Ned Versus the Loan Sharks
Establishing his legal career as a national consumer credit attorney defending low and moderate-income, many people of color, from the loan-shark industry. A body of lawsuits and legal decisions so significant that they formed an entire body of law. Forming his first law firm with Windle Turley and Jonathon A. Vinson, some of the few lawyers with the heart and stamina for this work. Enduring threats to his life and slander campaigns from his opponents. Training lawyers with NAACP and other organizations to continue fighting loan sharks.
Work with U.S. Office of Price Administration (OPA) and serving as consumer affairs advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson. How this early legal work nurtured in him a lifelong sense of social justice. Serving as first Vice-President (’46) and President (’47) of Dallas Junior Bar Association (now Dallas Association of Young Lawyers), as well as his precinct chair, created a large network of admirers.
