Johnnie Cochran

• Born: 2 October 1937
• Birthplace: Shreveport, Louisiana
• Died: 29 March 2005 (brain tumor)
• Best Known As: Defense attorney in the O.J. Simpson murder case

Johnnie Cochran's successful defense of football star O.J. Simpson in a 1995 murder trial made him, for a time, the most famous trial lawyer in America. Cochran's triumphant cry to the jury after Simpson had struggled to put on the killer's abandoned glove -- "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit!" -- was the signature moment of the widely-televised trial. Cochran spent most of his legal career in Los Angeles, and though he worked at times as a prosecutor for the city and for LA County, his real successes came as a defense lawyer in racially-charged cases. The descendant of slaves, Cochran became a particular nemesis of the Los Angeles Police Department as he represented black defendants in many high-profile cases alleging police brutality and racism. The Simpson trial sent Cochran's reputation to another level, and he spent his last decade representing high-profile clients like rapper Sean Combs and civil rights legend Rosa Parks. He authored the books Journey to Justice (1996) and A Lawyer's Life (2002).

Cochran's full name was Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr.... O.J. Simpson's so-called "dream team" of defense lawyers also included Robert Shapiro and F. Lee Bailey... Cochran was parodied as the lawyer Jackie Chiles on the TV sitcom Seinfeld... Cochran defended singer Michael Jackson against an early charge of child molestation, settling the case out of court in 1994... He attended UCLA as an undergraduate and Loyola Marymount for law school... Cochran prosecuted comedian Lenny Bruce on obscenity charges in 1964, while Cochran was a deputy attorney for the City of Los Angeles.

View more Law & Legal Issues videos

Although he has been well known in west coast lawcircles for many years, Johnnie Cochran (born 1937) entered the national spotlight as a member of O. J. Simpson's defense team.

Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. led the winning team of lawyers in the "trial of the century," and in the process became arguably the most famous lawyer in the world. Cochran's successful defense of former football great O. J. Simpson against charges of murder in the televised trial was followed by millions of Americans. Although his trial tactics are still sparking debate, his legal acumen and ability to sway a jury have characterized his legal career. In fact, the People v. O. J. Simpson is only the most recent and most visible of a string of Cochran's courtroom victories, some involving superstars such as Michael Jackson and others involving ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Ebony magazine once described Cochran as "a litigator who'd taken the cases people said he might win when hell freezes over, then laughed all the way to the bank when the multimillion-dollar verdicts came rolling in."

Handsome and well-spoken, Cochran was established in the West-Coast power elite well prior to his defense of O. J. Simpson. Today he is more sought-after than ever as both an attorney and a celebrity. If he is detested in some circles as an opportunist, he is just as widely admired as a black American success story. Cochran told Essence that he has never been bothered by his detractors. "I have learned not to be thin-skinned, especially when I think I'm doing the right thing," he said. "It's not about money, it's about using the law as a device for change."

Johnnie Cochran, Jr. was born in 1937 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is the great-grandson of a slave. He grew up in a stable and prosperous family, with a father and mother who stressed education, independence, and a color-blind attitude. While Cochran was still young the family moved to Los Angeles, and he attended public schools there, earning excellent grades. Although his father had a good job with the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, Cochran always managed to find friends who had more money and more luxuries than he did. "If you were a person who integrated well, as I was, you got to go to people's houses and envision another life," he recalled in The American Lawyer. "I knew kids who had things I could only dream of. I remember going to someone's house and seeing a swimming pool. I was like, 'That's great!' Another guy had an archery range in his loft. An archery range! I could not believe it. I had never thought about archery! But it made me get off my butt and say, 'Hey, I can do this!"'

Law Career Beckoned

Cochran earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1959, supporting himself by selling insurance policies for his father's company. He was accepted by the Loyola Marymount University School of Law and began his studies there in the autumn of 1959. "I was the kind of student that didn't want to look like a jerk, always raising my hand," Cochran recalled in The American Lawyer. "But I would sit there and pray that I would be called on. That was my competitive spirit lying in wait."

Having finished his law studies and passed the California bar by 1963, Cochran took a job with the city of Los Angeles, serving as a deputy city attorney in the criminal division. There he worked as a prosecutor. In 1965 he entered private practice with the late Gerald Lenoir, a well-known local criminal lawyer. After a short period with Lenoir, he formed his own firm, Cochran, Atkins & Evans. "That was the closest to a storefront I ever had," Cochran remembered in The American Lawyer. Johnnie Cochran's career was launched from this office with a highly-publicized and inflammatory case.

In May of 1966, a young black man named Leonard Deadwyler was shot dead by police as he tried to rush his pregnant wife to the hospital. Cochran represented Deadwyler's family, who accused the police of needless brutality in their son's murder. The Los Angeles Police Department insisted that the officers had acted in self-defense. "To me, this was clearly a bad shooting," Cochran maintained in The American Lawyer. "But the [district attorney], did not file charges, and when our firm filed a civil suit we lost. Those were extremely difficult cases to win in those days. But what Deadwyler confirmed for me was that this issue of police abuse really galvanized the minority community. It taught me that these cases could really get attention."

Another memorable case further steered Cochran toward working on behalf of his race. In the early 1970s he went to court in defense of Geronimo Pratt, a former Black Panther who stood accused of murder. Cochran lost that case too, but he insists to this day that Pratt was railroaded by the F.B.I. and local police. "White America just can't come to grips with this," Cochran explained in Essence. "To them the police are as they should be: saving children, acting like heroes in the community. They aren't setting up people, they're not lying, they aren't using their racist beliefs as an excuse to go after certain people." Cochran has continued to press for a re-trial in the Pratt case.

"Best in the West"

Such headline-grabbing cases quickly made Cochran's name among the black community in Los Angeles, and by the late 1970s he was handling a number of police brutality and other criminal cases. In an abrupt about-face in 1978, however, he joined the Los Angeles County district attorney's office where one of his subordinates was a young lawyer named Gil Garcetti. Cochran has said that he took the job because he wanted to broaden his political contacts and refashion his image. "In those days, if you were a criminal defense lawyer, even though you might be very good, you were not considered one of the good guys, one of the very top rung," he explained in The American Lawyer.

Cochran's position at the district attorney's office did not spare him a brush with racist police. One afternoon as he drove his two young daughters across town in his Rolls Royce, he was pulled over. The police yelled at him to get out of the car with his hands up, and when he did he could see that they had drawn their guns. "Well, talk about an illegal search and seizure!" Cochran exclaimed in The American Lawyer, recalling the event. "These guys just go through ripping through my bag. Suddenly this cop goes gray. He sees my number three badge from the D.A.'s office! He's like, 'Ahh! Ahh!' They all go apoplectic. I never got stopped again, but I'm careful not to make any weird moves. I might get shot!"

Cochran never publicized the incident, but he was deeply disturbed about its effect on his two daughters. "I didn't want to tell them it was because of racism," he added. "I didn't want to tell them it happened because their daddy was a black guy in a Rolls, so they thought he was a pimp. So I tried to smooth things over. … As an African American, you hope and pray that things will be better for your children. And you don't want them to feel hatred."

