US: Johnnie Cochran, the legendary lawyer who successfully defended OJ Simpson, has died in Los Angeles of an inoperable brain tumour, aged 67.
Although he made his name representing famous people, Cochran was also known for championing black defendants, particularly in cases against the police.
He is, nevertheless, best remembered for his flamboyant defence of footballer-turned-actor OJ Simpson, who was charged with killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles in 1994.
After hearing the news of Cochran's death, OJ Simpson said he wanted to thank him "for believing from the beginning, listening and putting his heart and soul on the line to send me home" so he could be with his children.
The climax of the OJ Simpson trial came when Cochran got him to struggle with bloodstained gloves to convince jurors they did not fit.
One glove was found at the murder scene and one at the accused's home, but the defence argued that the second glove had been planted by police for racist motives.
In his closing argument Cochran said about the glove: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," a phrase forever associated with Cochran, but which was suggested by another member of the Simpson "dream team" defence, Gerald Uelmen.
Cochran had used it earlier in the trial in reference to a knit cap that OJ Simpson allegedly wore the night of the murder.
"If I put this knit cap on, who am I?" he asked the jury. "I'm still Johnnie Cochran with a knit cap. And if you look at OJ Simpson over there - and he has a rather large head - OJ Simpson, in a knit cap, from two blocks away is still OJ Simpson.
"It's no disguise . . . it makes no sense. It doesn't fit. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."
For months after the trial people would ask Cochran if OJ really did the killings, but he would always just reply: "The jury acquitted him," said Nancy Grace, co-host with the lawyer on Court TV's Cochran and Grace.
Long-time legal colleague Barry Scheck told CNN's Larry King that Cochran was first and foremost a civil rights lawyer.
He noted that after the Simpson trial, Cochran had taken up the case of a woman killed crossing a freeway outside Buffalo, and got a pedestrian bridge built for inner city people who had to cross the freeway to get to work.
In one of his last cases, Cochran represented Haitian immigrant Abner Louima who had been tortured by police officers, winning damages of $8.75 million against New York City.
The Rev Jesse Jackson said that, while the OJ Simpson trial gave him a platform to show what a great lawyer he was, Cochran had won other unheralded victories by training black lawyers to break free of the stereotype of incompetence.
Cochran was noted for his ingenuity in turning a trial around by tripping up a witness. In one case he asked a robbery victim to point out her assailant. She indicated the man at the defence table beside Cochran, saying: "That's him."
But Cochran had placed the defendant among the spectators and put a man of similar build at the defence table. The accused man was acquitted.
He also took on the case of a white truck driver who was beaten by a mob during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Not everyone was happy to have him on the defence. Kadiatou Diallo, the mother of Amadou Diallo, who was killed by four police officers in 1999, fired him for allegedly not paying enough attention to detail.
A dissatisfied client, Ulysses Tory, picketed him for years until Cochran won a restraint order in 2000, and the US Supreme Court is currently considering whether this was contrary to the First Amendment.
Among the celebrities Cochran defended was Sean "P Diddy" Combs, the music producer who was acquitted on weapons and bribery charges.
Combs said: "He fought for my freedom. And this is the type of person he was. He stood for justice, integrity. He was such a man of grace."
Cochran had said he wanted to be remembered for a case he first took in 1972, when he represented former Black Panther Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, who was convicted of the murder of a schoolteacher. He worked ceaselessly to overturn the verdict and Pratt was cleared in 1997 after 27 years in jail.
It was "the happiest day of my life practising law", Cochran said.
He was opposed to capital punishment and denied he was anti-police, despite the cases he fought against police brutality, pointing out that his son became a highway patrol officer.
Cochran was born the great-grandson of slaves in Louisiana and won his law degree in Los Angeles, where he built up a firm employing over 100 lawyers.
His wealth allowed him to take on cases for people unable to pay him.
He once said: "The clients I've cared about the most are the 'No Js', the ones who nobody knows."
Cochran was diagnosed with brain cancer in January 2004 and cared for at his home in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, where he passed away on Tuesday.