Climbing Jacob's Ladder: A Trial Lawyer's Journey on Behalf of 'the Least of These' - Hardcover

Jock M. Smith (author)|Paul Hemphill (Co-author)|Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. (Foreword)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1588380785 ISBN 13: 9781588380784

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2002

Synopsis

Jacob Smith, a prominent black lawyer and political and civil rights leader in New York in the segregated 1950s, was assassinated when his son, Jock, was eight years old. If this memoir told only of a child’s loving remembrance of his father (and a desire to follow in his footsteps, thus Climbing Jacob’s Ladder), it would be a success. But Jock Smith grew up to become a lawyer himself, a college professor, one of the first African American assistant attorneys general in Alabama, and then a highly successful plaintiff’s lawyer, sports agent, sports memorabilia collector, and inspirational speaker. Now a national partner to superlawyer Johnnie Cochran, Smith operates in a fascinating world of power, wealth, fame, and faith. Climbing Jacob’s Ladder tells it all. Jock Smith is a great storyteller, and co-author Paul Hemphill is a great writer. Their collaboration brings us an insider’s view of the legal system, big-time sports collecting, contemporary black life, evangelism, and civil rights.

About this title

About the Author

JOCK M. SMITH lives in Montgomery and practices with a national law firm with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta, and Washington, DC, as well as Tuskegee and Dothan, Alabama. Paul Hemphill is a veteran journalist and author of a dozen books of fiction and non-fiction, including Long Gone, Leaving Birmingham, and The Nashville Sound. He is a native of Birmingham, a graduate of Auburn University, was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and now lives in Atlanta.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1588380785
• ISBN 13: 9781588380784
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304