Returning to private practice in 1983, Cochran established himself as "the best in the West," to quote Ebony magazine. One of his first major victories occurred in the case of Ron Settles, a college football player who police said had hanged himself in a jail cell after having been picked up for speeding. On the behalf of Settles's family, Cochran demanded that the athlete's body be exhumed and examined. A coroner determined that Settles had been strangled by a police choke hold. A pre-trial settlement brought the grieving family $760,000.

The Settles case settlement was the first in a series of damage awards that Cochran has won for clients - some observers estimate he has won between $40 and $43 million from various California municipalities and police districts in judgments for his clients. Essence reporter Diane Weathers wrote: "Cochran is not just another rich celebrity lawyer. His specialty is suing City Hall on behalf of many fameless people who don't sing, dance or score touch-downs and who have been framed, beaten up, shot at, humiliated and sometimes killed at the hands of the notorious LAPD."

Success begot success for Cochran. The Settles case was followed by another emotional case in which an off-duty police officer molested a teenager and threatened her with bodily harm if she told anyone. In that case Cochran spurned an out-of-court settlement in six figures and took the issue to the courtroom - where a jury awarded his client $9.4 million. A post-verdict settlement paid the young woman $4.6 million.

As Cochran's fame grew, his client list began to include more celebrities, of which pop singer Michael Jackson is the best known. On Jackson's behalf, Cochran arranged an out of-court settlement with a boy who had accused the singer of molestation. Cochran had the case retired in such a way that the charges against Jackson were withdrawn, and Jackson could publicly proclaim his complete innocence. Cochran also engineered an acquittal for Diff'rent Strokes star Todd Bridges, who stood accused of attempted murder.

The "Trial of the Century"

No celebrity trial was more followed than O. J. Simpson's trial, however. In the summer of 1994, Simpson was arrested and charged with the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson declared that he was innocent, and he engaged Cochran as part of an expensive "dream team" of lawyers dedicated to his defense. Before long, Cochran had replaced Robert Shapiro as leader of the "dream team" as the matter was brought to trial. Calling the O. J. Simpson trial a "classic rush-to-judgment case," Cochran vowed to win an acquittal for the football star-turned-television celebrity. Responding to questions about the nickname for his legal team, Cochran told Time: "We certainly don't refer to ourselves as the Dream Team. We're just a collection of lawyers just trying to do the best we can."

One week into the Simpson trial in February of 1995, Time reported that Cochran had "unveiled an unexpectedly strong defense." With his engaging manner and sincerity, Cochran sought to poke holes in the case against Simpson as presented by district attorneys Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden. Piece by piece he challenged the evidence, paying special attention to the racist attitudes of one of the investigating officers, Mark Fuhrman.

Cochran was effective - and controversial - in his closing arguments on Simpson's behalf. He claimed his client had been framed by a racist police officer, and that if such injustice were allowed to persist, it could lead to genocide as practiced by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Speaking to the jury, Cochran concluded: "If you don't speak out, if you don't stand up, if you don't do what's right, this kind of conduct will continue on forever." After deliberating only four hours, the mostly black jury found Simpson not guilty on all counts.

Observers called Cochran's remarks the "race card," and some castigated the attorney for proceeding in this manner. Cochran offered no apologies for his strategy, claiming that his scenario represented the truth as he saw it. "I think race plays a part of everything in America, let alone this trial," he maintained in a Newsweek interview. "That's one of the problems in America. People don't want to face up to the fact that we do have some racial divisions."

After handling the post-trial publicity, Cochran returned to other cases, including pending civil litigation against Simpson. The trial has had its impact on Cochran's life. Once a celebrity lawyer only in Los Angeles, he is now a celebrity lawyer across America, receiving a million-dollar advance to write his memoirs and a hefty fee for any personal appearances he makes. Cochran has had his share of negative publicity, however. His first wife, Barbara Cochran Berry, wrote a memoir during the Simpson trial in which she accused Cochran of abuse and infidelity. Cochran's longtime mistress, Patricia Cochran, also claims to be writing her own memoir. "I did a lot of stupid things," Cochran admitted in Essence when asked about his private life. "I paid a price with my eldest daughter and with my [first] marriage. I would like young lawyers not to make the mistakes I made."

Married for a second time, Cochran lives in a luxurious home with a commanding view of the Los Angeles basin. His father, whom he calls "the Chief," lives with him. He has written a book, Journey to Justice, and is planning to take part in a once-a-week commentary for "Court TV" with Atlanta prosecutor Nancy Grace. Having won an acquittal for O. J. Simpson - and having made himself famous in the process - Cochran concluded in Newsweek that he wants to initiate a "healing" between the races in America. If that is to happen, he believes, white America will have to become more sympathetic to the hardships facing African Americans. "It doesn't make sense for us to go back into our individual camps after this is over," he noted. "African Americans … respond to what I have to say. I spoke what they feel is happening, and I spoke it as an African American lawyer. This case cried out for that. … I don't want to exacerbate racial problems. But you have to be true to who you are. … This is not for the timid."

Further Reading

American Lawyer, May 1994, p. 56. Ebony, April 1994, pp. 112-16.

Essence, November 1995, p. 86.

Newsweek, January 16, 1995, p. 60; October 9, 1995, pp. 31,34; October 16, 1995, pp. 37-39, 42.

People, April 10, 1995, pp. 55-56.

The Source, January 1996, p. 34.

Time, January 30, 1995, pp. 43-44; February 6, 1995, pp. 58-63;January 1, 1996, pp. 102-03.

U.S. News and World Report, January 23, 1995, pp. 32-35.

Los Angeles Times January 13, 1997, sec: 1, pp. 5.

lawyer

Personal Information

Born Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. on October 2, 1937, in Shreveport, LA; died on March 29, 2005, in Los Angeles, CA; son of Johnnie L. (an insurance company executive) and Hattie Cochran; married Barbara Berry Cochran, 1959 (divorced 1977); married Sylvia Dale, 1985; children: (first marriage) Tiffany, Melodie; (with former girlfriend) Jonathan
Education: University of California, Los Angeles, BA, 1959; Loyola Marymount University School of Law, JD, 1962.
Politics: Democrat.
Memberships:
Selected Criminal Courts Bar Assn., board of directors; Langston Bar Assn, board of directors; Los Angeles Urban League, board of directors; Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce, board of directors; Black Business Assn of Los Angeles, president, 1989; Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co., board of directors, 1991; American Bar Foundation, fellow, 1991; Rebuild LA Project, board of directors, 1992; Daniel Freeman Hosp, board of directors, 1993; TransAfrica Forum, board member, 2002.

Career

Attorney, 1963-2005. City of Los Angeles, deputy city attorney, 1963-65; private attorney, 1965-78; Los Angeles County, assistant district attorney, 1978-82; private attorney and head of law firm, 1982-2005; Cochran Firm, founder, 2001. University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and Loyola University School of Law, former adjunct professor of law. Democratic National Convention, Rules Committee, chairman, 1984. Served on special congressional committee for ethics and official conduct.

