From Amanda Bronstad, From The National Law Journal

Members of the National Bar Association called on black lawyers to advocate for victims and protesters of police brutality by representing them in civil cases and pushing for reforms of the criminal justice system.

At panels on Monday and Tuesday, prominent black leaders in the legal community told hundreds of lawyers at the group’s annual convention in Los Angeles that they should take more civil cases and advocate for both legislation and politicians who support reducing police brutality incidents.

“This is our audience. You are our family,” said Nicole Lee, who started the Black Law Movement Project, which has been training attorneys since the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the police shooting death of Michael Brown. “We think black attorneys can play a unique role in this movement.”

Police brutality dominated the group’s annual convention, which featured prominent Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Milton Grimes, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson and civil rights advocate Connie Rice.

NBA President Pamela Meanes told The National Law Journal earlier this week that police brutality issues became pivotal to the group’s agenda after the death of Eric Garner in New York a year ago.

On Monday, U.S. Representative Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, urged support for The Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act, which he introduced in June to enact criminal justice reforms that could reduce the prison population. And supporters of the protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, also asked lawyers for help in representing hundreds of people who have been arrested.

“We have the contacts in the national civil rights world,” Lee said. “We need to be using those contacts for the benefit of this movement.”

On Tuesday, several attorneys who handle police brutality cases talked about the challenges of such cases, both procedurally and in using the media to dispel the images portrayed about their clients.

Milton Grimes, of the Law Offices of Milton C. Grimes, who represented Rodney King in his civil case against the Los Angeles Police Department, said that his client had several prior incidents with law enforcement at the time of his videotaped beating in 1991.

“He looks like Hannibal Lecter to a lot of people,” he said. “The media had made him look that way. I set out on a mission to change his image.”

They also talked about the challenges of getting prosecutors, both state and federal, to pursue criminal actions against officers. John Burris, of the Law Offices of John L. Burris in Oakland, California, who handled the civil suit over the Bay Area Rapid Transit police shooting of Oscar Grant in 2009, said he had referred incidents of police brutality several times to federal and state authorities, who have declined to prosecute.

“Prosecutors are not accustomed to prosecuting police,” he said. “They don’t have experience making that adjustment.”

Many called on reforms of the grand jury system and suggested that special prosecutors, rather than local district attorneys with ties to the police force, should pursue criminal investigations against officers.

IMAGE: John Burris. November 5, 2010. Photo: Damian Dovarganes/AP

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202732724735/Black-Lawyers-Group-Wants-Members-to-Take-On-Brutality-Cases#ixzz3gdPX6CNc