Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., was born on this date in 1937. He was an African American attorney and entrepreneur.
Cochran was born at Charity Hospital in Shreveport, LA to Johnnie L. Cochran, Sr., the son of Alonzo Cochran, and the late Hattie Bass Cochran, who was the daughter of Eugene Bass. He was raised in Los Angeles, attended UCLA, and received his law degree from Loyola Marymount University.
In 1966, he founded the law firm of Cochran, Atkins and Evans, and earned a reputation as an outstanding trial lawyer. In 1981, he returned to private practice of law under the firm name, “Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., Inc.”
He is the only attorney, ever, in Los Angeles, to receive both the “Criminal Trial Lawyer of the Year” Award and the “Civil Trial Lawyer of the Year” Award. In 1992, he was named one of the 10 most successful litigators in the country, in the National Law Journal. In 1993, he was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, an organization whose membership consists of the top 1% of trial lawyers in the United States. Although best known to the general public as a criminal defense lawyer, Cochran’s practice consisted primarily of representing plaintiffs in tort actions. Cochran was best known for his role in the “dream team” of legal defense for O.J. Simpson during his highly-publicized murder trial. During his closing arguments in the Simpson trial, he uttered the now famous enthymeme, “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” Cochran was also an attorney in the defense of Sean P. Diddy Combs.
In 1995, he was named one of the 10 most important people in TV, by TV Guide magazine. Time magazine designated him, “Headliner for 1995.” In January 1996, he received the prestigious “Trumpet Award” from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Four months later he was elected to membership in the exclusive Inner Circle of Advocates, the top 100 Plaintiff’s Lawyers in the United States. In October 1996, he published his autobiography, “Journey to Justice,” and it was a fixture on a number of Best Seller Lists, including the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.
He also represented former Black Panther Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt, who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. When Cochran helped Pratt win his freedom in 1997, he called the moment “the happiest day of my life practicing law.”
In January 1999, he became the Senior Partner in the National Plaintiffs and Personal Injury Law Firm, Cochran, Cherry, Givens and Smith, which has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Dothan, Tuskegee, Montgomery, Mobile, AL, Atlanta, and Chicago.
His practice, The Cochran Firm, was formed through a series of mergers, office expansions, and regional partnerships, which all specialized in personal injury cases. In February 1999, he was honored at a special reception as one of the top 50 trial lawyers of 1999, by the Los Angeles Business Journal. In 2003 he was the recipient of the BLACK HISTORY MAKER award from the Associated Black Charities. He lived in Los Angeles and New York City with his wife, Dr. Dale Mason Cochran, and his father, Johnnie L. Cochran, Sr. He had three children: Melodie, Tiffany, and Jonathan.
Johnny Cochran, Jr., died on March 29, 2005, at his home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles of an inoperable brain tumor, according to his brother-in-law Bill Baker. His wife and his two sisters were with him at the time of his death.