MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Representative Scott (80th)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING ATTORNEY JOHNNIE L. COCHRAN UPON THE OCCASION OF HIS BEING THE FEATURED SPEAKER AT THE MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATIVE BLACK CAUCUS POLITICAL EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION BANQUET. 

WHEREAS, Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., a native Southerner, was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on October 2, 1937; and

WHEREAS, Attorney Johnnie Cochran, who learned at an early age the importance of being able to get along with many different types of people, attended Los Angeles High School in the early 1950's as one of no more than thirty black students on a campus of about two thousand; and

WHEREAS, Attorney Johnnie Cochran, who at a young age had a vision of the greatness in life he could and would achieve, attended Loyola Marymount University School of Law after graduating from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1959; and

WHEREAS, Attorney Johnnie Cochran, who describes himself as one who loves to talk and persuade people and so thought that law would be a good career field for himself, honed his salesman skills selling insurance part time in college at the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, then the third-largest insurance company for blacks in the United States, where his father worked for thirty-six years; and

WHEREAS, Attorney Johnnie Cochran, after nearly three years as a deputy city attorney prosecuting a wide range of misdemeanors, formed the law firm of Cochran, Atkins & Evans, which specialized in criminal law with offices in the mid-Wilshire, California, area and in Compton, California; and

WHEREAS, in late 1977, Attorney Johnnie Cochran, who would later make his name famous for trying numerous police misconduct cases, was recruited by then District Attorney of Los Angeles John Van de Kamp to work as a Deputy District Attorney overseeing a new team of attorneys that investigated police shootings; and

WHEREAS, Attorney Johnnie Cochran brings an impresario's touch to "doing well by doing good," has run with his reputation as a crusader for justice; and

WHEREAS, Attorney Johnnie Cochran graciously accepted the invitation to be the featured speaker at the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus Political Education and Economic Development Foundation Banquet on Saturday, January 18, 1997; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of this Legislature to commend excellence, especially when it is exhibited by one who has dedicated his professional life to being a "crusader for justice":

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., upon the occasion of his being selected as the featured speaker at the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus Political Education and Economic Development Foundation Banquet on Saturday, January 18, 1997.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus Political Education and Economic Development Foundation and the members of the Capitol Press Corps.