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The son of a physician, Kunstler was born in New York City, and educated at Yale and Columbia Universities. He was admitted to the bar in New York in 1948 and began practicing law. He was an associate professor of law at New York Law School (1950-1951) and at Pace University (1951-1963) and lectured at the New School for Social Research (1966-1971).
He was a director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1964 to 1972, when he became a member of the ACLU National Council. In 1969 he was a co-founder of the Center for Constitutional Rights .
Kunstler served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the Pacific theater, attaining the rank of Major. He received the Bronze Star.
Kunstler's image was that of a flamboyant radical who defended controversial clients. Some of his clients included Lenny Bruce, H. Rap Brown, Stokely CarmichaelStokely Carmichael ( June 29, 1941 November 15, 1998), also known as Kwame Ture was an American Black activist and leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panther Party. He later became a Black separatist and Pan-Africanist., American Indian MovementThe American Indian Movement (AIM), is a Native American civil rights group in the United States that burst on the national scene with its seizure of Alcatraz Island in 1968, the BIA headquarters in Washington, D. in 1972 and the 1973 standoff at Wounded (AIM) leaders, Jack RubyJacob Leon Rubenstein who later changed his name and was known as Jack Leon Ruby ( March 25?, 1911 January 3, 1967), a Dallas nightclub owner, shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was arrested for the assassination, Abbie HoffmanAbbott "Abbie" Hoffman ( November 30, 1936- April 12, 1989) was a social and political activist in the United States, co-founder of the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and, later, a fugitive from the law who lived under an alias following a convicti, Angela DavisAngela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is a radical activist, primarily working for racial and gender equality and for prison reform. Childhood Angela was born in Birmingham, Alabama in the days of Jim Crow. Her father, a graduate of St. Augustine's, Jerry RubinJerry Rubin ( July 4, 1938 November 28, 1994) was a high-profile social activist during the 1960s and 1970s. Rubin was the son of a bread delivery man and union representative. It is said that he wanted to become second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds but, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm XMalcolm X (pronounced Malcolm Exx May 19, 1925 February 21, 1965 also: Malcolm Little El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and Omowale was a spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, and founder of both the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity..
He gained national renown for defending the " Chicago Seven" (originally "Chicago Eight") against charges of conspiring to incite riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. During the trial, he and the other defence attorney, Leonard Weinglass , were cited for contempt (the convictions were later overturned).
Kunstler died in New York of a heart attack at the age of 76.