Blurring the lines that divide lawyers

By Olivia Clarke

Sailesh Patel said he estimates that when he started practicing in 1999, only about 30 Indian-American lawyers practiced in the entire Chicago area.

Today, he believes there are at least several hundred local Indian-American lawyers. He said he participates in diversity efforts because he wants the next generation of diverse lawyers to not face the same challenges he experienced when he started his career.

It’s a sentiment many diversity leaders share.

“Diversity in itself is a great thing for law firms”, said Patel, a partner at Schiff Hardin. It reflects society as a whole. It can provide better quality for our clients. It is better to take into account perspectives from a wide range of opinions and people with a wide range of backgrounds.

Within many large and midsize firms, there are lawyers working to promote diversity. They participate in ethnic bar associations, and firm-wide diversity initiatives. Many of them work actively in groups like the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms. They want to break through the barriers so all lawyers will be judged by their talents, and not by the color of their skin.

Sharon Hwang
Age: 41
Education: University of Illinois (1989); Boston College Law School (1993).
Career: Shareholder at McAndrews, Held & Malloy.
Diversity activities: President-elect of the Asian American Bar Association; on the board of directors of the Chicago Coalition on Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms; on the firm’s executive recruiting committee; spearheaded the launch of the firm’s Diversity in Patent Law Fellowship; one of the co-heads of the firm’s women’s group; and chair of the firm’s diversity committee.

Chicago Lawyer asked members of the legal community to identify the next generation of diversity leaders.

Six of those lawyers described what led them to practicing law, and the challenges they’ve experienced along the way because of their race, gender, or ethnicity. They find themselves at different points along the path to improving diversity, some are just getting involved, while others have been working in this area for years.

Victor P. Henderson considers himself a part of the next generation of diversity leaders, but he’s already paved a path as a diverse lawyer recently named the executive partner of Holland & Knight’s Chicago office.

Henderson said each generation of diversity leaders has a responsibility to take the next generation to the side and tell them how the politics work within law firms.

Without learning the unpublished rules, he said it is very difficult for diverse lawyers to succeed. It’s a lesson he’s learned in his own career.

“When I was a young associate, in my naiveness, I thought there was some level of active discrimination, now I don’t see it that way,” Henderson said. “Now I see it as I was just not invited to the table. The goodies were already passed out before you came along compensation, good offices. I was number 12 in line when they only had goodies for eight people.”

“There is more of an awareness and acceptance by large law firms that they must have lawyers of color. The discussion is changing. When I came in it was a big deal for someone of color to be an associate at a firm. … The discussion has advanced. Firms are being viewed by not who has minority associates, but, if you don’t have minority associates at this point, what century are you in?”

His advice to younger diverse lawyers: Don’t try to re-create the wheel. They need to reach out to people 5, 10, and 15 years their senior to try to identify the path to success. There is definitely a path. It’s virtually similar at every law firm.

Jessica Perez Simmons
Age: 34
Education: University of Notre Dame (1997); University of Illinois College of Law (2003).
Career: Associate at Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg.
Diversity activities: A member of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois; a member of the Hispanic National Bar Association; associate board member for the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms; and associate chair of the firm’s diversity committee.

Finding this career

Patel first became interested in law when he participated on his high school debate team.

Most of his family pursued careers in medicine, engineering, and science. During his undergraduate studies he was interested in chemical engineering and up until sophomore year, he assumed he would go to business school. He met a couple of patent lawyers while doing research at a company, and liked what they did, so he pursued a legal career.

“The people of my parents’ generation did not really think that the law was a viable career option for us because of a number of different factors - a lack of Indian-American lawyers here in the states; in India, it was at a time when the economy was not doing that well and the law was not viewed as one of the top professions,” said 34-year-old Patel. “There were no [lawyer] role models in my family, and I did not know any Indian-American lawyers. It was daunting to go to law school.”

Sharon Hwang, a shareholder at McAndrews, Held & Malloy, was raised in a family of scientists. Her father was a nuclear physicist and her mother a chemist. But she eventually chose the path that led to law.

“They were very distrusting of the legal profession, so they were not very happy to hear I was going to law school,” said 41-year-old Hwang. “My parents were immigrants and I think they didn’t know very much about the legal system, and anything you don’t really know a lot about you don’t really trust - especially if you see it work in ways that are not positive.”

Lindsey Dates, an associate at Jones Day, went to law school because he wanted to enter politics. He never planned to actually practice law, but a conversation with his law school dean changed his mind.

He remembers as a child then-Chicago Mayor Harold Washington visiting his church. They let Washington sit in the pastor’s chair, which was a big honor at that time, Dates said. When his mother and grandmother saw Washington, they cried because they were so overcome with emotion.

“I thought, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool that he could have this effect on people that I cared about so much,” said 30-year-old Dates. “One of the first questions I asked was, ‘What do I have to do to become like him?’ And the answer was, ‘The first thing you have to do is go to law school.’ That’s when I decided to go to law school.”

At the time, he said, he didn’t fully comprehend what it meant for Washington to become mayor, but he wanted his family to be just as proud of him as they were of Washington. He says President Obama provides similar inspiration to today’s young people.

Lynn Watkins-Asiyanbi attended Saint Ignatius College Prep, where, she said, half her class became attorneys. But she earned a degree in chemical engineering and economics.

While working as a manager of a food company, she handled a project that dealt with trademark and copyright issues. She needed to work with a legal team, and she became fascinated by that side of the business. She went to law school and earned her MBA and JD.

“The hardest transition was going back to school and learning how to study again,” said 34-year-old Watkins-Asiyanbi, counsel in the business law group at U.S. Foodservice. “Once I got out into the workforce in a law firm, in particular, what was difficult for me was the transition to the law firm environment - how hierarchical it could be.”

Steven V. Hunter decided as a child that he wanted to be a litigator. He was a member of speech and debate teams from elementary school to college.

“I love debate, and that’s what really drew me to the profession,” said 31-year-old Hunter, an associate at Quarles & Brady. “I like the interaction. I like to match wits with people. I like the structure in that there’s a winner at the end. That’s really what drew me to being a litigator.”

Jessica Perez Simmons and her younger sister were raised by a single mother on a single income. She did not have lawyer mentors in her family, and she was the first in her family to obtain a college degree.

“I was an accounting major, and I kind of got bored with the accounting side,” said 34-year-old Simmons, an associate at Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg. “I’ve always had an interest in how society runs … I went on my own [to law school] with no family influence. They were super thrilled to have a family member become a lawyer. They are very proud of me.”

Pages: 1 2 3