Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame to Induct UA Law School Graduates

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame will induct University of Alabama School of Law graduates Albert Farrah and Judge Frank M. Johnson on June 24 in a ceremony to be held in the Alabama Supreme Court Building in Montgomery.

Farrah, dean of the UA School of Law from 1913 to 1944, is best remembered for laying the foundations for the modern law school. According to Special Collections Librarian for the Bounds Law Library Paul Pruitt, during Farrah’s deanship, “the law school won accreditation from the American Bar Association, thus gaining official status as a producer of the legal technicians required by twentieth-century practice. Like their counterparts elsewhere, Farrah and his faculty put novice attorneys through intense training in the science of interpreting cases and schooled them in professional ethics.” Current Law School Dean Ken Randall will accept the award on behalf of Farrah.

Johnson, a 1941 graduate of the Law School, is best remembered for his civil rights rulings, particularly in Williams v. Wallace, which allowed for a peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Johnson was recently recognized by the UA Law School in its annual magazine, Capstone Lawyer.

The Alabama State Bar established the Lawyers Hall of Fame in 2003 to honor Alabama lawyers who have made extraordinary contributions through the law at the state, national, or international level.