Life's Work

Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. led the winning team of lawyers in what has been known as the "trial of the century," and in the process became arguably the most famous lawyer in the world. Cochran's successful defense of former football great O. J. Simpson against charges of murder in the televised trial was followed by millions of Americans. Although his trial tactics still spark debate, his legal acumen and ability to sway a jury characterized his distinguished legal career. While the People v. O. J. Simpson is perhaps Cochran's most well known courtroom victory, it was proceeded and followed by a string of significant court cases, some involving superstars such as Michael Jackson and others involving ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Ebony magazine once described Cochran as "a litigator who'd taken the cases people said he might win when hell freezes over, then laughed all the way to the bank when the multimillion-dollar verdicts came rolling in."

Handsome and well spoken, Cochran was established in the West-Coast power elite well before his defense of O. J. Simpson. After the trial, he was one of America's foremost attorney celebrities. Though he was detested in some circles as an opportunist, he was just as widely admired as an African-American success story. Cochran told Essence that he was never bothered by his detractors. "I have learned not to be thin-skinned, especially when I think I'm doing the right thing," he said. "It's not about money, it's about using the law as a device for change."

Longed for the Good Life

Johnnie Cochran, Jr. was born in 1937 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is the great-grandson of a slave. He grew up in a prosperous and stable family, with a father and mother who stressed education, independence, and a color-blind attitude. While Cochran was still young the family moved to Los Angeles, and he attended public schools there, earning excellent grades. Although his father had a good job with the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, Cochran always managed to find friends who had more money and more luxuries than he did. "If you were a person who integrated well, as I was, you got to go to people's houses and envision another life," he recalled in The American Lawyer. "I knew kids who had things I could only dream of. I remember going to someone's house and seeing a swimming pool. I was like, 'That's great!' Another guy had an archery range in his loft. An archery range! I could not believe it. I had never thought about archery! But it made me get off my butt and say, 'Hey, I can do this!'"

Cochran earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1959, supporting himself by selling insurance policies for his father's company. He was accepted by the Loyola Marymount University School of Law and began his studies there in the autumn of 1959. "I was the kind of student that didn't want to look like a jerk, always raising my hand," Cochran recalled in The American Lawyer. "But I would sit there and pray that I would be called on. That was my competitive spirit lying in wait."

Having finished his law studies and passing the California bar by 1963, Cochran took a job with the city of Los Angeles, serving as a deputy city attorney in the criminal division. There he worked as a prosecutor. In 1965 he entered private practice with the late Gerald Lenoir, a well-known local criminal lawyer. After a short period with Lenoir, he formed his own firm, Cochran, Atkins & Evans. "That was the closest to a storefront I ever had," Cochran remembered in The American Lawyer. Johnnie Cochran's career was launched from this office with a highly publicized and inflammatory case.

Took First Race-Related Case

In May of 1966, a young black man named Leonard Deadwyler was shot dead by police as he tried to rush his pregnant wife to the hospital. Cochran represented Deadwyler's family, who accused the police of needless brutality in their son's murder. The Los Angeles Police Department insisted that the officers had acted in self-defense. "To me, this was clearly a bad shooting," Cochran maintained in The American Lawyer. "But the [district attorney] did not file charges, and when our firm filed a civil suit we lost. Those were extremely difficult cases to win in those days. But what Deadwyler confirmed for me was that this issue of police abuse really galvanized the minority community. It taught me that these cases could really get attention."

Another memorable case further steered Cochran toward working on behalf of his race. In the early 1970s he went to court in defense of Geronimo Pratt, a Vietnam War veteran who was convicted of a murder on a tennis court in Santa Monica, California. Many speculated that he was put away because of his leadership role in the Black Panther Party. Cochran lost that case too, but he insisted that Pratt was railroaded by the F.B.I. and local police. "White America just can't come to grips with this," Cochran explained in Essence. "To them the police are as they should be: saving children, acting like heroes in the community. They aren't setting up people, they're not lying, they aren't using their racist beliefs as an excuse to go after certain people." Cochran continued to work on the case long after Pratt was imprisoned, and finally in 1997 he was able to get an Orange County judge to overturn Pratt's sentence and free him. He sued the state of California for wrongful imprisonment and won Pratt $4.5 million.

Such headline-grabbing cases quickly made Cochran's name known among the black community in Los Angeles. By the late 1970s, he was handling a number of police brutality and other criminal cases. In an abrupt about-face in 1978, however, he joined the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Cochran has said that he took the job because he wanted to broaden his political contacts and refashion his image. "In those days, if you were a criminal defense lawyer, even though you might be very good, you were not considered one of the good guys, one of the very top rung," he explained in The American Lawyer.

Cochran's position at the district attorney's office did not spare him a brush with racist police. One afternoon as he drove his two young daughters across town in his Rolls Royce, he was pulled over. The police yelled at him to get out of the car with his hands up, and when he did he could see that they had drawn their guns. "Well, talk about an illegal search and seizure!" Cochran exclaimed in The American Lawyer, recalling the event. "These guys just go through ripping through my bag. Suddenly this cop goes gray. He sees my number three badge from the D.A.'s office! He's like, 'Ahh! Ahh!' They all go apologetic. I never got stopped again, but I'm careful not to make any weird moves. I might get shot!"

Cochran never publicized the incident, but he was deeply disturbed about its effect on his two daughters. "I didn't want to tell them it was because of racism," he added. "I didn't want to tell them it happened because their daddy was a black guy in a Rolls, so they thought he was a pimp. So I tried to smooth things over.... As an African American, you hope and pray that things will be better for your children. And you don't want them to feel hatred."

Became the "Best in the West"

Returning to private practice in 1983, Cochran established himself as "the best in the West," to quote Ebony magazine. One of his first major victories occurred in the case of Ron Settles, a college football player who police said had hanged himself in a jail cell after having been picked up for speeding. On behalf of Settles' family, Cochran demanded that the athlete's body be exhumed and examined. A coroner determined that Settles had been strangled by a police choke hold. A pre-trial settlement brought the grieving family $760,000.

The Settles case was the first in a series of damage awards that Cochran won for clients--some observers estimate he has won between $40 and $43 million from various California municipalities and police districts in judgments for his clients. Essence reporter Diane Weathers wrote: "Cochran is not just another rich celebrity lawyer. His specialty is suing City Hall on behalf of many fameless people who don't sing, dance or score touchdowns and who have been framed, beaten up, shot at, humiliated and sometimes killed at the hands of the notorious LAPD."

Success bred success for Cochran. The Settles case was followed by another emotional case in which an off-duty police officer molested a teenager and threatened her with bodily harm if she told anyone. In that case Cochran spurned an out-of-court settlement of six figures and took the issue to the courtroom, where a jury awarded his client $9.4 million. A post-verdict settlement paid the young woman $4.6 million.

