapel Hill attorney J. Kirk Osborn passed away in the early hours of March 25, 2007, at the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Perhaps most recently recognized for his representation of Reade Seligman in the Duke Lacrosse case, Kirk's defining trait as a lawyer was his uncompromising unwillingness to tolerate injustice. Kirk firmly believed the Constitution could not survive without the existence of defense attorneys willing to fight for unpopular clients, even if that meant incurring the wrath of prosecutors who had become unmoored from notions of fairness and justice.
Kirk tried countless state and federal cases to verdict. Some of his more notable trials were the so- called Little Rascals Daycare case, where Kirk's zealous advocacy for his wrongly-convicted client won her a new trial followed by an outright dismissal of the charges against her. Kirk was also nationally known as one of the few North Carolina attorneys who had ever obtained a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity in the case of a Chapel Hill Law Student who had been charged with gunning down two people in Chapel Hill.
For those who knew him best, though, Kirk was first and foremost a devoted husband, a loving father, and an amazing friend. Kirk was born on July 4, 1942, in Havre Montana, to Dorothy Briggs and Robert Blair Osborn. He spent his early years in Flint, MI, and his grade school years in Golden, CO, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where he graduated from high school in 1960. Kirk entered the University of Colorado in Boulder on an athletic scholarship with his twin brother, where he was a four- year veteran and three-year letterman on the University of Colorado Football Team. Kirk was on the 1964 University of Colorado Orange Bowl team. After graduating in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics, Kirk entered Colorado State University, where he earned a Master of Science Degree in mathematical statistics in 1967.
Kirk moved to Chapel Hill in 1968 to pursue his advanced degree in statistics. Sometime during his advanced mathematical studies, Kirk signed on to work locally for Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign, and was so moved by the Kennedy campaign and by Kennedy's death that he decided to leave his mathematical studies to enroll in the University of North Carolina Law School, where he earned the degree of Juris Doctor in 1974. During the beginning years of his practice, Kirk practiced law with the Chapel Hill law firm of Manning & Jackson.
In 1980, the firm was renamed Manning Osborn & Frankstone where Kirk practiced until 1983. In 1983, North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt appointed Kirk to the newly created position of Public Defender for the judicial district that encompassed Orange and Chatham Counties. During his tenure as Public Defender, Kirk was known for his willingness to try the most difficult cases himself. Rather than simply administer the office, Kirk would often lead the trial teams defending indigent criminal defendants. Kirk was often referred to as the "Public Defender of the Poor." In 1987, based on Kirk's stellar performance as Public Defender, Resident Superior Court Judge F. Gordon Battle re-appointed Kirk to that post, where he continued to burnish his reputation as a fearless and ethical advocate for poor people charged with crimes.
In 1990 Kirk left the Public Defenders Office to open The Law Office of Kirk Osborn, where he continued primarily to defend criminal clients until the day of his passing.
On August 18, 1987, Kirk married Tania Sue Williams, a graduate of the North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Material Science and Engineering. Tania and Kirk have two teenaged daughters, Michela Jantzen Osborn, 18, and Jenna Kirk Osborn, 15. Kirk was a member of the North Carolina, Orange County, and 15-B Judicial District Bar Associations; the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers; the American Bar Association, and the Fair Trial Initiative.
As a member of the Fair Trial Initiative, Kirk served as a member of the Board of Directors and, at the time of his passing, had been elected chairman of that organization. In Kirk's honor, the Fair Trial Initiative renamed its annual fellowships, which are awarded to promising young attorneys seeking to be mentored in capital litigation, the "J. Kirk Osborn Fellowships."
Kirk was nationally known for his strong sense of ethics and for his tireless and zealous representation of his clients. To those who had the privilege of working with him, Kirk was perhaps best known for his love of mentoring the young attorneys with whom he practiced. Kirk's example touched the lives of countless attorneys nationwide, and, without exception, those who had the privilege of working with Kirk came away from the experience deeply touched by his respect for the law and for the justice system, and for his absolute and unwavering intolerance for injustice. Kirk had a deep and abiding sense of compassion for the frailties of humanity and was well known for his ability to communicate those to the juries to whom he argued his cases. No defendant Kirk Osborn ever represented in a capital murder case ever received the death penalty from one of his juries.
Kirk intensely loved his family and his friends, and was a fierce competitor until the last day of his life.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his twin brother Stephen Briggs Osborn.
Kirk is survived by his wife, Tania; his daughters; his sister, Lynn Osborn Simons, Cheyenne WY; his brother, R. Blair Osborn, Seattle, WA; and countless close friends and colleagues.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests support of the Fair Trial Initiative (www.fairtrial.org), 201 West Main Street, Suite 300, Durham 27707 or The Hill Center, 3200 Picket Road, Durham 27705.