When Mr. Filer was sworn in last June as one of California's 128,261 lawyers he got a standing ovation from new colleagues. A bar official said he personified three keys to success: "persistence, persistence, persistence." Now, at the age of 61, he is practicing criminal and personal injury law with another lawyer son, Kelvin. Though he's had a late start, he says he still has 20 good years of practice left in him.

Mr. Filer's odd odyssey from a segregated childhood in Marianna, Ark., to the bar is another example of the indefatigability with which he's tackled everything in his life, from raising seven children to fighting for civil rights. And in Compton, where he served as a Councilman for 15 years, it was a civic event -- "the Fourth of July and Christmas combined," said Gwen Robinson, secretary to the City Council.

Mr. Filer's fire for the law was fueled by the civil rights movement, when he saw lawyers as the magicians who were desegregating schools and parks and public accommodations and local governments. His inspiration and role model was Thurgood Marshall; he has little use for Clarence Thomas, the man who would replace him.

He was working as a parking lot attendant in 1960 when he enrolled at Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles. In 1966 he earned his law degree from Van Norman University, which is defunct. During his test-taking ordeal he worked in several law-related jobs, including terms as a law clerk for the cities of Los Angeles and Compton.

Every February and July he took the exam. Every May and November he received his rejections. Overstuffed envelopes, conveniently containing an application for the next exam, became as much a part of his Thanksgivings as overstuffed turkeys. Friends knew that at any given time, Maxcy Filer was either studying for the bar or waiting to hear he'd flunked. Some were too embarrassed to broach the subject, but he always would, good-naturedly.