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Growing up in Savannah, Ga., David Hall was struck by the gross inequality that surrounded him. His father, who worked as a laborer with the Central of Georgia Railroad repairing tracks across the state, kept the family afloat by also working weekends as a gardener in the more affluent parts of the city. Sometimes he would take his young son along with him.
"I got to see very clearly that there were some major differences in how white people were living in Savannah and how people in my community were living," Mr. Hall says. "I knew that it was not because they weren't smart enough or weren't working hard-my parents worked extremely hard."
The experiences of segregation and discrimination had a profound affect on Mr. Hall. By the time he reached the sixth grade at Pearl Lee Smith Elementary, Mr. Hall had decided he would become a lawyer some day to right the injustices he saw around him. Yet Mr. Hall's athletic prowess sent him on something of a professional detour. In 1967, for the first time in Georgia history, the state high school basketball tournament allowed black schools to compete. That year, Mr. Hall led his team to the state title. "We were the first black school to win a championship in the state association," Mr. Hall remembers. "It brought a lot of attention to black athletes."
Mr. Hall attended Kansas State on a basketball scholarship, became an all-American, and went on to play professionally in Italy. He was a big success on the court, but by 1975 he was ready to excel in a different court setting. He collected four degrees over the course of the next decade, fulfilled his grade-school aspiration of becoming an attorney, and ultimately, became a law professor, a law-school dean, and provost of a major university.
"I believe that as lawyers we have a special calling," he says. "It is more than just a job for us-it has to be a moral and legal obligation. We have to make sure not only that the doors of the courthouse are open but also that there are quality individuals on the other side. We cannot overlook the moral and ethical issues that are confronting all of us as lawyers as we strive to bring about a just society."
Before entering academia, Mr. Hall worked as a staff attorney with the Federal Trade Commission's Chicago regional office. During a five-year stint as Dean of Northeastern School of Law, Mr. Hall enhanced the school's clinical program, supporting a public service requirement that all students perform public-interest work. He also worked with area firms and private donors to bolster funding for the law school's Loan Repayment Assistance Program, designed to financially support graduates interested in pursuing careers in the public interest. "I think we should not be forcing students to choose between paying off debts and embracing their values," he says. Mr. Hall also spearheaded the establishment of the Urban Law and Public Policy Institute in 1995.
After his deanship Mr. Hall was named Provost and Senior Vice President at Northeastern University, a position he held from 1998 through 2003, when he returned to the classroom. After more than 20 years of teaching law, his desire to bring out the best in the legal profession remains unchanged. "If society provides justice only to those who can pay, then it is not an open, fair, and democratic society," he says. "We have to take this challenge as one of our most essential ones."
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