UPDATE(3:29 p.m.): Attorney General Michael Mukasey released this statement today: "Judge Bell’s long record of public service, especially his efforts to enact FISA and champion civil rights, exemplified his dedication, integrity, and fearless pursuit of justice. He was not only an outstanding Attorney General, but also a true gentleman. The Justice Department mourns his passing."
Griffin B. Bell, the former federal appeals court judge and U.S. attorney general who served as the dean of both King & Spalding and the Georgia legal community, died Monday at the age of 90.
Les Zuke, a spokesman for the firm, told Legal Times’ sister paper, The Daily Report, that Bell died at 940 a.m. Monday.
Bell's 60-year legal career included three stints at the firm—a nine-lawyer outfit when he joined in 1953—broken up by challenging service on the federal court overseeing desegregation across the South and as the chief of the U.S. Department of Justice in the wake of Watergate. Ultimately he returned to rainmaking at King & Spalding, where he built a practice that defended corporations accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Click here to continue reading The Daily Report’s obituary.
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