Like many of my fellow African-American partners at Am Law 250 firms, I was moved by the insightful observations from Don Prophete in last month's Corporate Counsel magazine. My own experience demonstrates that the combination of a conscious decision by a GC and a meaningful commitment by a law firm to give real opportunities to diverse attorneys can change the trajectory of a person's career. I experienced this myself.

In January of 1999, I was elected equity partner at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, an Am Law 250 firm with offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, and additional offices in Washington, D.C., Houston and Pittsburgh. In 2001, a significant class action was filed in Cincinnati against Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE). The law firm Miller and Martin, with offices in Tennessee and Georgia, had long represented CCE. The CCE relationship lawyer was Miller and Martin partner Shelby Grubbs. John Parker, then the general counsel of CCE, told Grubbs that he wanted to interview the best trial lawyers in Cincinnati to handle the class action that had been filed there. Parker added that he “expected that several of the lawyers to be interviewed would be black.” I flew to Atlanta to meet with Parker and other in-house lawyers at CCE and a number of the Miller and Martin lawyers who had historically served as outside counsel to CCE.  After this interview process, Parker, with input and an endorsement from Grubbs, selected me to serve as lead counsel in the Cincinnati class action. I was 37 years old. After years of multiple arguments in the court of appeals, the case was ultimately tried to a jury in 2008. I was lead counsel for CCE during this nine-week jury trial. I also continued to represent CCE in other matters for the better part of a decade.

The CCE engagement allowed me to keep several other lawyers busy at my firm, and enhanced my profile within the firm. Within three years of being retained by CCE, I was appointed to serve on my firm's management committee (2004). In 2006, I was appointed to serve as the managing partner for my firm's Cincinnati office, a position I continue to hold today. Since trying the CCE case, I have served as lead trial counsel in a number of other non-CCE matters including a three-week intellectual property trial with nearly $1 billion at stake, and a six-week fraud trial with over $100 million at stake. These other trials involved local Cincinnati-based clients whom I have worked hard to attract and maintain for several years. But it all started because 18 years ago John Parker gave me a chance, instead of, as Prophete notes, “deferring to the same cadre of lawyers [he] had always used on his matters.” There is simply no question that by giving me an opportunity to display my litigation skills with a lead role in a significant matter, Parker may have changed the trajectory of my career. Over the years, I have told him how much I appreciate his thoughtfulness and his support.

But the challenges of diversity remain. I am now 55 years old. I am much more experienced and far more accomplished than I was as a 37-year-old in 2001. Nonetheless, aside from the call from Parker, and excluding my firm's clients from whom we receive repeat work, I have never received a call from a GC in search of diverse counsel to handle a significant matter. I do not expect to receive anything because I am a diverse lawyer. But I do appreciate that a joint commitment between in-house counsel and law firm management to the principles of diversity can make a real difference. Together, we have the ability to change not only the trajectory of a single career, but also our entire profession. I speak from experience.

Nathaniel Lampley Jr.

Cincinnati Office Managing Partner

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease