National Bar Association's
Statement on the Passing of Attorney William Coleman, Jr.
The National Bar Association mourns the loss of William Thaddeus "Bill" Coleman Jr., a brilliant and dedicated lawyer, civil rights advocate and statesman.
Mr. Coleman began his legal career in 1947, serving as law clerk to Judge Herbert F. Goodrich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1948. As a lawyer in private practice, Mr. Coleman worked with legendary jurist (and later Supreme Court Justice) Thurgood Marshall on major civil rights cases. Justice Marshall recruited Mr. Coleman as one of the lead strategists and coauthor of the legal brief in Brown v. Board of Education, where the U.S. Supreme Court held racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.
Mr. Coleman served the nation in both Republican and Democratic administrations, on the basis of his keen intellect, integrity and dedication to the rule of law. Mr. Coleman later served President Ford as the fourth United States Secretary of Transportation, from 1975 to 1977 - he was the second African American to serve in the United States Cabinet.
National Bar Association's
Statement on the Passing of Attorney Lolis Elie
The National Bar Association mourns the loss of Lolis Edward Elie, a brilliant and dedicated lawyer who helped desegregate New Orleans.
Lolis Elie was a civil rights attorney, a native of New Orleans, Mr. Elie attended Howard University and Dillard University, and later graduated in 1959 from Loyola Law School. In 1960, the New Orleans chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) asked Mr. Elie and his firm to represent CORE after a sit-in campaign. Mr. Elie and his firm defended CORE President Rudy Lombard and three others who were arrested for staging a sit-in protest at the lunch counter of the McCrory Five and Ten Cent Store in New Orleans. They appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court which, in its decision, declared the city's ban on sit-ins unconstitutional. Mr. Elie was one of seven supporters of the Freedom Riders who met with then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy in 1961, when Kennedy encouraged them to shift their efforts to registering black Southerners to vote.
The NBA sends sincere condolences to the family and friends of Attorneys William Coleman, Jr. and Lolis Elie
