Lonnie Williams Jr.
The Law With Lonnie Williams Jr.
August 15, 2008 | by brett | Permalink
Lonnie Williams Jr. never looked at law school as a fall back option. To him, becoming a lawyer was a dream. That attitude has propelled him to the pinnacle of his profession.
I was the first African American lawyer in Phoenix in a large firm. I became a partner, which means I had an ownership in the firm. I remember some friends gave me a party. There was an inscription on the cake that indicated that point four percent (0.4%) of partners in large firms were African American. So not even one percent. Less than one half of one percent. That’s probably one of the most disappointing things about my profession.
I decided I wanted to be a lawyer in high school. Only because it was exciting. I enjoyed it. I liked the law. Becoming a lawyer was my goal from that point on.
My junior and senior year of high school, I was all-state in football both years. I got a football scholarship to the U of A. So that was my ticket to education. But I realized early on in my college career that athletics was not something I could do. At that level, I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. I realized that a football scholarship wasn’t how I was going to get through college.
Towards the end of my freshman year, I sat down and read my scholarship. I mean read the document. I found that if I started the school year with my scholarship, I could stop playing football and keep my scholarship the whole year. So I quit playing football one month into my sophomore year, but had another year on scholarship.
I financed my last two years of college by tutoring athletes at the U of A. They were my friends, so it was fun. When I got to be a junior, I started looking at law schools and took all the tests. I didn’t know what to expect, and to my surprise, I got accepted into Yale Law School .
It was a big leap, a big difference going from being a kid in Tucson to going to Yale Law School to study with students whose parents I’d heard of. I didn’t realize people could be as rich, or as smart as some of the people I went to law school with. The diversity in the situations probably benefited me more than the actual education. I went to Yale Law School for three years. Towards the end of that period I really wanted to stay back east, but I could not deal with the cold. So I accepted a job in Phoenix , Arizona .
Now, I am a partner at Quarles & Brady. I consider myself a dispute resolver. When these people actually go to court, I try civil cases in front of juries, over an issue usually involving businesses. But I also do a lot of work outside of court trying to keep people out of court. Because once you get into court, no one is a complete winner. And it’s very expensive. So I try to resolve disputes businesses and individuals have, and if we can’t resolve it, we take it to a jury and let them decide them.
To me, it’s a great way to make a living. Other people hate it though. They don’t like confrontation. They don’t like controversy. I enjoy the challenge of convincing people that I’m more ‘right.’ When I say you have to convince somebody, it means that you take the facts that you have and you put on the best light possible. That doesn’t mean you lie. It doesn’t mean you argue. You have to be able to convince a judge or your own client that what you’re saying makes sense based on the facts you’re dealing with.
Quite frankly, to get to where I am, it’s been a lot of hard work. You have to be a student of the law. I remember that one of the lawyers I worked with told me that if I wanted to learn how to practice, to get an extra set of the Rules of Evidence and put it in my bathroom instead of magazines. You read for a couple years because you have to learn it. And you have to master it. You have to focus on a goal and tunnel vision yourself until you reach that goal. It’s a lot of hard work to be a lawyer.
Pursue the Passion conducts interviews with people who love their work. You can view all the interviews they’ve done at www.pursuethepassion.com. They will also be a keynote speaker at the AZ SHRM Conference, so be on the look out for Brett and Zach.
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The Law With Lonnie Williams Jr. · Says:
August 15th, 2008
[…] Scholarship News » News News The Law With Lonnie Williams Jr.2008-08-15 12:47:31Football realized early on in my college career that athletics was my college […]
The Law With Lonnie Williams Jr. · Says:
August 15th, 2008
[…] This Fall News » News News The Law With Lonnie Williams Jr.2008-08-15 12:49:11Football to get through college. … in my college career that athletics was not […]
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