The Long Beach branch of the NAACP on Wednesday evening honored a family of intergenerational lawyers for their work in promoting social justice and mentoring future lawyers, especially those of color.
The family’s six lawyers are headed by the late civil rights activist and longtime Compton Councilman Maxcy Filer, who the New York Times wrote about in 1981 for passing the California Bar Exam after 48 tries since 1967.
Today, the family of lawyers consists of grandson Lance Filer who has a private law practice in Long Beach, as well as Maxcy’s sons Kelvin who has served his entire judicial career at the Compton Courthouse, and Anthony who is the directing attorney for the Community Legal Services Office in both Compton and Norwalk. Kelvin’s daughter Kree became the first female lawyer of the family when she passed the bar in 2017.
The family was honored during the local NAACP’s annual ABA Law Day program at the offices of Keesal, Young & Logan in downtown Long Beach. The program especially invites youth interested in law and has been named a finalist five times for the best Law Day event by the national NAACP.
The event also featured a keynote presentation by City Prosecutor Doug Haubert who spoke to Long Beach students in grades eight to 11 along with religious and nonprofit community members, about the separation of federal government’s three branches of power.
For more information on the Long Beach NAACP branch click here.
Photos courtesy of the Long Beach Branch of NAACP.