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LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - A change has come over Johnnie Cochran's law firm, which Los Angeles' Black community has loved for lo, these 43 years - and not necessarily a change for the better. Longtime attorneys and staffers who help build the Cochran legacy are gone and have not been replaced, and White people are occupying leadership positions in his law firm that did not exist before he died March 30, 2005. What is going on in Cochran's Wilshire Boulevard 10th floor suite, and why it's going on is a tale of two versions: The spin from the two African-American...

Los Angeles has renamed a public school after Johnnie Cochran, the late criminal defense lawyer who helped clear "Trial of the Century" murder defendant O.J. Simpson. School district officials voted unanimously for the name change Tuesday, saying Cochran, who attended the former Mt. Vernon Middle School as a boy, was an "extraordinary, superb lawyer with movie-star celebrity status." But the sister of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, whom the former star football player and actor was charged with stabbing and slashing to death, said she was stunned by the move. "It's in bad taste," Denise Brown told Reuters. "Yeah, he...

Long before he defended O.J. Simpson on murder charges, Johnnie Cochran prosecuted Lenny Bruce for alleged obscenity. Even in the more genteel days of 1964, the young deputy city attorney couldn't convict the notoriously foul-mouthed comedian. In a 1996 memoir, Cochran belatedly conceded that his attempt to do so was contrary to the 1st Amendment. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard another case that threatens the 1st Amendment, this one featuring the famed attorney as plaintiff. The issue in Tory vs. Cochran is straightforward: Can Ulysses Tory, who was found to have defamed Cochran, be permanently barred from saying...

Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., the masterful attorney who gained prominence as an early advocate for victims of police abuse then achieved worldwide fame for successfully defending football star O.J. Simpson on murder charges, died Tuesday. He was 67. Cochran died of an inoperable brain tumor at his home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, according to his brother-in-law Bill Baker. He had been diagnosed with the brain tumor in December 2003, Baker said. Initially, Cochran, his family and colleagues were secretive about his illness to protect the attorney's privacy as well as the network of Cochran law offices...

LOS ANGELES - Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., who became a legal superstar after helping clear O.J. Simpson during a sensational murder trial in which he uttered the famous quote "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," died Tuesday. He was 67. Cochran died of a brain tumor at his home in Los Angeles, his family said. "Certainly, Johnnie's career will be noted as one marked by 'celebrity' cases and clientele," his family said in a statement. "But he and his family were most proud of the work he did on behalf of those in the community." With his colorful suits...

REPORT: Famed attorney Johnny Cochran died this afternoon in California following an extended illness... Developing...

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court justices suggested Tuesday that a disgruntled former client of famed defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. shouldn't have been barred from protesting publicly about Cochran. But while agreeing the injunction that stopped Ulysses Tory's protests was too broad, justices also grappled with how else Cochran could have kept Tory from picketing his Los Angeles office, lying about him and refusing to stop until he got money. "It is clearly over-broad. Now what should we do about that?" asked Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Tory's attorney, Erwin Chemerinsky, said Cochran could have pursued monetary damages against Tory instead. "It's...

The Kerry Cabinet by Dr. M. Sidney Wallace John Kerry is so confident in winning the election in November that he has already announced his transition team. Along with his publicly announced transition team here is a very guarded list of some of his new cabinet appointees. The Office of Secretary of State will be abolished. President Kerry intends to let the Ambassadors to the United Nations perform this role and he sees no need for the United States to have any matters of state that cannot be handled in the UN. The decisive and former President, Jimmy Carter will...

LOS ANGELES Sept. 27, 2004 — Johnnie Cochran Jr. was hospitalized Monday for additional tests and evaluation of a previously diagnosed neurological condition, a spokeswoman said. The decision to admit the celebrity attorney to an undisclosed hospital was considered a precautionary move, according to a statement released Monday by publicist Pat Tobin. In April, Cochran announced that he would temporarily curtail his work to receive treatment for the neurological condition. His family has requested that the nature of the condition, which is not life-threatening, remain private. Cochran, 66, is best known for representing O.J. Simpson during his double-murder trial, and...

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama, the U.S. Senate candidate from Chicago who has become the Democratic Party's latest rising star, is drawing enough support from the entertainment industry to put on his own variety show. From comedian Chris Rock to singer Barbra Streisand to musician Herbert Hancock, entertainers have written out checks of $1,000 or $2,000 to help the 42-year-old Illinois state senator win the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. Film directors Rob Reiner ("The American President") and Edward Zwick ("The Last Samurai" and "Courage Under Fire") both contributed in the past three months, according to Obama's...

LOS ANGELES — High-profile attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. will temporarily curtail his work while recuperating from an undisclosed neurological condition, his publicist said. Cochran's family has requested the nature of his condition remain private, publicist Bill Baker said Friday. The condition is not life-threatening and Cochran is expected to make a full recovery, Baker said. Cochran, 66, is best known for representing former football star O.J. Simpson during his trial on murder charges in the stabbing deaths of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Simpson was acquitted.

<p>NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The city's public transit system should pay $51.4 million to the family of an 11-year-old girl whose arm was crushed beneath the wheels of a streetcar after she fell out of a window five years ago, a jury has decided.</p>

ALLEN PARK, Mich. - The NFL on Friday fined Detroit Lions president Matt Millen $200,000 for failing to interview minority candidates before hiring new coach Steve Mariucci. Mariucci was the only person interviewed for the job after Marty Mornhinweg was fired Jan. 27. Detroit has maintained that five minority candidates turned down interviews because it appeared inevitable Mariucci would be hired. "While we respectfully disagree with the decision made by the commissioner and the league's diversity committee, we continue to enthusiastically support all initiatives which promote diversity in hiring with respect to coaching and front office positions in the NFL,...

WE'VE all heard the hypotheticals. They are common in the aftermath of any racially charged incident, and the Inglewood police beating of 16-year-old Donovan Jackson is no exception. It's an old guessing game: How would the public's reaction, the media's coverage, the politicians' response differ if the racial tables were turned? Would Johnnie Cochran and Al Sharpton rush to the aid of Jackson, an African-American teen beaten by a white officer, Jeremy Morse, if Jackson were white and Morse were black? Would the story command national attention? And would the awful episode have ever happened at all -- that is,...

DETROIT (AP) - Black leaders converged here Saturday for a town hall meeting in advance of an annual fund-raising dinner benefiting the NAACP that is billed as the largest of its kind. Among those taking part were Democratic Reps. John Conyers and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, both of Michigan; Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick; the Rev. Al Sharpton; and attorney Johnnie Cochran. The conversation grew heated on topics of slavery reparations and whether former President Clinton was good or bad for blacks. "He exploited black sentiment because he knew the rituals of black culture," said Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of religious...