Took Celebrity Cases

As Cochran's fame grew, his client list began to include more celebrities, which included pop singer Michael Jackson. On Jackson's behalf, Cochran arranged an out-of-court settlement with a boy who had accused the singer of molestation. Cochran had the case retired in such a way that the charges against Jackson were withdrawn, and Jackson could publicly proclaim his complete innocence. Cochran also engineered an acquittal for Diff'rent Strokes star Todd Bridges, who stood accused of attempted murder.

No celebrity trial was more closely followed than O. J. Simpson's trial, however. In the summer of 1994, Simpson was arrested and charged with the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson declared that he was innocent, and he engaged Cochran as part of an expensive "dream team" of lawyers dedicated to his defense. Before long, Cochran had replaced Robert Shapiro as leader of the "dream team" as the matter was brought to trial. Calling the O. J. Simpson trial a "classic rush-to-judgment case," Cochran vowed to win an acquittal for the football star-turned-television celebrity. Responding to questions about the nickname for his legal team, Cochran told Time: "We certainly don't refer to ourselves as the Dream Team. We're just a collection of lawyers...trying to do the best we can."

One week into the Simpson trial in February of 1995, Time reported that Cochran had "unveiled an unexpectedly strong defense." With his engaging manner and sincerity, Cochran sought to poke holes in the case against Simpson as presented by district attorneys Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden. Piece by piece he challenged the evidence, paying special attention to the racist attitudes of one of the investigating officers, Mark Fuhrman.

Cochran was effective--and controversial--in his closing arguments on Simpson's behalf. He claimed his client had been framed by a racist police officer, and that if such injustice were allowed to persist, it could lead to genocide as practiced by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Speaking to the jury, Cochran concluded: "If you don't speak out, if you don't stand up, if you don't do what's right, this kind of conduct will continue on forever." After deliberating only four hours, the mostly black jury found Simpson not guilty on all counts.

Observers called Cochran's remarks the "race card," and some castigated the attorney for proceeding in this manner. Cochran offered no apologies for his strategy, claiming that his scenario represented the truth as he saw it. "I think race plays a part of everything in America, let alone this trial," he maintained in a Newsweek interview. "That's one of the problems in America. People don't want to face up to the fact that we do have some racial divisions."

Life After O.J

After handling the post-trial publicity, Cochran returned to other cases, including pending civil litigation against Simpson. The trial had a huge impact on Cochran's life. Once a celebrity lawyer only in Los Angeles, he became a celebrity lawyer across America. Cochran had his share of negative publicity as well. His first wife, Barbara Berry Cochran, wrote a memoir during the Simpson trial in which she accused Cochran of abuse and infidelity. "I did a lot of stupid things," Cochran admitted in Essence when asked about his private life. "I paid a price with my eldest daughter and with my [first] marriage. I would like young lawyers not to make the mistakes I made." In response to many of the questions and practices he had followed both professionally and personally, Cochran published Journey to Justice, an autobiographical work that focused on his early influences, his career path up to and including the Simpson case, and where he hoped to take his passion for civil rights activism through law in the future. He also began appearing regularly on the Courtroom Television Network first as a co-contributor on the show Court TV: Inside America's Courts and then on his own show a few years later.

Many people speculated that Cochran might retire after settling the Pratt case, as he had off-handedly commented on many occasions, but Cochran forged ahead in his fight against police and governmental abuse against African Americans. In early 1998 he took on the case of four men who were shot by New Jersey police during what Cochran called a "racial profiling" traffic stop. When asked why he was taking on the case, Cochran commented during a New York City news conference that, "this case is a catalyst more then anything else," hoping to stir the American public into taking interest in what their protection agencies were actually doing while on the streets.

Even though Cochran was at the top of his game professionally, he still faced trials and tribulations in his personal life. In November of 1998, Cochran's brother RaLonzo Phlectron Cochran was found murdered in Los Angeles from gunshot wounds. In a statement released by the Cochran family, RaLonzo was described as "yet another victim of the senseless violence that so often permeates our society." Added to this was a long arduous case that Cochran brought against the New York Post for libel, claiming that remarks made about him in a column hurt his reputation and caused him emotional distress. The case was eventually settled out of court, but no retraction was ever published.

None of this seemed to slow Cochran as he continued to take on high profile cases. In 2001 Cochran represented Sean "P. Diddy" Combs against charges of gun possession and purportedly bribing a witness to change his testimony. Cochran, true to his track record, was able to convince a jury that Combs had not broken any laws. Cochran also brought a case to the courts in 2001 where he represented numerous clients who had begun smoking before the age of 18 and wished to reclaim the money they spent on smoking from the tobacco companies, alleging that the tobacco companies unfairly advertised to their age bracket and coaxed them into buying cigarettes.

In late 2001 Cochran opened the Cochran Firm in Memphis, Tennessee, to practice civil law. Along with four other attorneys, Cochran hoped to use his name to help clients who would not otherwise get what he considered "proper" representation. As Julian Bolton, the managing partner of the Cochran Firm's Memphis office put it to the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, "We have seen a large segment of the population that feels somewhat powerless in the courtroom and in official circles.... They want and need a hero like Mr. Cochran." The Cochran firm eventually established offices in thirteen states. Cochran also found time to join new organizations, becoming a board member of TransAfrica Forum, a group looking to foster constructive United States policies towards Africa and the Caribbean.

Engaged Larger Social Issues

Cochran felt that the battle for fairness for all Americans was long from over. Along with his move to open the Cochran Firm, Cochran also turned his attention from police abuse to the broader scope of racial inequality in all facets of society. One of his first major cases in this vein was when he joined a team lead by Cyrus Mehri in a suit against the Coca-Cola company in 2000, accusing them of unfairness to African Americans in the form of unequal wages, prejudiced evaluations, and lack of promotions. Coca-Cola settled out of court, but refused to admit to any wrongdoing. Cochran and Mehri did not stop there, however, instead turning their sights on industry giant Johnson & Johnson, which they claimed was guilty of similar practices. The case had not yet settled, but when asked to comment on why he targeted such large companies, Cochran joked to the Corporate Counsel, "The bigger the giant, the bigger the fall."

Cochran also hoped to gain the support of the American public in his crusade against racism and unfair practices in sports. In early 2002 he brought an anti-trust suit against stock car racing giant NASCAR, owned by the France family, claiming that they were discriminating against smaller companies such as Speedway Motorsports Inc. by owning both the organization that runs all of the major stock car races in the United States as well as International Speedway Corporation which owns 13 of the major tracks where NASCAR is raced yearly. Almost a year later, he took the fight to one of the oldest sports in the United States, challenging the National Football League (NFL) to hire more minority coaches or face a lawsuit dealing with unfair hiring practices based on race. As Cochran told the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, "There are many problems, but one of the biggest is that there doesn't seem to be a hiring criteria where blacks are concerned." Well before a suit was filed, the NFL began making changes to its internal processes.

