Page 29 - November 2018 | Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal

required. As a result, the momentum for merger character, competence and legal professionalism appointed to serve as a Senior Staff Counsel to the
dissipated, although it never really died. to which we all aspire. U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on
The NSMBA grew out of a casual Assassinations. He successfully ran for a seat on the
conversation that took place early in 1980 Cleveland Municipal Court bench in 1981. He
in the chambers of the Late Common Pleas Judge Ronald B. Adrine is a life-long retained that seat until he retired on January 3, 2018.
Judge Lloyd O. Brown. Attorney Ronald B. resident of Greater Cleveland. In 1974, He served as Administrative and Presiding Judge of
Adrine and Attorney Stephanie Tubbs Jones he joined the staff of the Cuyahoga his Court, from 2009 until his retirement. He has
found themselves discussing the need for County Prosecutor as an assistant in been a CMBA member since1973. He was the
a strong organization of African American the criminal trial division. In 1976, NSMBA’s first president and currently serves as its
lawyers to advocate generally for the interests he entered the private practice of law with his father, President Emeritus. He can be reached at (216)
of Cleveland’s black community at large and the late Russell T. Adrine. Two years later, he was 561-6777 or JudgeAdrine@gmail.com.
black lawyers specifically. They bemoaned the
unfortunate reality that none of the African
American legal organizations existing at that
time were strong enough to fit the bill.
Following that conversation, Adrine took
the initiative to call together a small group of
younger African American lawyers, including
Lillian Green, James Hardiman and Gerald
Jackson, to discuss the idea of revisiting the
idea of merging the four groups—but this
time with a twist. The new wrinkle would be
the formation of a formal, full-fledged African
American bar association, similar in structure
and function to the majority community’s
Bar Association of Greater Cleveland and
Cuyahoga County Bar Association. Modeled
on the National Bar Association, which
represents the specific interests of African
Americans at the national level, as envisioned
the new organization would preserve the
initiatives that each of the existing groups
championed and, in fact, would continue the
affiliation that two of the groups had with the
National Bar Association and the National
Conference of Black Lawyers.
The decision was made to move forward with
the idea. A formal structure was drafted, and
a mailing list of some 300 Greater Cleveland
African American lawyers was developed and
invited to an initial meeting to discuss the
proposal. That meeting was held on March 14,
1980 and by July of that year the NSMBA was
up and running, with a membership of over
100 lawyers.
The NSMBA was at its founding, and
continues to be, the largest and strongest At Porter Wright, we’re driven to create
client-focused strategies. Our clients’
organization in Ohio supporting the work of greatest challenges motivate us to reach
African American lawyers and law students, in new limits, align the right resources and
the legal community and in the community at deliver inspired outcomes.
large. Academic scholarships, continuing legal
education, social events, and judicial screening
are a sample of its programmatic thrust.
The organization was named in honor of
Norman Selby Minor, a nationally-renowned
Cleveland African American criminal defense
attorney, who exemplified the qualities of
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