 Nabrit III graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 1952 and Yale Law School in 1955.Nabrit began his career with the law firm of Reeves, Robinson & Duncan, served two years in the U.S. Army and then spent 30 years (1959–89) as an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.He argued many important civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and various U.S. Court of Appeals, including "Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education" in 1972, and "Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham" in 1969.