Quite wealthy and married for a second time, Cochran lived in a luxurious home overlooking the Los Angeles basin. Approaching the age of 70, Cochran told Newsweek that he wanted to initiate a "healing" between the races in America. If that is to happen, he believed, white America will have to become more sympathetic to the hardships facing African Americans. "It doesn't make sense for us to go back into our individual camps after this is over," he noted. "African Americans...respond to what I have to say. I spoke what they feel is happening, and I spoke it as an African American lawyer.... I don't want to exacerbate racial problems. But you have to be true to who you are.... This is not for the timid." Cochran's dream was not yet realized when he passed away as the result of an inoperable brain tumor at his home on March 29, 2005. He was widely eulogized as one of the finest African American lawyers of the twentieth century, a man who used his vast talents to pursue justice for his people.

Awards

Selected: John M Langston Bar Assn, Honorable Loren Miller Award as Trial Lawyer of the Year, 1983; California Assn of Black Lawyers, Loren Miller Award as Trial Lawyer of the Year, 1983; Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP, Equal Justice in Law Award, 1984; Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Assn, Trial Lawyer of the Year, 1990; Trumpet Award, Turner Broadcasting System, 1995.

Further Reading

Books

• Clarke, Caroline V. Take a Lesson: Today's Black Achievers on How They Made It and What They Learned along the Way, John Wiley, 2001.
• Cochran Berry, Barbara, Life After Johnnie Cochran: Why I Left the Sweetest-Talking, Most Successful Black Lawyer in L.A., BasicBooks, 1995.
• Newsmakers, Issue 1, Gale Group, 1996.

• Africa News Service, October 10, 2001.
• American Lawyer, May 1994, p. 56.
• Black Enterprise, June 2005, p. 11.
• Black Issues in Higher Education, April 21, 2005, p. 20.
• Corporate Counsel, April 2002, p. 13-14.
• Ebony, April 1994, pp. 112-16; November 1996, pp. 92-96; June 2005, p. 184.
• Entertainment Weekly, February 9, 2001, p. 13.
• Essence, November 1995, p. 86.
• Jet, May 17, 1999, p. 37; April 25, 2005, p. 5. May 30, 2005, p. 4.
• Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, May 24, 2001; October 4, 2001; April 7, 2002; November 26, 2002; February 27, 2003.
• MediaWeek, January 13, 1997, p. 41.
• Newsweek, January 16, 1995, p. 60; October 9, 1995, pp. 31, 34; October 16, 1995, pp. 37-39, 42.
• People, April 10, 1995, pp. 55-56.
• The Source, January 1996, p. 34.
• Time, January 30, 1995, pp. 43-44; February 6, 1995, pp. 58-63; January 1, 1996, pp. 102-03.
• U.S. News and World Report, January 23, 1995, pp. 32-35.

• Cochran Firm, www.cochranfirm.com (June 8, 2005).

— Ashyia Henderson, Mark Kram, Ralph G. Zerbonia, and Tom Pendergast

Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., built a reputation as a tough, uncompromising litigator by working on both sides of the courtroom. He has been the third-highest-ranking official of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, and he has fought numerous cases in private practice. The recurrent theme of his career is social justice: Cochran specializes in representing African American clients who he believes have been treated unfairly by the law. His work on behalf of ordinary citizens in police brutality cases achieved spectacular success in the 1980s and 1990s, ultimately leading to significant changes in Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) policy. High-profile cases for celebrity clients— including Michael Jackson and O.J. (Orenthal James) Simpson—have tended to overshadow his less glamorous accomplishments, for which he has won numerous citations, awards, and courtroom victories. His controversial stewardship of Simpson's defense team in 1995 made him a household name.

Growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he was born on October 2, 1937, Cochran had strong role models in his parents. His mother, a homemaker, ran an Avon business. His father and namesake, Johnnie L. Cochran, Sr., sold policies for Golden State Mutual Life Insurance, a large black-owned company. Cochran's father moved the family to Los Angeles in 1942, where he was promoted to chief of Golden State's training program. Cochran went on to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, and then Loyola University School of Law. His father remained a great influence and, even in the 1990s, lived in the mansion home of Cochran and his wife. "I think Johnnie got a lot of his ideas about justice from seeing me as he grew up," his father said. "… I tried to make my children sensitive to racism. But we also didn't want them to get consumed by anger." The anger—outrage that became the cornerstone of the young lawyer's career—came later.

Upon graduation from law school in 1962, Cochran wanted to further social justice. Joining the Los Angeles city attorney's office allowed him to do so. As a deputy prosecutor, he represented African Americans who had been brutalized by Los Angeles police officers. Cases of mistreatment were rife, and getting worse; in 1965, long-simmering racial tensions erupted in widespread rioting in the Watts section of the city. Cochran left for private practice that year, and soon had the pivotal case of his young career. He represented the family of Leonard Deadwyler, a young African American shot dead by police officers while rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital. Although Cochran lost, the case had lasting personal and professional importance for him. The televised trial made him immediately recognizable in Los Angeles. Moreover, his courtroom performance helped to establish him as a figure that African Americans trusted; he later said that the case taught him the importance of police abuse issues to minority communities.

Cochran had found his cause. He spent much of the next decade in private practice fighting cases involving excessive force or sexual abuse by police officers. Most of his clients had little or no money, but winning time and again, Cochran could afford to take their cases. One loss in court, however, proved to be another turning point in his life. The case of Elmer ("Geronimo") Pratt tested Cochran's faith in the justice system, changed him politically, and troubled him for decades. Pratt was a member of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, a radical black political organization of the late 1960s. In 1968, the Santa Monica, California, police accused Pratt of shooting to death a white female teacher in a tennis court robbery. Pratt had an apparently strong alibi: he claimed to have been in Oakland at the time of the killing, attending a high-level Black Panther party meeting. The alibi was strengthened by the previous identification of a different suspect by the victim's husband. Nevertheless, Pratt was convicted of murder in 1972.

Pratt's conviction shocked Cochran, who attributed it to institutional racism. "It taught me that you can work within the system and believe in it, but if the government wants to get you, they can go out and get you," he told Time Magazine in 1995. "It also taught me that you never stop fighting." Cochran continued to fight for Pratt's release for nearly twenty-five years, although at least a dozen efforts failed to win parole for his client. Then, in 1994, he uncovered new evidence that suggested Pratt may have been framed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its notorious Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO), which was once aimed at disrupting the Panthers and other radical groups. Cochran alleged that the FBI wiretapped his telephone and used informants to weaken Pratt's defense, even lied in court—all illegal efforts. The evidence convinced the Los Angeles district attorney's office to review the case.

Cochran's ultimate success in winning review of Pratt's case was partly due to the influence he had accumulated over thirty years in Los Angeles. "He deals effectively with everyone, from presidents to common people," John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League, told Time Magazine, "and he knows everyone in between." If Cochran is well connected, it is owing not only to his affability but also to the unique course his career has taken. Following a decade of successful private practice, he briefly returned to public service as chief administrator of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office in the late 1970s. He was third in command. Working beneath Cochran was Gil Garcetti, who later became district attorney.

