Former Director-Counsel, President of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Joins Fulbright

Business Wire, June 2, 2008

NEW YORK -- Theodore Shaw, the most recent past Director-Counsel and President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and a man known for passionately arguing to uphold civil rights in courtrooms all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, has joined Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.'s New York office as Of Counsel to the firm.

Shaw worked for the LDF for more than two decades, spending the final four years of his tenure as the fund's Director-Counsel and President, the position held by Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice; and other distinguished American civil rights lawyers.

At Fulbright, Shaw will assist the international firm's clients in complying with labor and employment and other laws involving civil rights issues and appellate matters that include civil rights claims. Shaw is also on the faculty of the law school of Columbia University where he holds the title of Professor of Professional Practice. He teaches Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure and Race and Poverty.

"Ted is an accomplished and dedicated litigator who brings a wealth of civil rights experience," said Steven B. Pfeiffer, the Chair of Fulbright's Executive Committee. "At Fulbright, we have long embraced the principles of equal employment opportunity and recognize that promoting diversity is an integral part of our continuing quest for excellence as individual lawyers and as a firm."

Shaw, who is a native of New York City, was born the year the U.S. Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 civil rights case that overturned the "separate but equal doctrine." Growing up in 1960s and 1970s Harlem and the Bronx with the teachings of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., Shaw went on to litigate, educate and champion the rights of African-Americans, women and other minorities.

William Bush, the head of Fulbright's New York office, said Shaw's distinct career and experiences will greatly benefit the international firm's clients as they expand and refine their operations within an increasingly global society.

"Ted has been referred to as the Thurgood Marshall of his generation - a comparison that Ted plays down, but one that seems appropriate given the passion with which he has carried the torch of those who came before him at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund," Bush said. "We are pleased to have a litigator who has been involved in so many landmark cases as part of our law firm."

In 1979, Shaw began his legal career as a trial lawyer handling school desegregation and housing discrimination cases for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. Three years later, he joined LDF, where he directed the education docket nationwide and handled civil rights cases ranging from school desegregation, housing, voting rights, and employment to capital punishment matters.

In the late 1980s, Shaw established LDF's Western Regional office in Los Angeles before temporarily leaving the fund for three years to teach Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure and Civil Rights at the University of Michigan Law School. While at Michigan he played a key role in initiating a review of the law school's admissions practices and policies and in designing the policy that was upheld by the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger.

"Ted brings impressive credentials, perspective and invaluable experience," said Stephen C. Dillard, the head of Fulbright's worldwide litigation practice. "His record speaks volumes about the lawyer Ted is, the passion he has for the law and the important experience he brings to our global litigation department."

Fulbright's litigation prowess stems from such giants of the profession as Leon Jaworski, Kraft Eidman, Jim Sales and the firm's co-founder John Crooker, Sr. Fulbright's litigation and dispute resolution practice has been a cornerstone of the firm since 1919.

Shaw, who also has extensive international legal experience ranging from leading delegations of lawyers to South Africa to participating in international seminars on race and human rights across the globe, said Fulbright's global platform offers the perfect stage from which to continue his work.

"Fulbright offers a rich history of doing what is right and staying true to the building blocks on which this great law firm was founded," Shaw said. "I have long held Fulbright & Jaworski in high regard for its tradition of excellence and because of the great lawyers who established, built and maintained the firm. I am pleased and honored to be joining a firm that has committed itself to the highest standards of the legal profession and that is committed to the principles of inclusion and opportunity for all. Fulbright is committed to assisting the firm's global clients, promoting diversity and carrying on the firm's rich tradition of giving back."

Robert D. Owen, who heads Fulbright's litigation practice group in New York, said the experience Shaw brings through his impressive background litigating civil rights cases at the trial and appellate levels across the country will help firm clients who are faced with similar matters.