Candice Petty, Davis Wright Tremaine associate
Image: Jason Doiy/The Recorder
Candice Petty, 32, senior employment associate
Davis Wright Tremaine
Petty holds multiple leadership positions in legal and youth-centered organizations, setting the bar sky-high for accomplishments in community service. She is the president of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Northern California, where she launched a program that aims to pair every black woman law student in the Bay Area with a mentor. Recognizing this effort, the Minority Bar Coalition gave her its 2011 Unity Award. She also chairs the professional development committees for the labor and employment law section and for the young lawyers division of the National Bar Association. In her spare time, she promotes youth development through the arts as advisory-board chair to the Mural, Music & Arts Project, which earned her the 2010 Advisory Council Leadership Award and the 2011 Community Service Award. Extending her reach still farther, she helps underserved youth, veterans and seniors as board chair to Digital Media Instructional Technology Services Inc.
Word that best describes you?
Passionate.
Toughest moment as a lawyer?
Dealing with belittling treatment by opposing counsel due to my age, race and gender.
Most interesting place you've traveled, and why?
The Deep South because it granted me a deeper understanding of my family's history and the struggles they endured.
Favorite quote?
"The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving — with passion and compassion, and humor and style, and generosity and kindness." — Maya Angelou.
A lawyer you admire?
Constance Baker Motley. She is an inspiration to black women attorneys everywhere.
