Johnnie Cochran

Johnnie Cochran (born October 2, 1937, Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.—died March 29, 2005, Los Angeles, California) was an American trial lawyer who gained international prominence with his skillful and controversial defense of O.J. Simpson, a football player and celebrity who was charged with a double murder in 1994. Simpson’s trial ended with his acquittal.

Education and early career

In 1949 Cochran’s family moved from Louisiana to California, where he later became one of only two dozen African American students at Los Angeles High School. He graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1959, and he earned a law degree from Loyola Law School of Loyola Marymount University in 1962.

After working for two years as a prosecutor for the city of Los Angeles, Cochran pursued a private career. His clients included celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, and Jim Brown, and he represented victims of police brutality.

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The O.J. Simpson trial

Cochran first gained national recognition in 1994 when he joined the legal team defending Simpson, who was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. That team included a number of notable attorneys, among them F. Lee Bailey, Shawn Chapman Holley, Robert Shapiro, Alan Dershowitz, and Robert Kardashian.

As the defense team’s lead attorney during Simpson’s high-profile trial, Cochran demonstrated his skill at connecting with jurors and putting the prosecution and police on the defensive. His trial strategies included a demonstration of the sloppy practices and outright incompetence of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Ultimately, Cochran and the legal team won an acquittal for Simpson in October 1995 by suggesting that the police department was racist and that the former football star had been framed. Cochran’s challenge to the jury that “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”—in reference to bloody gloves Simpson tried on during the trial—resonated for years afterward. (In a 1997 civil trial, Simpson was found liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman and ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages to their families.)

Later life and legacy

At the beginning of the 21st century, Cochran oversaw 10 law firms throughout the country. He took on the role of chairman of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, a publicly funded agency that sought economic development for the neighborhoods of Harlem, Washington Heights, and Inwood.

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Cochran published two memoirs, Journey to Justice (1996, with Tim Rutten) and A Lawyer’s Life (2002, with David Fisher). Known for his philanthropy, he established the Johnnie L. Cochran, Sr., Scholarship, in honor of his father, for African American men at UCLA. The middle school that Cochran attended in Los Angeles was renamed for him in 2006, and Loyola Law School created the Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Chair in Civil Rights.