Nathaniel Jones

Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Emeritus Member of the KnowledgeWorks Board of Directors Retired Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th District Blank Rome LLP Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, an emeritus member of the KnowledgeWorks Board of Directors, retired from his position as a United States Circuit Judge for the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Jones was appointed to this position by President Carter on May 17, 1979. Throughout Jones’s life he has made his mark in various sectors and has shown remarkable success. After Jones served in the United States Air Force in World War II, he attended Youngstown State University where he received his A.B. and L.L.B. (converted to J.D.). After entering the private practice of law, Attorney General, Robert Kennedy, appointed Jones as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland. He held that position until 1967, when he was appointed to serve as Assistant General Counsel to President Johnson’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission. His work with this group assisted in the development of a study involving the causes of urban riots during the sixties. The role Jones played on the Kerner Commission enabled him to work closely with Roy Wilkins, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1969, Wilkins invited Jones to assume the position as general counsel of the NAACP. Jones became fourth chief counsel for the organization since its founding in 1909, succeeding Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall. His role entailed directing all litigation in which the NAACP engaged. In his capacity as National General Counsel, Judge Jones coordinated the legal challenge to northern school segregation and twice argued in the United States Supreme Court the Detroit school case, Bradley v. Milliken, 418 U.S. 717 (1974). In addition, in 1979 he successfully organized the presentation to the United States Supreme Court in the cases of Dayton Board of Education, et al. v. Brinkman, et al., 433 U.S. 406 (1977) and Columbus Board of Education, et al v. Penick, et al., 443 U.S. 449 (1979). In addition to Judge Jones’s judicial duties, he has also held legal education positions. Jones was appointed as the Ben C. Green visiting Scholar at Case Western Reserve University School of Law located in Cleveland, Ohio and he was the first holder of the Haywood Burns Chair in Civil Rights at the City University of New York School of Law. Furthermore, Jones worked for the Harvard Law School as an instructor in the trial advocacy program. The United States boundary lines do not restrict Jones’s work. As a member of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Jones traveled to South Africa where he served as a legal observer at a treason trial of sixteen blacks. During that mission, he was arrested for violation of apartheid laws. However, even after this arrest, Jones returned to South Africa the following year to lecture at a symposium held for thirty South African judges. Most recently, Jones participated in a US-Egypt Judicial Exchange program sponsored by the United States Intelligence Agency and required Jones to travel to Uganda, Tanzania, and Egypt. He also studied the legal system in Kenya. Among many organizations, Jones has remained involved with the American Bar Association, where he currently serves as special advisor, after holding the office of Chair between 1994-1997, to the Council on Racial and Ethnic Justice. Jones is also a valued member of the National Bar Association where he was Chairman of the Civil Rights Section in 1976, the American Arbitration Association, and the Ohio State Bar Association. In Cincinnati, Jones continues to play an active role in the education field through his current positions as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative (CYC) and his presence on the Board of Visitors at the University of Cincinnati, College of Law.