Guest Commissioners Fred David Gray Fred David Gray, a native of Montgomery, Alabama, is a civil rights lawyer. Gray's legal career spans a time period of over 50 years. Enthusiastic, energetic and out of law school less than a year, he began a dynamic civil rights career in 1954. In 1955 he represented Mrs. Rosa Parks who was arrested because she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, which ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott. City of Montgomery v. Rosa Parks. He was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s first civil rights attorney. Gray filed suits that integrated all state institutions of higher learning in the State of Alabama, and one hundred four of the then one hundred twenty-one elementary and secondary schools systems in the State. Lee v. Macon. He was counsel in preserving and protecting the rights of persons involved in the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1972, the case of Pollard v. United States of America. In July of 1993, he argued on behalf of Alabama State University, the higher education case, John F. Knight, Jr. v. State of Alabama, et. al in the Eleventh Circuit. The court held in that case that there are still vestiges of racial discrimination in higher education in Alabama. One of the first African Americans to serve in the Alabama Legislature since reconstruction, he served from 1970-1974. He received the Capitol Press Corps Award for Best Orator in the House of Representatives in 1972, and was a member of the National Society of State Legislators from 1970-1974. His love and commitment in promoting the works of the National Bar Association gave him recognition as its 43rd President, 1985-86. He initiated the NBA Hall of Fame (becoming an inductee in August of 1995), and was the recipient of the Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion of Merit from the Washington Bar Association. Currently he is the senior partner in the law firm of Gray, Langford, Sapp, McGowan, Gray & Nathanson, with offices in Montgomery and Tuskegee, Alabama. The firm has also represented Plaintiffs in wrongful death actions, personal injury, fraud, bad faith, which have resulted in jury verdicts and settlements in multi-million dollar amounts. The firm is nationally recognized and has received extensive press coverage in such publications as USA Today, Ebony Magazine, Jet Magazine, NBA Magazine, The Washington Times, Case Western Reserve University Magazine, New York Times, and ABC's Prime Time Live.The recipient of numerous awards and honors, in February of 1996, the American Bar Association bestowed upon Mr. Gray its "Spirit of Excellence Award". The award celebrates the achievements of lawyers of color and their contributions to the legal profession. Most recently, in April 2004, he was the recipient of Harvard University Law School’s highest award the Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion, in August was the recipient of the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award, and in October the Sarah T. Hughes Civil Rights Award awarded by the Federal Bar Association. Kim Keenan Kim M. Keenan, a senior trial attorney at the law firm of Jack H. Olender & Associates, P.C., is the first attorney at the Olender firm-and the first woman ever to have been elected to that post. She handles catastrophic medical malpractice and personal injury cases. She has settled or won at trial malpractice cases in the six and seven figure range; in a single year, she won more than $10 million in jury awards on behalf of victims of malpractice. Ms. Keenan serves on the Executive Committee of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA). She is a Trustee of the Association's National College of Advocates and D.C. Delegate to Women Trial Lawyers Caucus. Ms. Keenan is a Trustee of the Civil Justice Foundation and the Bar Association of the District of Columbia Foundation. She currently serves on the Executive Board of Directors of the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Foundation. Ms. Keenan is the President of the National Bar Association, the Immediate Past President of the Washington Bar Association, and Past President of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. She has held numerous leadership positions with the National Bar Association, including Co-Chair of Trial Advocacy Section. She is a former Program Coordinator of the National Association of Black Women Attorneys and is a Master in the Charlotte E. Ray American Inn of Court, which promotes the ethical and professional development of lawyers. Ms. Keenan has served on the faculty of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy at Georgetown University Law Center. In 2002, Kim Keenan received the Pursuit of Justice Award of the American Bar Association Tort and Insurance Practices Section; and in 2000, the first woman ever to be elected Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Trial Lawyers Association, D.C. She is a recipient of the National Bar Association's Presidential Award and the Charlotte E. Ray Award of the Greater Washington Area Chapter, Women's Division, of the National Bar Association. The award was named in honor of the first African-American woman to practice law in the U.S. Kim Keenan has been named Alumnus of the Year by the Black Law Students Association of the Catholic University Columbus School of Law. Ms. Keenan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Ionia R. Whipper Home, a residential facility for at-risk teenage girls. She has coached moot court teams in the D.C. Street Law Program, mentored students interested in the practice of law, participated in annual Law Day programs in public schools, and supported other public interest efforts. In addition, she has lectured at high schools, colleges, law schools, and medical schools on medicine and the law. Ms. Keenan is a member of the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia Bars. A native of Buffalo, New York, Ms. Keenan received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown's University of Foreign Service and her juris doctor of law degree from University of Virginia School of Law. Back to main page