News Staff Report
The Alabama State Bar inducted five new members into the Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame Friday, March11. One of the five is the late Broox Gray Garrett Sr., the first lawyer in the history of Escambia County to be inducted.
(The five members were selected as the 2019 inductees, but the induction ceremony was postponed until 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Broox Gray Garrett was born in Grove Hill, Clarke County, Alabama on December 27, 1915, to Judge Coma Garrett and Margaret W. Garrett. He died February 13, 1991.
He received his undergraduate degree in 1937 and his law degree in 1939, both from the University of Alabama. He was admitted to the Alabama State Bar and began practicing law in Brewton, Alabama immediately. While at the University he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the Farrah Order of Jurisprudence (now the Order of the Coif).
After starting a practice in Brewton in 1939, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on December 8, 1941, and served until October of 1945 when he was discharged as a 1st Lieutenant. He returned to Brewton and practiced law until he retired in 1989.
From 1947 to 1953, Garrett served his community as Escambia County Solicitor. He was a member of the Brewton City Board of Education beginning in 1949 and served as Chairman of the Board from 1951 until his retirement in 1962. He was selected as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in Washington, D.C. in 1973. And he was a member of the Alabama State Bar Board of Bar Commissioners from 1966 until 1989. He was elected Vice President of the Alabama State Bar in 1981 and became President after the untimely death of then President Harold V. Hughston. During his term as President, the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Program became a function of the Alabama State Bar. Garrett later also served as President of the Alabama Law School Foundation.
As further evidence of his community service, Broox Garrett was a very active member of First Baptist Church of Brewton as a Deacon and Trustee for many years. Also, he was a loyal supporter of the Democratic Party and served as a member of the State Executive Committee and Chairman of the Escambia County Democratic Party. And he served on the Board of Directors of the First National Bank of Brewton and became a Director Emeritus after his retirement.
Broox Garrett was an idealistic, successful lawyer and was greatly respected for his service, his legal abilities, and as a gentleman of the law. He was more than a lawyer’s lawyer.
He was a people’s lawyer. The lawyers of Alabama now honor him as a member of the Alabama Lawyer’s Hall of Fame.
Brewton attorney Everette Price presented the program segment of Garrett’s biography to the live audience attending. When Price was admitted to the Alabama State Bar to practice law in 1965, he joined the senior Garrett’s law firm in Brewton. Price presented the plaque to Broox Gray Garrett Jr., son of the inductee and distinguished lawyer in his own right.