or some pieces of the docket with which a longtime commercial and civil rights litigator might be less familiar. Any questions were quickly put to rest.” In his early days at the LDF, says
Adegbile, Payton brought vigor and optimism to the job. He conveyed an understanding about what battles the organization needed to wage and how to arrive at the right outcomes. From the start he was a strong leader, but what most impressed Adegbile and his colleagues was Payton’s ability to use his civil rights experience as an entry point to gain a profound understand- ing of the interconnectedness of the LDF’s four program areas: criminal and economic justice, democratic engagement, and education. As head of the LDF, Payton
famously argued Lewis v. City of Chicago. In the 2010 case, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously concluded that a group of African American fi refi ghter applicants had fi led a timely charge of race discrimination against the city of Chicago. “It was an incredibly exhilarating thing to see. John was the master litigator at the height of his powers,” says Adegbile. “Because Payton came to the LDF at a later stage
“ THE LEGAL COMMUNITY HAS LOST A LEGEND, AND WHILE WE MOURN JOHN’S PASSING, WE WILL NEVER FORGET HIS COURAGE AND FIERCE OPPOSITION TO DISCRIMINATION IN ALL ITS FORMS.” –PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
While in private practice, Payton was lead counsel
of his career, he worked hard to train the younger lawyers,” says Adegbile, “He attended LDF moot court sessions, helping to prepare litigators to argue cases in federal courts around the country. He worked hard to create opportunities for all lawyers at the LDF, encouraging us to expand our horizons, reach beyond our comfort zones, and more robustly embrace the full possibilities of LDF’s work on behalf of our clients.” Prior to the LDF, Payton was a partner at
WilmerHale. “He didn’t come to the fi rm by accident,” says Craig Goldblatt, a partner in WilmerHale’s bank- ruptcy and fi nancial restructuring group. “T e notion that it’s a lawyer’s obligation to do things beyond representing clients who can pay us is in the fi ber of this place. And while the fi rm’s values and culture were not forged singlehandedly by John, he played a critical role in living them every day and reminding us of our obligations to do the same.”
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on two high-profi le University of Michigan affi rmative action cases. In 2003 he led the defense in companion cases addressing the issue of universities’ ability to consider race, among other factors, in their admis- sions decisions. Payton built the cases in the trial court and appellate courts in Gratz v. Bollinger before the U.S. Supreme Court. Payton defended the university’s practice of considering race among other factors in its undergraduate admission policy. T e high court ruled against the university. Payton also led defense of the companion case Grutter v. Bollinger (involving admis- sions policy of the university’s law school). He didn’t, however, argue the case before the Supreme Court which ultimately ruled in the university’s favor. T e Supreme Court’s decision decisively embraced the diversity ratio- nale, and permitted the consideration of race together with other factors. T at ruling has governed college admissions across the nation since but will be revisited by the Supreme Court in the fall in Fisher v. University of Texas, another case in which Payton played a key role. Everywhere he practiced, Payton is fondly remem-
bered for energetically fostering the careers of young lawyers, giving them responsibilities on matters that seemed a level above what they were accustomed
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