Legal Legend Honored

By Joseph Green-Bishop
Arise Rejoice News Service

Judge L. Clifford Davis, who successfully sued the Mansfield and Fort Worth, Texas school districts in 1955, was proclaimed a “Texas Legal Legend” by the Texas State Bar Association at a ceremony held Monday at the Texas A & M University School of Law in Fort Worth.

“The purpose of this recognition is to memorialize the stories of legendary lawyers who have practiced in Texas,” said Federal Judge Christine Stetson, who presented the award to Judge Davis.

Several attorneys and citizens were on hand tohonor the Judge, who will celebrate his 100th birthday on October 12, 2024.

“Judge Davis is one of the finest lawyers and legal scholars to have ever practiced law in our state, and in our country, said Michael Heiskell, the president of the National Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, who shared a law practice with Judge Davis in North Texas.

A graduate of the Howard University Law School, Judge Davis, a native of Arkansas, founded one of the first Black law practices in Texas. Among the legal scholars he regularly worked with was former U. S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Exactly one year after the U. S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education ruled separate but equal schools unconstitutional, Judge Davis filed successful discrimination law suits against two North Texas School Districts.

“My law practice and my life have been inspired and enhanced by Judge Davis, said Bobbie Edmonds, a North Texas attorney who has written a biography about Judge Davis, a member of Saint Andrews United Methodist Church in Fort Worth.

“I believe that life requires all of us to pursue justice, equality and fairness for all people without regard to race, gender or status,” Judge said at the conclusion of the 60-minute ceremony with nearly 100 in attendance at the ceremony that was sponsored by the Texas A & M University School of Law. “We all must work for the general welfare of people.”