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Something Else
Jan
11
Moonlighting as NFL Cheerleader–New Trend?
Filed Under Something Else, The Profession • Leave a Comment
Last week in a story about the dearth of marriageable black men we brought you Nicole Marchand, a Prosecutor by day and Atlanta Falcons cheerleader by night (and weekends). We had assumed this was an anomaly; however, our friends over at Above The Law has found another one.
From ATL:
An ATL reader alerted us that Raven Akram, an attorney at Sandberg Phoenix, moonlights as an NFL cheerleader for the St. Louis Rams. Sandberg Phoenix is a 65-attorney trial firm with “seriously unbelievable client service.” Akram joined the firm’s St. Louis office in 2008.
Jan
4
Howard Law Grad, Kasim Reed, Takes Helm As Mayor of Atlanta
Filed Under Politics, Something Else, The Profession • Leave a Comment
Watch Kasim Reed take the oath of office as Mayor of Atlanta.
According to his campaign:
Mayor-Elect Kasim Reed was raised in the Cascade community. He was educated in Fulton County’s public schools where he graduated from Utoy Springs Elementary School and Westwood High School (now Westlake High School) and went to Howard University, where he received his undergraduate and law degrees.
Though Mayor-Elect Reed was the youngest Democratic State Senator, he had a well-established track record of legislative excellence. He was first elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1998 as State Representative for District 52. He was re-elected in 2000, winning seventy-seven percent (77%) of all votes cast. In the House, Mayor-Elect Reed served two terms as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Education Committee and Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Committee.
Mayor-Elect Kasim Reed served as campaign manager for Mayor Shirley Franklin’s first and second campaigns. Following her election in November 2001, Mayor Franklin selected him to serve as one of two Co-Chairs for the Shirley Franklin Transition Team.
Mayor-Elect Reed’s civic leadership and service has been nationally recognized in publications such as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Ebony and Black Enterprise. He was selected as one of Georgia Trend magazine’s “40 under 40 Rising Stars” in 2001, as one of the Fulton County Daily Report ’s “Lawyers on the Rise” and as one of “10 Outstanding Atlantans” in Outstanding Atlanta. Mayor-Elect Reed is a member of the Leadership Georgia Class of 2000 and is a Board Member of the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund.
Mayor-Elect Kasim Reed is a member of Cascade United Methodist Church, pastored by Reverend Marvin Moss.
Aug
17
Alternative Career: Fortune 500 CEO
Filed Under Something Else • Leave a Comment
This morning’s USA Today features advice from Darden Restaurants CEO Clarence Otis on surviving the recession. The head overseer of Olive Garden and Red Lobster had some interesting things to say about pinching pennies, but nothing about how he made the jump from Big Law to the big time. For that we go to JRank.
Clarence Otis’s case was a high-school standout who won admission and a scholarship to prestigious Williams College in Massachusetts after being encouraged to apply by Los Angeles lawyer Felix Grossman.
Otis’s scholastic record at Williams was likewise a distinguished one. He graduated magna cum laude in 1977 with dual majors in economics and political science, receiving the school’s Political Science Writing Prize and Phi Beta Kappa recognition in his senior year. Otis moved on to Stanford University Law School in California, earning his law degree in 1980. For four years in the early 1980s, Otis worked in the field of corporate law, specializing in the fields of securities law and mergers and acquisitions. He started out with the firm Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine and moved on to Gordon, Hurwitz, Butowsky, Weitzen, Shalov & Wein. From the start he ran with a high-flying crowd; one of his clients was famed financier Carl Icahn. Otis and his wife Jacqueline Bradley were married in 1983 and have raised three children. Bradley later became board director of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
But, he told Jerry W. Jackson of theOrlando Sentinel, “I thought the finance side was more exciting than the law, so I moved to an investment banking firm”—Kidder, Peabody & Company. The barely 30-year-old Otis became a vice president at First Boston Corporation in 1987.