Returning to private practice in 1980, Cochran soon took a case that epitomized his professional and moral concerns: it involved a dead African American and disavowals of responsibility by police officers. Ron Settles, a black football player from California State University, had been arrested and jailed for speeding; soon afterward, he was found hanged in his cell. The LAPD called his death a suicide, but Cochran convinced the family to have Settle's body exhumed for a new autopsy—which revealed that Settles had died from being choked. At the time, choke holds were commonly used by Los Angeles police officers when making arrests. In a wrongful death suit, Cochran persuaded a jury that Settles had been choked to death by officers, winning an award for the family of $760,000. He later noted ironically that when he began practicing law, "you would be almost held in contempt of court if you said a police officer was lying." The suit helped bring about an important reform of LAPD policy: shortly thereafter, the department banned use of the choke hold.

Prominent clients flocked to Cochran. He won a dismissal of rape charges brought against football great Jim Brown in 1985. He also secured an acquittal for actor Todd Bridges, star of the television comedy show Diff'rent Strokes. Bridges had been accused of attempted murder, attempted manslaughter, and assault with a deadly weapon, but even the testimony of four eyewitnesses did not stop Cochran from winning the case in 1989. Cochran's work for pop singer Michael Jackson achieved only mixed success. After Jackson was accused of sexual molestation by a thirteen-year-old boy in 1993, Cochran managed to keep the case from going to court. He arranged a controversial private settlement with the boy's family, which reportedly totaled $10 million.

Even when he represents white citizens, race is often an issue. After the epochal Los Angeles riots in 1992, Cochran represented Reginald Denny, a white truck driver whose near-fatal beating by black assailants was broadcast live on television. During the 1993 criminal trial of two suspects, Denny suddenly embraced the defendants' mothers. The spontaneous display of compassion—and apparent lack of any resentment—stunned onlookers. Praising his client, Cochran observed, "I guess he's a lot kinder than you and I." Both defendants were acquitted in a controversial verdict, but Cochran subsequently pursued a separate civil suit against the city of Los Angeles based on a novel legal claim: the suit alleges that police officers violated Denny's civil rights by failing to come to his aid during the beating because they chose not to enter a predominantly black neighborhood.

The preparation of O.J. Simpson's defense initially began without Cochran's participation. Charged in the double murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman, Simpson brought in Cochran only after hiring Los Angeles defense attorney Robert Shapiro. As the new leader of several prominent attorneys, Cochran attacked the prosecution for "a classic rush-to-judgment case."

Cochran's work for Simpson divided critics. Legal analysts praised his eloquent opening statement and occasionally brilliant tactics that undermined the prosecutors' lengthy and repetitive case. But Cochran was criticized when the defense began presenting its own case, particularly for calling witnesses whose testimony backfired. Despite the opinions of critics, Cochran's role in the Simpson trial was pivotal. Simpson's acquittal was a resounding victory for Cochran. Shortly after the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in mid-1995, several families of victims retained his services in anticipation of bringing their own lawsuits.

CROSS-REFERENCES: Clark, Marcia Rachel.

For the Scottish football manager, see Johnny Cochrane.

Johnnie Cochran
Born	Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. October 2, 1937(1937-10-02) Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	March 29, 2005(2005-03-29) (aged 67) Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	B.S., UCLA, JD, Loyola Law School
Occupation	Lawyer

Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr.^[1] (October 2, 1937 – March 29, 2005) was an American lawyer best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O. J. Simpson for the murder of his former wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.^[2]

Cochran also represented Sean Combs (during his trial on gun and bribery charges), Michael Jackson, rapper Tupac Shakur, actor Todd Bridges,^[3] football player Jim Brown, rapper Snoop Dogg, former heavyweight Champion Riddick Bowe,^[4] 1992 Los Angeles riot beating victim Reginald Oliver Denny,^[2] and Geronimo Pratt.

He also represented athlete Marion Jones when she faced charges of doping during her high school track career.^[5] Cochran was known for his skill in the courtroom and his prominence as an early advocate for victims of police brutality.^[1]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Legal practice 2.1 Early career 2.2 Los Angeles County District Attorney's office 2.3 Return to private practice 3 Clients 3.1 Michael Jackson 3.2 O.J. Simpson 3.3 Abner Louima 3.4 Sean Combs 3.4.1 Others 4 Death 5 Popular culture 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. ("L" is his full middle name) was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. His father, Johnnie Cochran, Sr., was an insurance salesman, and his mother sold Avon products. The family relocated to the West Coast and settled in Los Angeles in 1949.^[6] Cochran later graduated first in his class from Los Angeles High School in 1955. He went on to receive his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1959 and his Juris Doctor at Loyola Marymount University School of Law (now Loyola Law School) in 1962.^[7] He was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

Legal practice

Inspired by Thurgood Marshall and the legal victory he won in Brown v. Board of Education, Cochran decided to dedicate his life to practicing law. Cochran felt his career was a calling, a double opportunity to work for what he considered to be right and to challenge what he considered wrong; he could make a difference by practicing law. In A Lawyer's Life, Cochran wrote:

"I read everything that I could find about Thurgood Marshall and confirmed that a single dedicated man could use the law to change society."

Despite setbacks as a lawyer, Cochran vowed not to cease what he was doing, saying "I made this commitment and I must fulfill it."^[8]

Early career

Cochran took a job in Los Angeles as a Deputy City Attorney in the criminal division,^[9] after he passed the California bar in 1963. Two years later, he entered private practice and soon opened his own firm, Cochran, Atkins & Evans in rural Woodstock, Illinois.^[2] In his first notable case, Cochran represented a widow who sued several police officers who had shot and killed her husband. Though Cochran lost the case for his client, Mrs. Leonard Deadwyler, it became a turning point in his career.^[1] Rather than seeing the case as a defeat, Cochran realized that the trial itself had awakened the African-American community. In reference to the loss, Cochran wrote, "Those were extremely difficult cases to win in those days. But what Deadwyler confirmed for me was that this issue of police abuse really galvanized the minority community. It taught me that these cases could really get attention," in The American Lawyer. By the late 1970s, Cochran had established his reputation in the black community. He was litigating a number of high-profile police brutality and criminal cases.^[1]

Los Angeles County District Attorney's office

In 1978 Cochran returned to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office as its first African-American Assistant District Attorney. Though he took a pay cut to do so, joining the government was his way of becoming "one of the good guys, one of the very top rung." He began to strengthen his ties with the political community, alter his image and work from within to change the system.^[10]

Return to private practice

Five years later, Cochran returned to private practice, reinventing himself as "the best in the West" by opening the Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. law firm. In contrast to his early loss in the Deadwyler case, Cochran won $760,000 for the family of Ron Settles, a black college football player who, his family claimed, was murdered by the police. In 1990 he joined a succeeding firm, Cochran, Mitchell & Jenna.^[11]

The Cochran Firm has grown to have twenty-six offices located in fifteen states: Miami FL, Dothan AL, Tuskegee AL, Atlanta GA, Huntsville AL, Birmingham AL, Mobile AL, New Orleans LA (2), Metairie LA, Houston TX, Dallas TX, Memphis TN, St. Louis MO, Chicago IL, West Farmington Hills MI, Washington D.C., Philadelphia PA, New York NY, Las Vegas NV, Los Angeles CA, San Jose CA, Oakland CA, Sacramento CA, Shreveport LA, and Jackson MS.^[12]

