Charles E. Walker Jr.

Charles E. Walker Jr., Esq., has been elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, the association announced last month. With his induction, Walker became the first African American lawyer in Massachusetts to be admitted as a Fellow.

“Election as a Fellow is the highest recognition by ones colleagues of sustained outstanding performance in the profession, exemplifying integrity, dedication and excellence,” said the association in a statement announcing the honor.

Established in 1995 through an initiative of the Council of The Section of Labor and Employment Law of the ABA, The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers operates as a freestanding organization.

It recognizes those who, through long and outstanding service, have distinguished themselves as leaders in the field of labor and employment law, individual rights, collective bargaining and dispute resolution. The College is represented by over 910 members in 42 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada.

Walker — who formerly served as executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association and as chairman of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination — will join 32 Fellows from Massachusetts. He will be installed on Nov. 10, 2007, in Philadelphia, Pa. at the ABA’s Labor and Employment Law Section’s Continuing Legal Education Conference.

Walker was also recently selected as the 2007 Jonathan Daniels Lecturer at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. He teaches classes in race, law and social policy at Boston College and Tufts University and has authored several articles on the history of blacks and black lawyers practicing before the Massachusetts courts.