150 Years of Womble: Justice with a Lasting Impact & the Miranda Decision

This article is part of a series celebrating Womble Bond Dickinson’s 150th anniversary and reflecting on the firm’s enduring legacy of service to the law, its clients, and the communities it serves. 

The right to legal counsel when arrested is a foundational part of the criminal justice system. We’ve all seen police dramas on TV where the episode ends with an officer telling the suspect, “You have the right to remain silent….” 

But such rights haven’t been guaranteed for much of America’s existence. It took the 1966 landmark U.S. Supreme Court case of Miranda v. Arizona to engrave this sacred right in stone.  

And the lawyers for the accused? Lewis Roca attorneys John Flynn and John Frank. Lewis Roca combined with Womble Bond Dickinson in January 2025. Their legacy lives on in Womble’s rich 150-year history, which we are celebrating this year. 

On March 13, 1963, Ernesto Miranda was arrested at his home and taken to a police station for questioning regarding a kidnapping and rape. After a two-hour interrogation, police obtained Miranda’s written confession to the crimes.  

The confession then was admitted into evidence at trial over the objection of defense counsel, even though the officers acknowledged that Miranda had not been advised of his right to have an attorney present during questioning. The jury convicted Miranda. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the conviction on appeal, holding that his constitutional rights had not been violated because he had not expressly requested counsel. 

The Phoenix chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union took interest in the case. They approached Flynn, a well-known and highly respected Arizona litigator, who immediately took the case pro bono. At that point, Flynn already had tried more than 100 first-degree murder cases—and won a disproportionate share of them. So, he was no stranger to high-stakes litigation.  

Flynn turned to Frank, his partner and a lawyer with a background in constitutional law, to aid him on what they knew would be a difficult appeal. Frank already had one landmark case under his belt, having helped NAACP Chief Counsel and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall develop the strategy for 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka school desegregation case. 

The two made a dynamic duo, with Frank’s scholarly, meticulous approach complementing Flynn’s powerful and persuasive courtroom prowess. 

Lewis Roca associates Robert Jensen and Paul Ulrich rounded out the legal team. In fact, Jensen was so new to the firm that he had not yet been admitted to the Arizona Bar! Still, he drafted the petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court that proved successful in winning Miranda a final chance to make his case. 

In November 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Miranda v. Arizona. In January 1966, Flynn, John Frank, and the Lewis Roca team submitted briefs arguing that the Phoenix Police Department had violated Miranda’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights by interrogating him without counsel. The State of Arizona countered that no constitutional violation had occurred. 

Oral arguments took place in February and March 1966. In a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in Miranda's favor, overturning his conviction and remanding his case back to Arizona for retrial.