The Cochran Firm Huntsville

03/23/2026

📍Ron Settles & The City of Signal Hill | 1981

On June 2nd, 1981, Ron Settles was traveling to his part-time job as a student teacher and coach at a nearby junior high school. He was running late and decided to take a shortcut through the city of Signal Hill, a city that was notorious for corruption and famously avoided people of color, especially at night. Settles was pulled over by Signal Hill police officer Jerry Lee Brown. The next morning, he was “found” dead in his cell.

Because of the police department’s conspiracy of silence, there was no one to hold accountable and any claim against the city of Signal Hill seemed as hopeless as learning what had actually happened to Mr. Settles. Johnnie determined what their next step should be and asked for permission to have an independent autopsy performed. The coroner found that Mr. Settles injuries were not self-inflicted. The officers had beat him, put him in a choke hold, and killed him.

The conference room in The Cochran Firm Memphis office was dedicated to Ron’s memory by Mr. Cochran himself, and today, The Firm works with The Ron Settles Memorial Foundation giving scholarships to young people working towards a degree in law, education, or civil rights work.

Continue to follow along this month as we honor the life, career, and legacy of Mr. Cochran by sharing his story through a timeline.

03/23/2026

📍Geronimo Pratt & The Black Panther Party

Of all of his cases, the work Johnnie Cochran said he was most proud of was that of securing the freedom of Geronimo Pratt. Pratt, a predominant member of The Black Panther Party had been wrongfully accused of murder, robbery, and assault. Because Pratt, along with other leaders of The Black Panthers, was targeted by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI who had infiltrated defense sessions and wiretapped Mr. Cochran’s phone during the trial he was ultimately found guilty on all counts. Johnnie fought for Geronimo for the next 27 years until his conviction was vacated on June 10, 1997.

Continue to follow along this month as we honor the life, career, and legacy of Mr. Cochran by sharing his story through a timeline.

03/23/2026

📍1996 | A Lifelong Friendship

Johnnie Cochran had aspirations of building a national firm aimed to demonstrate the positive societal impact of a diverse group united by a common goal.

In 1996, Johnnie met Jock Smith in Montgomery, Alabama, forming a lifelong friendship. As he started to envision the firm, he turned to Jock to explore possibilities, who would help him put the pieces in place.
Continue to follow along this month as we honor the life, career, and legacy of Mr. Cochran by sharing his story through a timeline.

06/12/2022

“I'm a big believer in the fact that life is about preparation, preparation, preparation.” - Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. (1937-2005)

06/12/2022

“The journey to justice is a journey that’s not always easy, but it’s a fascinating journey.” - Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr.

01/04/2022

01/04/2022

We hope everyone had a joyous holiday season!

According to weather.gov, a normal amount of snowfall in Huntsville is 1.1" total for the month of January. Yesterday, 4-6" were reported in different parts of Huntsville. Our office sure looks beautiful under all that snow!

As always, call 1-800-442-7791 for a free consultation. We hope you do not need it, but we are here in case you do.

11/14/2021

In August of 2020, NASA announced that astronaut Jeanette Epps will make history as the first Black woman to live and work long-term aboard the International Space Station. Her flight to the station will take place on the first operational flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, and is scheduled for 2021. Jeanette, a native of Syracuse, New York, earned her bachelor’s degree in physics from LeMoyne College in 1992, and her master’s degree in science from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1994. In 2000, she earned her doctorate in aerospace engineering and worked as a CIA technical intelligence officer for 7 years before being selected to NASA’s 2009 astronaut class.

02/23/2021

In October of 2020, Harvard Medical School approved the renaming of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Academic Society, in honor of Dr. William Augustus Hinton, a former Harvard Medical School professor of bacteriology and immunology. The Society’s former namesake, Holmes, was one of the first American intellectuals to espouse the racist doctrine of eugenics, and in 1850, he revoked the acceptances of the medical school’s first three black students. Dr. Hinton was a 1905 graduate of the college, and later the Medical School, and created a new diagnostic blood test for syphilis that was later adopted by the U.S. Public Health Service. He became the first black full professor at Harvard University.