James McElroy (photo: Penny Weaver)

Like much of the United States at the time, racial tensions in James McElroy's Illinois hometown ran high during the civil rights era. Many of his friends and family were either neutral or hostile to the Civil Rights Movement, leaving McElroy, now chairman of the Center's board of directors, to look to figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Julian Bond and the Freedom Riders for inspiration.

That inspiration led to a number of early activist efforts for McElroy. Many of his friends turned against him one day in high school when he decided to join dozens of his fellow students in a walkout to protest a racial incident at the school. He carried that activism to the University of Illinois, where he was known for engaging members of the Ku Klux Klan in debates at a campus bar.

Ultimately, it was the early inspiration from the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement and their pursuit of justice and equality that led McElroy to a career in law. It also led to his eventual relationship with the Center, which began almost by accident 15 years ago in a San Diego office building.

"By sheer coincidence, Morris Dees was in San Diego working on the Tom Metzger case," recalls McElroy, referring to the Center's landmark lawsuit against Metzger and his hate group, White Aryan Resistance (WAR). "I heard he was in the same office building where I was working. I wanted to introduce myself to him, so I strolled down and said hello. I told him, 'I know this is a Portland case, but if you need any help in San Diego, let me know.'"

McElroy figured that would be both the first and last time their paths would cross.

"I was sure he had people doing that kind of thing all the time and I wouldn't hear from him, but lo and behold, a half-hour later Morris walked into my office."

Dees was in San Diego to take Metzger's deposition in the case that ultimately resulted in a $12.5 million judgment against Metzger and WAR. The Center filed the suit on behalf of the family of Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian student killed in 1988 by a Portland, Ore., Skinhead gang trained in WAR's methods.

Minutes after McElroy's chance meeting with Dees, Metzger filed a counter suit, stopping the deposition. Dees sought McElroy's help with the San Diego arm of the case.

"Well, the deposition did not take place," says Dees. "Metzger filed for bankruptcy and filed a civil suit against me. I walked into Jim's office and said, 'Well, you got yourself a client.'"

In the weeks and years after that meeting, McElroy's role in the Metzger case grew. When the case was over, he assumed responsibility for seizing Metzger's assets and making sure they got to Seraw's family, including his son, Henock, in Ethopia. In the end, the funds from the settlement ensured Henock would have an American education, paid for by Tom Metzger.

In 1996, McElroy joined the Center's board of directors. Four years later, he assisted the Center in Keenan vs. Aryan Nations in Idaho, which resulted in a $6.3 million judgment against the Aryan Nations and its founder, Richard Butler. In 2003, he was elected board chairman.

In addition to his work for the Center, McElroy has spent more than 25 years taking on civil rights cases in San Diego.

In 2000, the University of San Diego law school graduate successfully represented a black Camp Pendleton Marine brutally beaten and left a quadriplegic by white supremacists. The case ended in a $1.2 million settlement against some defendants and a $9 million verdict against the main perpetrator.

McElroy has also worked with Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics to protect patients, staff and doctors from violence. In 1994, Lt. Governor Leo McCarthy appointed McElroy to the State Commission on the Prevention of Hate Violence. He has testified before various congressional committees on hate crimes legislation, taught courses to lawyers on how to prosecute civil hate crimes cases and has published on the collection of judgments in civil rights cases.

"I am a very lucky lawyer in that I get to do a lot of cases that are of great public interest and of great personal interest to me and my staff," says McElroy. "But it seems the more interesting and more important they are, the more likely they are to be pro bono cases. I tell other lawyers that must be an inverse relationship between how much you get paid and the satisfaction you get from handling a particular case."

McElroy has received many awards for his work. In 1994, the Anti-Defamation League recognized his pro bono work by giving him its National Civil Rights Achievement Award. In 1995, he received the Margaret Sanger Award given by Planned Parenthood for his work on behalf of women's rights.

Womancare Health Center recognized McElroy in 1996 for "outstanding work in protecting the rights of women," and in 2004, the San Diego County Bar Association recognized McElroy as its Outstanding Attorney of the Year.