McFarland retires as Municipal judge

Arthur C. McFarland retired as the Municipal Court Judge for the city of Charleston this week, ending 33 years of service on the bench. He had served as the city's chief judge for the past 28 years.

The Charleston native began his career as an Earl Warren Fellow with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York, and he later returned to Charleston to practice law with a focus on employment and civil rights.

Mayor Joe Riley called McFarland's service "exceptional," adding, "We all have treasured working with Judge McFarland during these past years. I wish him the best during his well deserved retirement."

McFarland was among nine black students who desegregated Bishop England High School in 1964; he graduated from Notre Dame University and from the University of Virginia Law School.

He is immediate Past Supreme Knight and CEO of the Knights of Peter Claver Inc., the nation's largest Black Catholic organization, and he is a member of the Medical University of South Carolina Foundation, the 100 Black Men of Charleston, and the Jenkins Institute for Children.