Walter B. Prince

Lawyer Walter B. Prince was born on August 15, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts to Jane Geneva Prince and Julius Prince. He attended Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, before receiving his B.S. degree in education from Boston State College in 1971. He then earned his J.D. degree from Boston College Law School in 1974.

After graduating from law school, Prince worked as a public defender for the Roxbury Defenders in Boston. From 1976 to 1980, he served as chief of the Major Drug Traffickers Prosecution Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In 1980, Prince became a founding partner of the law firm, Brown and Prince LLP. He joined the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority as general counsel in 1985, and later founded Prince Lobel Tye LLP, a Boston-area litigation practice, in 1988.

During his career, Prince has been active in the community, including his membership in the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Council in 1981. He also served as the president of the Massachusetts Black Lawyer Association and vice president of the National Conference of Black Lawyers’ Massachusetts chapter. In 1990, Prince joined the Committee for Public Counsel Services as chairman and served as chairman of the Massachusetts Health & Education Tax Exempt Trust in 1993 and as vice president of the Ford Hall Forum in 2010. In 2014, he became chairman of the Federal Merit Selection Panel and in 2024, he participated in the First Circuit Court of Appeals Committee to select a federal defender for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Furthermore, Prince served on the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, the Boston College Law School Board of Overseers, the Bridgewater State University Board of Trustees, the One United Bank board, the Boston Chamber of Commerce executive committee, and the Federal Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations.

Prince has received numerous awards and honors, including the Paul Robeson Award from the Boston College Black Alumni Network in 1988, the Thurgood Marshall Award from the Committee for Public Counsel Services in 1997, the Boston College Alumni Association’s William J. Kenealy Award in 2010, the University of Massachusetts Distinguished Alumni Award in 2013, the Diversity Award from the Boston Business Journal in 2013, the BUILDer Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship from BUILD in 2015, the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association Trailblazer Award in 2017, the Robert Morris Trial Lawyer Award from the American Board of Trial Advocates in 2017, a Recognition of Outstanding Contributions from the Roxbury Defenders in 2023, an induction into the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame in 2023, and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from New England Law School in 2023.

Prince and his wife, Dorothy Prince, reside in Pembroke, Massachusetts. They have three children: Marisa, Kamaya, and Kenneth.

Walter B. Prince was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 29, 2024.