We join the world in mourning the death of Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, one of the great statesmen of our time and a unique and potent symbol and human icon for all who love freedom and democracy.
Mandela’s accomplishments during his lifetime are well-known and need not be recounted at length. As a lawyers’ newspaper, however, we would be remiss in failing to note his skill and competence as a member of our profession—assets he repeatedly called upon as he changed the course of history. Mandela began his legal career in a segregated South Africa and it was his exploits as a trial lawyer, among other things, that drew the wrath of the apartheid state. He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activity and, in 1956, tried for treason. He was acquitted and tried again in 1962 for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government. He was convicted on those charges and sentenced to life in prison. The 27 years he spent incarcerated, most of it at hard labor in the infamous Robben Island prison, have become a testament to the selflessness and dedication required of those who love liberty, freedom of expression and conscience and uncompromising notions of human equality.
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