Civil rights attorney George Barrett dies at 86

NASHVILLE — George Barrett, the irrepressible, octogenarian civil rights attorney who continued to work full-time on behalf of voters, laborers, investors and other groups until earlier this month, died Tuesday night. He was 86.

The cause of death was acute pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas, which sent Barrett to the hospital about two weeks ago, a family spokeswoman said.

Barrett cut a self-assured figure in Nashville's legal community for more than 50 years after graduating from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1957 and taking a job at the law firm of Cecil Branstetter, who was becoming one of the South's leading labor lawyers. Routinely calling himself "The Citizen," Barrett took on authority figures with an attitude of righteous indignation whenever he thought they were abusing their power.

"I don't know if another lawyer in Nashville ever practiced law at such a high level for so many decades and had such an impact," said David Garrison, a law partner at Barrett Johnston Martin & Garrison who started working with Barrett about 10 years ago.

One of Barrett's biggest cases was Geier vs. Tennessee, a higher education desegregation lawsuit that lasted more than 30 years. The suit, which Barrett filed on behalf of plaintiff Rita Sanders Geier in 1968, was settled in 2001 with an agreement designed to eliminate the final remnants of segregation in the state's colleges and universities by making them more attractive to students of all races.

Barrett also represented Nashville college students who fought for integration during the early 1960s. More recently, Garrison said, Barrett played key roles in some of the nation's largest securities class-action lawsuits, fighting on behalf of investors, including pension funds, against publicly traded companies accused of defrauding the markets.

He also fought unsuccessfully against the voter identification law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2011, arguing that it unconstitutionally disenfranchised voters.

Friends and colleagues marveled at Barrett's work ethic, which included going into the office every Saturday — and expecting fellow attorneys to do the same. He looked vigorous in July at the funeral of his old friend John Seigenthaler, the former Tennessean editor and publisher who had been a classmate at Father Ryan High School.