Welcome
The Paul C. Perkins Bar Association (PCPBA) is a professional organization devoted to actively promoting the advancement of African Americans in the legal profession and diversity within the leadership roles in the Central Florida community.
The Paul C. Perkins Bar Association was named honoring Paul C. Perkins, Sr. Attorney Paul C. Perkins, Sr. served in the Army during World War II, attaining the rank of captain. He attended undergraduate school at Shaw University, Raleigh, N.C., and graduated from Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C. Perkins was admitted to practice law in Florida in 1950 and he moved to Orlando in 1951.
Early in his career, Perkins served as co-counsel with Thurgood Marshall and Jack Greenberg of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and defended four African American young men who were accused of raping Norma Padgett in Lake County, Florida.
Paul C. Perkins, Sr. was appointed to serve as the first African American City Prosecutor by Orlando Mayor Robert S. Carr in 1965. Perkins was also a lifetime member of the NAACP and served on interracial committees created in the 1950s and 1960s to help steer the Orlando community away from the separate public facilities for blacks and whites.
In honor and memory of Paul C. Perkins, Sr., who served the community of Central Florida as an advocate for civil rights and justice, as well as a business man and philanthropist, the Paul C. Perkins Bar Association was founded.
The Paul C. Perkins Bar Association provides African American attorneys the opportunity to meet, encourages camaraderie, educate the Central Florida community about the legal system, and promote reform and improvements in the law to aid in the administration of justice.