Paulette Brown and Fred Gray, both Life Fellows, were honored by Rutgers Law School as members of their Gallery of Heroes. The exhibition and awards ceremony took place at the Law School in Newark and paid tribute to extraordinary African American legal pioneers who have broken barriers, shaped history, and paved the way for future generations.
Fred Gray is the senior managing shareholder in the law firm of Gray, Langford, Sapp, McGowan, Gray, Gray & Nathanson P.C. He represented Rosa Parks in 1955 after her arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus and went on to serve as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s first civil rights attorney. He was awarded the 2023 ABA Medal and was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022.
Paulette Brown served as president of the American Bar Association from 2015-2016 and was the first woman of color and third African-American person to be president of the ABA. She previously was a partner at Locke Lord, now Troutman Pepper Locke, where she served as the Chief Diversity Officer. She was also the president of the National Bar Association and the Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey.
See photos here.