With the nation ushering in a new era with President Barack Obama, many are citing a heightened expectation of excellence for all Americans, and there are scores of African Americans who have upheld standards of triumph and success in their own professional arenas.
One such man is Theodore V. Wells Jr., a partner at New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison L.L.P. With minorities making up just 3.9% of all lawyers in the U.S., according to a 2007-2008 report by the American Bar Association’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, Wells has remained a living example of how hard work and dedication can lead to progression and promise for betterment.
Selected as Lawyer of the Year by the National Law Journal in 2006, and named one of the most influential lawyers in the country today, Wells saw victory in an October case in which Citigroup Inc. beat a $1.92 billion lawsuit brought against it by Parmalat, an Italian food and dairy company, and won $364.2 million in damages when a jury found that the dairy committed fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and theft.
In his latest case, which begins March 2, Wells will represent American International Group Inc. (AIG) against Starr International Co. Inc. (SICO), seeking control of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of AIG shares held by SICO.
Wells talked with BlackEnterprise.com about his motivation to win, what drives him to succeed, and how others can find their own success.
BlackEnterprise.com: What inspired you to get into law?
Theodore V. Wells Jr.: I was always very good at helping people solve their problems, even when I was in high school. My friends would come to me if they had a problem. In college, I started to think about what profession I should go into, and I realized that what lawyers do is help people with their problems.
You’ve had some high-profile cases such as the Citigroup case. How do you choose your cases?
I really don’t choose my cases. Like most lawyers, my cases come to me. I choose cases based on who comes to me, what cases come to me, and how I feel about the case or the people I’ll be representing. It doesn’t have anything to do with winning or losing because even if it’s a bad case, my job is to do the best I can with the facts presented to me.
But most of these cases, I end up having emotional commitments to my clients. That’s just how I’m built.
You’ve always been involved with activism, and you’re a chairman for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s board of directors. What drives your passion for activism and pro bono work?
I guess because of my age and my background. I came up under the Brown vs. Board of Education decision that made segregation illegal in public schools. Brown really involved five different school districts, including Washington D.C., where I am from. There are a lot of people who think of D.C. today as this great cosmopolitan city, but in my early years, D.C. was a formally segregated city. I sometimes refer to my generation as the Brown Babies because we’re the first ones to come up in that time.
And we came up during a period of the Civil Rights Movement. The whole issue of civil rights was something that was kind of infused in us, because everything was going on while we were coming up. From the Montgomery bus boycott, right through the March on Washington, to all the protests in the South, my generation kind of grew up as just children with that. So the whole notion of being involved and protesting segregation or unjust treatment of African Americans is just something that we were part of.
With your activism background what led you into criminal defense?
It was somewhat natural for me in the sense that for criminal defense lawyers, their
job is to try to keep the government honest and try to make sure that the system works, to try to make sure defendants have the opportunity to put in a defense. I’ve represented the rich, and I’ve represented the poor; I’ve represented the middle class; I’ve represented big corporations; I’ve represented people that can’t afford lawyers. But what you’re doing, whether you’re representing a big corporation or representing somebody for free, you’re trying to make sure that the system works. Our justice system is predicated on both sides having the ability to put in their case. But when you have a situation where the federal government has all the power and resources, the only way the system works is if you have aggressive, well-educated, and talented defense lawyers to make sure that the playing field is level.What were some of the challenges that you faced moving up the ladder, and what are some strategies to confront those challenges?
One of the strategies that I’ve always had from the time I started practice was I was determined to be the hardest working lawyer in any situation that I was put in, whether it was within the law firm or whether it was one particular case. And when people see that you’re working hard, they look at you differently. And also there is some correlation between hard work and results, although not necessarily all the time.
At the same time, I’ve never let myself get into a situation where I think the only thing in the world is my case. I think the more important thing is there’s real value in helping the community and trying to be a well-rounded person who recognizes that you owe responsibility, not just to yourself, but to the community at large.
What advice would you give an African American law student who is interested in getting to the top of the top?
I would tell them to work as hard as they can to be the very best lawyer possible — not the best black lawyer, but the best lawyer. And look at the success, for example, of someone like President Obama who has shown that a talented African American can rise to the top.
The thing I always emphasize is the importance of preparation — the importance of trying to obtain a level of excellence. And I focus on the concept of excellence as the goal that they should strive toward because, if you have excellent training, you will not only do well in your profession, but you will have options. Try to maximize your abilities, whatever your abilities are.