In 1997, three years into my career as an associate at Shearman & Sterling, The Wall Street Journal wrote an article that asked why big firms were having such a hard time attracting and retaining talented African-American attorneys. Shearman was one of the main subjects because of its innovative scholarship program with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Bryan ParkerI was also profiled in the article, maybe because of my unique experience as a young African-American attorney. As soon as I joined Shearman, I was assigned a partner mentor—Jonathan Greenblatt. Jon introduced me to other partners, made sure I had good work, and worked with another partner to get me a “mini” M&A rotation. I later joined the M&A team, where I was also mentored by the head of the group, who later became the senior partner of the firm.