Fred David Gray is a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement and a native of Montgomery, AL. The civil rights cases that Mr. Gray has won have transformed this country and are in most constitutional law textbooks. They include, but are not limited to Browder v. Gayle (1956), challenging the constitutionality of Alabama state laws mandating segregation on buses and ultimately led to the Supreme Court to order integrated buses in Montgomery; Mitchell v. Johnson (1966), one of the first civil actions brought to remedy systemic exclusion of blacks from the civil jury pool; and Lee v. Macon County Board of Education (1967), where Mr. Gray obtained a trial order that desegregated all Alabama Public Schools. In 1965 after Williams v. Wallace, the court ordered Alabama Governor George Wallace and the State of Alabama to protect marchers as they walked from Selma to Montgomery to present grievances as a result of being unable to vote. The publicity of these actions led to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
On July 7, 2022, Fred Gray was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joseph Biden.
Thank you Fred Gray for taking a stand and making it your mission to “stamp out discrimination!”
#TheCochranFirm #TheCochranWay #LegalExcellence #BlackHistoryMonth
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Hezekiah Sistrunk, Jr. is the President and a National Partner of The Cochran Firm as well as the Managing Partner of The Firm’s Atlanta office. Mr. Sistrunk has prosecuted and defended hundreds of litigated matters before state courts, federal courts, and administrative agencies and has tried over 100 cases to verdict. In total, Mr. Sistrunk has attained verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 Billion on behalf of his clients. Mr. Sistrunk has accumulated numerous accolades over the course of his career including the National Bar Association’s Maynard H. Jackson, Jr. Legacy Award. Lawyers of Color recognized Hezekiah as one of the “Ten Most Influential Black Lawyers of The Decade” and in 2018 he was inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame.
The Cochran Firm is thankful to have Hezekiah Sistrunk as our president, thought leader, and mentor. Congratulations, President Sistrunk!
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