Feb
19
Practice, Marry Well, or Wrestle…Lawyers Have So Many Options
Filed Under Something Else • 1 Comment
You’ve probably heard that American Idol and Academy Award Winner, Jennifer Hudson is engaged to David Otunga whose was nicknamed “Punk” by his first famous paramour, I Love New York. How did a Harvard Law grad end up on hoodrat TV? Simple. Otunga wanted to be famous. So now, rather than parlay his fiance’s fame into client magnet for his old firm Sidley Austin (you know, the place where Barack met Michelle), Otunga is flexing his muscles for World Wrestling Entertainment.
From the ChicagoTribune:
”I loved being on TV,” he says. “I knew I didn’t have a whole foot in the door — maybe a toe — but I ran into someone who got me an audition for the WWE.”
He’s not officially part of the WWE yet, so challenging John Cena will have to wait. But Otunga is honing the fine points of his character, an exaggeration of his own persona: Dawson Alexander, Esq. “I wanted something very official and lawyer-sounding,” he explains. “The initials are D.A. … Pretty clever.”
His finishing move? The Closing Argument. “I’m still working on it,” Otunga says. “It’s a power move, I’ll say that.”
Jan
30
GULC or Obama White House?
Filed Under Obama Posse List, Something Else • Leave a Comment
Joshua DuBois was settling into his first year at GULC when he opted to leave law school in order to campaign for then Senator Obama. DuBois, pentecostal preacher, says that God lead him to find a way to merge his passion for ministry and public service. According to the NYTimes, President Obama plans to name the 26-year-old to head the office of faith-based initiatives. See, had you used God as your compass rather than having a 30 year relationship with student loan creditors, you too could be a friend of President Obama who had this to say about DuBois:
“Josh is a great friend and has really led the way for Democrats in terms of faith outreach,” Sen. Obama said in an email. “The grassroots conversations we’ve held across the country, our landmark evangelical meetings…are helping to change our nation, person by person.” - WSJ
From the BostonGlobe:
DuBois graduated cum laude from BU in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. From BU, he went to Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and National Affairs, where he earned a master’s degree in public affairs in 2005. He then enrolled in the part-time program at Georgetown University Law School, but he left for the campaign.
DuBois got his feet wet working for Reps. Holt and Rangel, but all the while, he had his eyes fixed on Team Obama.
DuBois decided he wanted to work for Obama, then a candidate for the US Senate. He wrote to Obama’s campaign manager and got a form rejection. After Obama arrived in Washington, DuBois twice drove to his office but failed to get a job interview. After a third appeal, Obama hired him as a Senate aide. Part of his job was addressing faith issues.
Jan
7
The 111th Congress (Part III)
Filed Under Congressional Black Caucus, Profiles, Something Else • 1 Comment
The 111th Congress convenes this week and OBABL will mark the occasion with profiles of Congressional Black Caucus members who also happen to be attorneys. We think membership in the U.S. Congress is a fine career alternative. True, you’re up against some stiff competition for a job that stands to pay you little more than that of a junior associate, but if you can resist the urge to hide store money in your freezer or assault security guards remove your official lapel pin, you’re all but guaranteed job security.
The Honorable Sheila Jackson-Lee
Representing the 18th District of Texas
Yale University
University of Virginia Law School
First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994
Congresswoman Jackson-Lee is a feisty legislator who doesn’t mind going against general consensus. She advocated for Elian Gonzalez’s father during the international custody battle and believes the U.S. should have better relations with Venezuela. She is not one to back down—good news if you’re a Darfur refugee, not so much if you work in her office. During her first term, her office had a 180 percent turnover rate.
Mrs. Jackson-Lee has been criticized for being a self-promoter, jack of all trades and poor manager. OBABL finds it hard to criticize her since we’re never sure what it is she’s trying to say. We fear she suffers from a severe case of malapropism.
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Representing the 14th District of Michigan
Wayne State University
Wayne State University Law School
First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964
Born a few months before the 1929 stock market crash, Congressman Conyers is one of the oldest members of Congress. Call him a geezer if you must, but he’s blogging on The Huffington Post, chairing the House Judiciary Committee and keeping up with a spouse nearly half his age. The elder statesman’s wife, Monica, is President of the Detroit City Council and has, shall we say, a reputation. Reportedly, she has threatened to shoot a city aide and beat up a council member. We’re not sure if this is the same council member she referred to as Shrek. Her website photo gallery has her posing confidently with everyone from Rosa Parks to the rapper, The Game. Mrs. Conyers loses her composure entirely when an 8th grader admonishes her behavior.
