Dec. 11--Andrew L. Jefferson Jr., the first black state district judge in Harris County, died from a kidney ailment Monday. He was 74.

Jefferson's legal career took him from the University of Texas law school, where he was the only black in his class, to judgeships of local civil and criminal courts, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.

"A giant has fallen," said Houston lawyer Craig Washington. "He elevated our stature. He was a leader and gave us credence, particularly among young black lawyers. He was a shining example for all of us."

Said state District Judge Mark Davidson: "I guarantee that every lawyer who appeared before him in his court will remember him as a gentleman and a class act. He made a difference in the way justice is administered in Harris County. He was everything a judge should be."

His son, Martin Jefferson, described the jurist as "the coolest serious person you would ever want to meet."

"Everyone around town knows him as one of the great lawyers in the city, but he was my dad," Jefferson said. "That was what was so important. I loved him very much."

'Explored new ground' The son of a carpenter, Jefferson was born in Dallas, lived for a while in Crockett, then moved to Houston with his family as a child.

He was a 1952 graduate of Jack Yates High School and a 1956 graduate of Texas Southern University. He graduated from the University of Texas law school in 1959, joining the Houston law firm of Washington and Jefferson as a partner the following year.

In 1961, Jefferson became the first black first assistant district attorney in Bexar County. The next year he became assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Texas. His job performance earned him a Sustained Superior Award from the U.S. Justice Department in 1967.

In 1968, he became a trial and labor relations lawyer for what is now Exxon Mobil Corp. in Houston.

In 1970, Gov. Preston Smith appointed Jefferson as judge of the former Court of Domestic Relations No. 2 in Harris County. He was elected to the post in 1972 and 1974.

In 1974, Gov. Dolph Briscoe appointed him to the bench of the 208th Criminal District Court, a position he left the following year to "make some money" as a lawyer.

President Jimmy Carter in 1979 appointed Jefferson to the Fifth Circuit, but a Republican White House victory in 1980 ended the appointment.

In introducing a resolution honoring Jefferson on the occasion of a trial advocacy program being named for him at TSU's Thurgood Marshall School of Law, U.S. Rep.