In 1847, George B. Vashon had obtained two college degrees and completed a mentorship with a local judge.

That mattered not, though, when he applied for admission to his hometown bar in Allegheny County.

Despite possessing the "credentials, competency and good character" needed to practice law in Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court wrote in a two-page order last week, Vashon was turned away by an examining committee handling his application because he was black.

The court, however, called that level of discrimination "intolerable" in its order last week and posthumously admitted Vashon to the Pennsylvania bar.

"Every lawyer knows that there were outstanding lawyers of color as early as the 1840s in Pennsylvania who were trailblazers and who had the ability to practice law if given the chance," said Vashon's great grandson, Nolan N. Atkinson, Jr., a petitioner in the case to have Vashon posthumously admitted and a partner at Duane Morris in Philadelphia. "It's something that is very important for every prospective lawyer, as well as every citizen, to know that there were real leaders in this commonwealth many, many years ago."

Stu Ditzen, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, said the court believes this is the first time it has done something of this nature.

In fact, Ditzen said, it appears that only the Washington state Supreme Court has granted a posthumous admittance to the bar for similar reasons.

In that case, a Japanese man had been denied admittance, Ditzen said.

"This was thoroughly researched by the court," he said. "To the best of our knowledge, there has certainly never been any case like this before our Supreme Court."

According to the court's order, Vashon earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Oberlin College, completed a mentorship with Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Walter Forward and was admitted to practice law in New York and before the U.S. Supreme Court.

He was the first black attorney admitted to practice in New York, according to a published biography of the Vashon family, and became a "prominent member" of a "vigilante committee" in Syracuse, N.Y., that was mobilized to free slaves escaping from the South.

Still, that meant nothing in Allegheny County, where Vashon was denied admittance to the local bar a second time in March 1868. According to Wendell G. Freeland, the Pittsburgh-based attorney who filed the petition with the high court, Vashon was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court the next month.

"I guess what was not good for Allegheny County was good for the Supreme Court," Freeland said.

Freeland said he first learned of Vashon's story in the fall of 2007 when an article on him appeared in the Pennsylvania Bar Association's newsletter.

After reading the article, Freeland said, he sent a letter to then-Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy asking that the court consider posthumously admitting Vashon to the Pennsylvania bar in open court. Cappy, according to Freeland, referred the request to the Board of Law Examiners. The request, though, was denied, citing fear of the precedent that might be created, Freeland said.

Joe Rengert, the board's acting executive director, could not be reached for comment.

And so, the idea of getting Vashon his day in court took a more formal turn.

Freeland worked with Duane Morris associate Leslie N. Carter to draft the petition and Atkinson and his nephew, Paul N.D. Thornell, signed as petitioners.

According to a docket report, the petition was filed Jan. 15 — Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

That, said Freeland, was not intended.

"I wish I had the motherwit to do that, but that was finally when I decided to walk it across the street," Freeland said. "It's an appropriate coincidence."

In its per curiam order, the court wrote that it has the "exclusive authority" to prescribe bar admissions rules and regulate the legal practice. As such, the court ruled it would admit Vashon because of his credentials and achievements.

The board of examiners that denied Vashon admittance to the bar in 1847 did so simply because the Pennsylvania Constitution, at the time, only extended voting rights to "every white freeman."

In New York, though, those who admitted him noted he displayed "a perfect knowledge of the rudiments of the law," according to the petition.

The court wrote that it will host Vashon's family for a formal acknowledgment of Vashon's qualifications at an upcoming court session.

That, said Freeland, has been the hope all along.

He's hopeful the presentation will be done in October — the next time the high court sits in Pittsburgh.

"It should be done here, because of the fact he was denied admission [here]," Freeland said.

Reprinted with permission from The Legal Intelligencer, © ALM Media Properties LLC. All rights reserved.