In Memoriam – Two Leaders of the Alameda County Legal Community

We lost two very special members of the legal community and long-time ACBA members this week, Barbara Bryant and Otis McGee, Jr.. Both Barbara and Otis were active and much loved members of the ACBA and our community, and we will miss them. 

Barbara S. Bryant

June 14, 1949 – February 6, 2022

Barbara passed peacefully after a courageous journey with Alzheimer’s. She was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Berkeley, where she also spent her adult life.

Barbara served as a federal law clerk for the Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel in the United States District Court. As a law practitioner, Barbara’s areas of expertise were sexual harassment and sex and race discrimination. Barbara touched hearts and minds throughout her distinguished career as an attorney and mediator in her private practice, as an adjunct faculty member at Berkeley Law, and as a frequent public speaker and published author.

Prior to her diagnosis, Barbara was an active member of the ACBA, serving on the ADR Section Executive Committee and active in the Labor and Employment Section. She was a member of the East Bay Diversity Bar Coalition and also served on the ACBA Gender Equality Committee. Read her obituary here

Otis McGee, Jr.

The Charles Houston Bar Association wrote a wonderful tribute, linked below.