In most of his cases Cochran represented plaintiffs in tort actions, and he was an opponent of tort reform.^[13] Because of his success as a lawyer, Cochran could encourage settlement simply by his presence on a case.^[14] According to Jesse Jackson, a call to Johnnie Cochran made "corporations and violators shake."^[10]

Johnnie Cochran's well-honed rhetoric^[4] and flamboyance^[15] in the courtroom has been described as theatrical. His practice as a lawyer earned him great wealth. He was said to have earned $40 million ($1 million a year) in trying cases. With his earnings, he bought and drove cars such as a Jaguar and a Rolls-Royce. Cochran owned homes in Los Angeles, two apartments in West Hollywood, and a condo in Manhattan. In 2001, Cochran's accountant estimated that within five years the attorney would be worth $25–50 million.^[16]

Clients

Even before the Simpson case, Cochran had achieved a reputation as a "go-to" lawyer for the rich^[14] as well as a successful proponent of police brutality and civil rights cases.^[1] However, the controversial and dramatic Simpson trial made Cochran widely known, with opinions of him ranging widely.^[1][14]

Cochran often liked to say that he worked "not only for the OJs, but also the No Js". In other words, he enjoyed defending or suing in the name of those who did not have much in terms of fame or wealth. The most glorious moment as a lawyer, in Cochran's opinion, was when he won the freedom of Geronimo Pratt. Cochran said he considered the release "the happiest day" of his legal practice.^[1]

When Cochran died in 2005, family and friends proclaimed they "were most proud of the work he did on behalf of those in the community" rather than those with wealth and might. In the words of Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree, Cochran "was willing to fight for the underdog."^[10] Reverend Jesse Jackson believed Cochran was the "people's lawyer."^[15] Magic Johnson proclaimed Cochran was known "...for representing O.J. [Simpson] and Michael [Jackson], but he was bigger and better than that." He was even described as the Thurgood Marshall of his era.^[3]

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson's charges were dropped.

O.J. Simpson

Main article: O. J. Simpson murder case

During closing arguments in the Simpson trial, Cochran uttered the now famous phrase, "[I]f it doesn't fit, you must acquit." He used the phrase as a way to try to persuade the jury that O.J. Simpson could not have murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, because the murderer's gloves did not fit him. It was brought up that leather gloves shrink in water.^{[citation needed]} Cochran did not represent Simpson in a civil trial for the same murders in which Simpson was found liable.

Johnnie Cochran was criticized by pundits for bringing up the issue of race, as well as Prosecutor Christopher Darden.^[17] Cochran told the mainly black Simpson jury that police officers were trying to frame O.J. Simpson because of his race.^[4] Robert Shapiro, co-counsel on the Simpson defense team, accused Cochran of dealing the "race card" "from the bottom of the deck."^[9] In response, Cochran replied it was "not a case about race, it is a case about reasonable doubt...", noting "there are a lot of white people who are willing to accept this verdict."^[18] Cochran's representation generated hostility toward the attorney. At Cochran's funeral, O.J. Simpson expressed his belief that, without Cochran, he would not have been free.

Abner Louima

Cochran successfully represented Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who was sodomized with a broomstick while in police custody. Louima was awarded a $8.75 million settlement, the largest police brutality settlement in New York City. Tension broke out between Louima's original lawyers, and the new team headed by Cochran. The former team felt that Cochran and his colleagues were trying to take control of the entire trial.^[19]

Sean Combs

In 2001, Sean Combs was indicted on stolen weapons charges as well as bribery. Soon thereafter, Combs hired Cochran. Cochran effectively fought for Combs' freedom, with Combs winning an acquittal.^[20]

In 2002, Cochran promised Combs this would be Cochran's last criminal case. After that trial, he retired from criminal cases due to their exhausting nature. Though the trial lasted only five to seven weeks, it became too much for Cochran. After the trial, Cochran declined to represent R. Kelly and Allen Iverson in criminal cases where they asked for his services.^[8]

Others

• City Councilman Robert C. Farrell, 1987

Death

In April 2004, Cochran underwent surgery, which led to his staying away from the media. Shortly thereafter, he told the New York Post he was feeling well, and that he was in good health. He died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 from a brain tumor.^[21]

Public viewing of his casket was conducted on April 4 and April 5 and a memorial service was held at Little Union Baptist Church on April 8, 2005 in Shreveport. His remains were interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. The funeral was attended by numerous former clients and friends. Among them were O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Stevie Wonder, Magic Johnson, actress Angela Bassett, Gloria Allred, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Abner Louima, and others.^[3]

Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Middle School (formerly Mt. Vernon Jr. High) in Los Angeles

On May 31, 2005, about two months after Cochran's death, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its opinion on Tory v. Cochran. It found that due to Cochran's death, a restriction on Ulysses Tory's defamatory speech regarding Cochran was no longer required. Lower courts, before Cochran died, held that Tory could not make any public comments about Johnnie Cochran in any way.^[22]

In honor of Cochran, on January 24, 2006, Los Angeles Unified School District officials unanimously approved the renaming of Mount Vernon Middle School, Cochran's boyhood middle school, to Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Middle School, saying he was an "extraordinary, superb lawyer with movie-star celebrity status." There have been mixed reactions about the board of education's decision, primarily because of Cochran's work as a lawyer. For instance, the sister of Nicole Brown Simpson has expressed her disappointment with the decision, although she called Cochran "a great defense attorney."^[23] Since the school was renamed, others have voiced their ideas of naming a street after Cochran. City Councilman Herb J. Wesson Jr. wants the city to rename a section of 17th Street, because he feels Cochran was "a great attorney and a great role model who contributed to this community."^[24]

In 2007, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles opened the new Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Brain Tumor Center, a research center headed by noted neurosurgeon Keith Black, who had been Cochran's doctor.^[25][26]

Popular culture

Before Cochran's nationwide fame in the Simpson trial, actor Denzel Washington interviewed Cochran as part of his research for the movie Philadelphia.^[27]

After the Simpson trial, Cochran himself was a frequent commentator on law-related television shows. In addition to being featured on television shows, he hosted his own show, Johnnie Cochran Tonight, on CourtTV. With the Simpson fame also came movie deals.^[28]

As a result of Cochran's record in high-profile trials, popular culture has enshrined him as representative of a successful lawyer. Chris Rock's character, Detective Butters, advised a suspect in Lethal Weapon 4 that he had the right to an attorney, but "If you get Johnnie Cochran, I’ll kill you!". Individuals from Bernie Mac in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, to 1997's Jackie Brown, to Tommy Davidson in the film Woo have all touted Cochran as their solution in a jam. Wyclef Jean in his song "Thug Angels" and Too Short in his song "Gettin' It" have mentioned Cochran as a lawyer of choice. He was portrayed by William S. Taylor in the 2004 Michael Jackson biopic Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story.

