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NOMINEES’ BIOGRAPHIES

Louisiana State Bar Association Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson Trailblazer Award
recipient recommendation:

Honorable Freddie Pitcher, Jr., Phelps Dunbar LLP

Honorable Freddie Pitcher, Jr. was born and raised in Baton Rouge, LA. He was the first African
American elected to the Nineteenth Judicial District Court in a parish-wide election in 1987. Judge
Pitcher also served as the first African American elected to City Court in April 1983. He also served as
the Chancellor Emeritus of Southern University Law Center and as former partner at Phelps Dunbar
LLP.

Judge Pitcher has served as a mediator for over twenty years. He also sat on the Board of Directors for
the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana (PAR), the Baton Rouge Recreation Commission
Foundation, and Baton Rouge Area Foundation.

He is a member of Omega Psi Phi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities. He is married to Dr. Harriet Anderson
Pitcher, and they have two children Kyla Dean Pitcher and Hillary Comeaux. Judge Pitcher is the author
of From the Bench, to the Bar to the Bench.

Louisiana State Bar Association’s Guardian of Diversity Award recipient recommendation:

Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc., New Orleans, LA

Since 1957, the Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc. has worked tirelessly to
make a lasting and significant contribution to increasing and promoting diversity in the legal profession.

The organization was founded when Brown v. Board of Topeka was still fresh in American
consciousness and the promises of an end to racial segregation were more tangible to the Society’s
pioneering founders. The society is named in honor of African American pioneer, Louis Andre Martinet.

Today, GNO Martinet strives to uphold the Founders’ mission through its programming and pipeline
initiatives, specifically the organization’s signature program, Pathways and Pipelines to Success
Program, a professionalism seminar solely for minority and underrepresented law students.

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The 7 Annual Pathways and Pipelines program featured virtual networking sessions, mock interviews,
headshots, and cover letter/resume tips and tricks.

This year, over eighty law students from all four of Louisiana’s law schools registered for the event, and
over fifty judges and lawyers in the community volunteered to assist with the program.