Jan
7
The 111th Congress (Part II)
Filed Under Congressional Black Caucus, Profiles, Something Else • Leave a Comment
The 111th Congress convenes this week and OBABL will mark the occasion with profiles of Congressional Black Caucus members who also happen to be attorneys. We think membership in the U.S. Congress is a fine career alternative. True, you’re up against some stiff competition for a job that stands to pay you little more than that of a junior associate, but if you can resist the urge to hide store money in your freezer or assault security guards remove your official lapel pin, you’re all but guaranteed job security.
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton
Representing the District of Columbia
Antioch College (Ohio)
Yale Law School
Georgetown University Law Center (Professor)
First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990
It says something about Congress that one of its most distinguished and competent members does not have a real vote there. In her nearly twenty year battle for DC Statehood voting rights, Congresswoman Norton has led with class rather than crass. Every U.S. citizen should be lucky enough to have such a representative. From her bio:
Named by President Jimmy Carter as the first woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she came to Congress as a national figure who had been a civil rights and feminist leader, tenured law professor of law, and board member of three Fortune 500 companies. Ms. Norton also had been named one of the 100 most important American women in one survey and one of the most powerful women in Washington in another.
Look at her rocking that big ‘ole fro back in the day.
Shirley Chisholm, Coretta Scott King and Norton
Congressmen struggle with expletives, incontinence and keeping it in Vegas after the jump. Read more
Jan
5
The 111th Congress (Part 1)
Filed Under Congressional Black Caucus, Profiles, Something Else • 1 Comment
The 111th Congress convenes this week and OBABL will mark the occasion with profiles of Congressional Black Caucus members who also happen to be attorneys. We think membership in the U.S. Congress is a fine career alternative. True, you’re up against some stiff competition for a job that stands to pay you little more than that of a junior associate, but if you can resist the urge to hide store money in your freezer or assault security guards remove your official lapel pin, you’re all but guaranteed job security.
The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings
Representing the 7th Congressional District of Maryland
Howard University (Phi Beta Kappa)
University of Maryland School of Law (Honors)
First elected to Congress in 1996
Elijah Cummings was born in Manning, S.C. This son of sharecroppers excelled in school, ran a successful solo practice and won his first elected position, taking a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates, in 1982. Way to come up! The Congressman has been robbed at gun-point and been the victim of a home burglary and multiple car jackings breakins. Ahhh… the price of representing Mob Town Baltimore. He also knows a “chump” when he sees one.
The Honorable Keith Ellison
Representing the 5th Congressional District of Minnesota
Wayne State University
University of Minnesota Law School
First elected to Congress in 2006
Ellison is not only the first African American from Minnesota to serve in the U.S. Congress, but he is also the first Muslim to do so. Raised a Roman Catholic, Ellison converted while in college. So committed is he to his faith that while Congress was in an emergency session working on that “urgent” bailout package, Ellison was on a pilgrimage to Mecca. (We wonder if God told him that bailout wasn’t getting done any time soon). Hats off to the citizens of Minnesota for being open minded about Ellison’s religion as well as his unpaid taxes and parking tickets. StarTribune
The Honorable Al Green
Representing the 9th Congressional District of Houston, Texas
Florida A&M University
Tuskegee Institute of Technology
Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law
First elected to Congress in 2006
Is it possible to hear the name Al Green without humming, “Let’s Stay Together?” The Congressman has no relation to the hot-grits assaulted singer of the same name. After graduating from law school, Green co-founded and co-managed the law firm of Green, Wilson, Dewberry and Fitch. He was elected Justice of the Peace for a Texas precinct and served 26 years as a trial judge before retiring to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Recently, Green demonstrated why he’s not a man to be trifled with. When a former employee claimed sexual harassment, Green struck back with a publicist, lawyer and blackmail countersuit. Both sides dropped their suits late last year. We sure hope he can get his Federal Living Wage legislation passed as expediently as he handled his personal business.