Cochran was also referenced on the sketch comedy show MadTV when character Bunifa Halifa Sharifa Jackson (played by Debra Wilson) is going through airport security and yells at the TSA agent, "Get your hands 'offa me before Johnnie Cochran subpoena yo' ass!" Cochran was also mentioned later in the sketch.

On an episode of Martin, Martin panics when he receives a phone call from the district attorney's office (regarding a parolee) and exclaims, "Aw, damn! Somebody get me Johnnie Cochran!"

In the episode "Chef Aid" of TV Show South Park, Johnnie Cochran is hired by a record company who sues the character Chef for harassment. In his closing argument he employs the Chewbacca defense, a parody of his closing statement in the Simpson trial; "If it doesn't fit ("it" being the fact that Chewbacca, an 8' tall Wookiee, lives on Endor, which is populated by tiny Ewoks), you must acquit! The defense rests."

In the TV show Angel, the evil law firm, Wolfram and Hart, is mostly composed of demons and daemonic familiars, and is "the law firm that Johnnie Cochran is too ethical to join".

Cochran was also parodied in the form of attorney Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld.

Cochran and his signature phrase ("if it doesn't fit, you must acquit,") has been parodied many times as well: on Batman: The Animated Series ("If a man's filled with glee, that man must go free" and "If the Bat's on a spree, Wayne must pay the fee"), Justice League ("If the ring wasn't lit, you must acquit."), That's So Raven ("If the dress does not fit, you must acquit," and "If the dress is the wrong size, you must apologize."), WMAC Masters, and The Nanny ("The skirt is snug. And if the skirt doesn't fit, you must acquit.").

Cochran himself took these parodies in stride, discussing them in his autobiography, A Lawyer's Life. Furthermore, he appeared in The Hughleys, Family Matters, The Howard Stern Show, Arli$$, CHiPs '99, Bamboozled, Showtime and JAG.

Cochran is mentioned in the songs Ain't No Cure For Love by Bon Jovi, Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous by Good Charlotte, Gettin' It by Too Short, Thug Angels by Wyclef Jean, What U Doin? by Big Sean, "Ricky" by rapper The Game and "Used To Love Her" by Body Count.

In the song "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" from the Tony-winning musical "The Book of Mormon", Cochran is mentioned as one of the inhabitants of Hell who "got O.J. free" along with Hitler, Genghis Khan, and Jeffrey Dahmer.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} The middle initial, L, does not stand for anything. Showy, Tenacious Lawyer Rode Simpson Murder Trial to Fame by Adam Bernstein, The Washington Post, March 30, 2005, retrieved April 17, 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Famed attorney Johnnie Cochran dead by DeClamecy, Dree, Wilson, Stan, Philips, Eric, CNN.com, March 30, 2005, retrieved April 20, 2005.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Famous clients mourn Johnnie Cochran at funeral in L.A. by Linda Deutsch, The Union Tribune, April 6, 2005, retrieved April 18, 2005.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Celebrity Lawyer Johnnie Cochran Dies at 67 by Mike O'Sullivan, Voice of America, March 30, 2005, retrieved April 18, 2005
5. ^ Patrick, Dick (October 5, 2007). "Until now, Jones had been steadfast in doping denials". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2007-10-05-jones-analysis_N.htm. 
6. ^ Carla Hall, "Flashy, Deft Lawyer Known Worldwide", Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2008.
7. ^ LLS | Alumni Profiles | Johnnie L Cochran, Jr. '62
8. ^ ^{a b} BIBR talks to Johnnie Cochran - Interview by Robert Flemming, Black Issues Book Review, Nov-Dec 2002, retrieved April 23, 2006.
9. ^ ^{a b} Johnnie Cochran by Jared Grimmer, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, 2000, retrieved April 20, 2006.
10. ^ ^{a b c} Johnnie Cochran, the Attorney On the People's Defense Team by Kevin Merida, The Washington Post, March 31, 2005, retrieved April 22, 2006.
11. ^ Johnnie Cochran - Trial Attorney by Topblacks.com, retrieved April 22, 2006.
12. ^ [1] by Tiffaney Hicks, retrieved October 05, 2008.
13. ^ Johnnie Cochran tort reform interview by Sky News Network, retrieved May 4, 2006.
14. ^ ^{a b c} Obituary: Johnnie Cochran by Rupert Cornwell, The (London) Independent, March 31, 2005, retrieved April 17, 2005.
15. ^ ^{a b} Remembering Johnnie Cochran by Greater Boston, WGBH, broadcasted April 1, 2005.
16. ^ Through The Cracks by Jeffrey Meitrodt and Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune, March 27, 2001, retrieved April 29, 2006.
17. ^ "In Contempt," by Christopher Darden, published 1996
18. ^ Johnnie Cochran speaks his mind by Steve Hammer, NUVO, October 19, 1995, retrieved May 4, 2006.
19. ^ The Louima Millions by Peter Noel, The Village Voice, July 18–24, 2001, retrieved April 18, 2005.
20. ^ `Puffy' Combs Indicted On Stolen Weapons Charge; Atty. Johnnie Cochran Joins His Legal Team by Jet, January 31, 2000, retrieved April 23, 2006.
21. ^ superstar Johnnie Cochran dead at 67 by The Associated Press, March 30, 2005, retrieved April 18, 2005.
22. ^ Cochran ruling only narrow free-speech victory by Tony Mauro, First Amendment Center, June 1, 2005, retrieved April 29, 2006.
23. ^ Middle school renamed after Johnnie Cochran by Reuters, Jan. 26, 2006, retrieved April 29, 2006.
24. ^ Cynthia H. Cho, A School, and Maybe a Street, for Cochran, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 21, 2006, retrieved April 29, 2006.
25. ^ Sandy Banks, "Celebrities gather to dedicate brain tumor center", Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2007.
26. ^ Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Brain Tumor Center at Cedars-Sinai official website.
27. ^ cigarficionado
28. ^ Johnnie Cochran to be MLK speaker by Robert J. Sales, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, January 10, 2001, retrieved May 11, 2006.

External links

	Los Angeles portal
	Biography portal

• "Legal Legends" - The Cochran Firm's website
• Johnnie Cochran at Find a Grave

v d e O. J. Simpson murder trial Key figures O. J. Simpson · Nicole Brown Simpson · Ronald Goldman · Al Cowlings · Lance Ito Prosecution figures Marcia Clark · Christopher Darden · Gil Garcetti Defense figures F. Lee Bailey · Johnnie Cochran · Alan Dershowitz · Carl Douglas · Robert Kardashian · Barry Scheck · Robert Shapiro Witnesses Traci Adell · Michael Baden · Pablo Fenjves · Mark Fuhrman · Kato Kaelin · Henry Lee Other elements Brentwood · Bruno Magli · Centinela Avenue · Ford Bronco · Fuhrman tapes · If I Did It · American Tragedy (film)

Persondata
Name	Cochran, Johnnie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 2, 1937
Place of birth	Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.
Date of death	March 29, 2005
Place of death	Los Feliz, California, U.S.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)