With their professional portfolio and educational pedigree, the legal lions of The Davis Bozeman Law Firm could have easily gone anywhere in the country and cordoned themselves off from the very community from which they emanated.
But there is a reason why Mawuli Davis, one of the partners of The Davis Bozeman Law Firm, was adorned the sobriquet “The Liberation Lawyer,” because he and the firm are inextricably intertwined in the fabric of the urban community and stand ready to combat any vestiges of injustice. One illustration of this is when he and the Davis Bozeman firm took up defense of 27-year-old activist Tatiana Lima, who was eventually exonerated of murder charges in the beating death of her infant son due to woefully insufficient evidence of Lima’s culpability.
Another powerful example of Davis Bozeman’s commitment to social uplift is the annual “Brotherhood of Excellence” dinner and awards gala that took place recently in suburban Atlanta.
Brotherhood of Excellence awards dinner in Decatur, Ga., enables Davis and Bozeman to instill invaluable intangibles in young people, advocate educational excellence and responsibility to the community. The firm provides a mental cocoon that prevents the young men under their care from being susceptible to the temptations that reach out from the streets like tentacles. Mawuli Mel Davis, who heads Davis-Bozeman Law Firm’s criminal defense and trial sections, Robert O. Bozeman, who leads the civil litigation department.
Bozeman, who previously worked at one the largest and most prestigious law firms in southeast, reflected on the importance of building firms in our community, when he said, “As the managing partner of the firm, I take my responsibility very serious. Everyday I make sure that we are fiscally responsible and profitable so that we can be here for years to come so that we help cultivate Black law students and attorneys.”
During the Brotherhood program, Davis, who the Fulton County Daily Reporter identified as one of 15 lawyers under 40 in the state of Georgie that are “On the Rise,” shared with the young men what keeps him motivated and grounded as he continues to rise in the local legal community. He talked about the photo of the lawyers who continued practicing law after racist mob burned it to the ground.
“They burned down every black business and home in Tulsa. But these brothers and sisters kept their law firm open in a tent despite the outright racist act of burning of their community and their businesses, they said ‘y’all can’t stop us,” Davis said. “So they practiced law out of a tent. So every time I see that picture, I’m reminded of the power of our ancestors and what we’re capable of even during adverse times.”
Through their tireless advocacy, the Brotherhood of Excellence event and other mentorship programs, Davis Bozeman is helping to raise to raise champions who will help to commence a positive paradigm shift in the black community.
www.davisbozeman.com
