Judge Nathaniel Jones, a retired judge with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, has substantial experience in litigation, appeals, and dispute resolution. He serves a wide range of clients in matters such as commercial and general litigation, appellate litigation, alternate dispute resolution, employment, benefits and labor.

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On February 20, 2003, in recognition of his outstanding career as a jurist and civil rights leader, Congress passed H.J. Res. 2 naming the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Youngstown, Ohio.

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In May 2016, Nathaniel's memoir, Answering The Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America was published by The New Press.

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Nathaniel served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and as Assistant General Counsel to President Johnson’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission. He held the position of general counsel of the National Association of Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) from 1969 to 1979. He was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1979 to 2002.

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An internationally renowned civil rights activist, Nathaniel played an important role in furthering the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The drafters of South Africa’s new constitution and laws consulted him, and he conferred with Nelson Mandela upon Mandela’s release from 27 years of imprisonment.

 

Among numerous other honors and awards, Nathaniel has been selected to receive the NAACP’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, to be presented in July 2016. He received the International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in 2016, the Federal Bar Association’s Pillar of Justice Award in 2014 and the Nathaniel R. Jones American Inn of Court was chartered in Youngstown, Ohio in 2014. He received the Children’s Defense Fund’s Changing the Odds Award in 2012, the Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion of Merit from the Washington Bar Association in 2011, induction into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2010, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.’s Laurel Wreath Award in 2009, The American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, the Just The Beginning Foundation’s Trailblazer Award in 2006, the Annual Fellows Award from the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division in 2005, the Award of Excellence from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund in 2004, the Ohio Bar Medal Award from the Ohio State Bar Association in 2003, and he was inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2011. He was named a "Great Living Cincinnatian" in 1997.

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Nathaniel taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School and is now an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He is the holder of 19 honorary degrees. He has authored numerous articles and papers.

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Judge Jones was married for 36 years to the late Lillian Hawthorne Jones. He has four children and six grandchildren.