The Honorable G.K. Butterfield
Representing the 1st District of (Eastern) North Carolina
North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University School of Law
First elected to Congress in 2004
We find it pretentious to substitute an initial for one’s first name unless of course the initial happens to be the actual name, which seems likely in the case of G.K. At the very least, the moniker was forced on him by G.K. Sr., a dentist who became the first black elected official from Eastern North Carolina.
The Congressman (who has that Thurgood Marshall look about him) attended NCCU School of Law with Big Willie, who was no doubt pleased with G.K’s “No” vote on limiting attorney’s fees in class action lawsuits.
According to his bio:
Congressman Butterfield’s law practice was devoted to representing poor people with extraordinary legal problems. He was considered the “People’s Lawyer” in his hometown – a title that earned him great respect and admiration in the community. He is best known for successfully handling several Voting Rights lawsuits in eastern North Carolina counties resulting in the Court-ordered implementation of district elections for local officials.
Before running for Congress, G.K. was a judge on the North Carolina Supreme Court. It’s a good thing the law worked out; otherwise, G.K. might still be a ticket agent at the Raleigh-Durham airport. We are impressed with the initiative he took in setting up a facebook page but wonder if a FB page exists but is never updated, is the Congressman really “aware of the internet?”
There is really so much more we could have said about these public servants. If you’d like to learn more about their backgrounds and voting records, see the links below.
The Washington Times Candidate Profiles
The Washington Post Voting Record
Dec
3
Obama Posse List (Hill Harper & Crystal Nix Hines)
Filed Under Obama Posse List, Something Else • 3 Comments
“Something Else” is a new category we’ll be featuring here at OBABL. It was inspired by an anonymous commenter who confessed that after investing an enormous amount of money, time and energy on a Top-Ten-Tier (TTT) T-14 law school, he now believes the law isn’t for him. We here at OBABL think that might very well be the case…
But be encouraged! Many have had such a revelation and gone on to more fulfilling and, dare we say, lucrative careers. And doing “something else” doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be out of the legal loop. To the contrary, today in our on-going Obama Posse List series we feature two individuals who chose “alternative careers.”
Hill Harper
Brown University
Harvard Law School
Currently: Actor, Author, Lecturer, and FOB (Friend Of Barack)
Born Frances Harper, we know him from the popular spin-off, “CSI: NY” where he plays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, the fallen surgeon who left regular practice after a few patients died on his table. (His film credits include Spike Lee’s He Got Game and the Oprah Winfrey-produced slave drama Beloved.) You can also spy him in the “Yes, We Can” viral video and People magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive.”
Hill always dreamed of being an actor. (You can do that when your parents are doctors). But Hill knows Hollywood is about as reliable to African Americans as law firms are, which is to say not very. To that end, Hill has established himself a nice side hustle (we should all have one). He’s involved in several nonprofits and his “Letters” book series has really taken off.
Hill attended HLS with the President-elect where they no doubt bonded over their midwestern roots. A member of Obama’s national campaign finance committee, the thespian also campaigned for Mr. Obama.
From YahooNews:
Long before he was toiling in the morgue deciphering murders on primetime TV, Frances Harper was born May 17, 1966 in Iowa City, IA to father, Henry Harper, a psychiatrist, and mother, Marilyn Hill, one of the first practicing black anesthesiologists in the U.S. Although Harper started acting at the age of seven, education was his main focus throughout his young life. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1988, also earning a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School and a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government. It was during his Harvard years, that he found himself classmates with future U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, Barack Obama. While studying law, he also became a regular in Boston’s acclaimed Black Folks Theater Company.
Crystal Nix Hines
Princeton University
Harvard Law School
Currently: Television writer
This one is a television writer who doesn’t like being in front of the camera. (We had to go back decades to uncover a picture). Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate, Crystal Nix Hines, has just as inspiring a story as Hill’s. Read it after the jump. Read more
