黛布拉·布鲁诺
2017年2月20日
美国民主党在全美50个州和80多个国家都有成员.C. 酒吧 is beginning a regular feature to profile the people who make up our community. 阅读你的同龄人，他们的生活，他们在世界各地的工作.
巴尔的摩澳博app和D.C. 澳博app会员Harry S. 约翰逊对站在法律领域的第一线很满意. First African American president of the Maryland State 酒吧 Association. 怀特福德的第一位非裔美国合伙人，泰勒 & 普雷斯顿. Taking on what were sometimes unpopular sides in high-profile litigation cases. 62岁的约翰逊接受了《澳博app》的采访.C. 酒吧 about his life, his career, and his deep connections to Baltimore. 编辑后的评论如下.
你第一次加入纪念碑市澳博app协会. 你能谈谈这个群体吗?
It was started by a group of African American lawyers in Baltimore because they could not be admitted to the Baltimore or Maryland bar associations. So it is a professional association for African American lawyers to have the same kind of connections. It wasn’t until 1960 that both Baltimore and Maryland admitted [their] first African American members. 现在开始了，而且势头强劲.
What was it like to be the first African American president of the Maryland State 酒吧 Association?
这是一个复杂的交易. 从某一方面来说，令人遗憾的是，直到2003年才发生. A number of prominent lawyers who had participated could have been president before me. 这些牌正好适合我. I had been on the board of governors [for the association] three times. 因为我在一家澳博app事务所工作, 谁有资源支持我, 我觉得我更适合做这件事. 他们非常支持我这样做. (威尔伯维.伍迪·普雷斯顿, 我们的主要合作伙伴之一, had been president in 1976 and he was one of the people who escorted me down the aisle [at the induction].
你自己的反应是什么?
I really felt the weight of all the people who had come before who could have done this role, 我觉得我有责任代表我的前辈们. It was also gratifying because about 30 older African American lawyers who had never been members of the Maryland 酒吧 all joined that year. 我真的很感激你的信任.
你的任期(2003-2004)是怎样的?
我觉得这真的重新激发了我对这个职业的热爱. 因为无论我走到哪里, 无论在哪里, people were so appreciative of the fact that you would give your time to serve the profession. 当你一直在处理案件时，你可能会被它压垮.
你是否觉得自己被诉讼行业压垮了?
不是真正的. When you do the kind of litigation that I do — complex litigation — most of the lawyers are sophisticated lawyers. They understand you fight hard for your client but you learn to disagree agreeably. 如果你不文明，那对每个人来说都很困难. 总的来说，我认为我的名声是一个相当不错的人. 此外，法官不喜欢澳博app吵架. If you have something you are willing to fight about but are willing to compromise, 法官会注意的. 你必须树立一个通情达理的名声.
你是怎么做到整个职业生涯都待在一家公司的?
I was a law clerk in a prison overcrowding case, and the plaintiffs were Nevett Steele Jr.他是Taylor Whiteford澳博app事务所的合伙人 & 普雷斯顿, and Paul Bekman, who later would become president of the Maryland State 酒吧 Association. At the end of the project, I was asked to apply for a summer associate job in 1978 at Whiteford. 我被录用了，从那以后就一直在这里工作. 我在1986年成为合伙人. 至于合伙人的部分, 我告诉人们, Whiteford took a chance on me in 1979 when I was hired as an associate in the first place. There were not a lot of people who looked like me who worked in a Baltimore firm.
你让它为你工作.
The firm gave me an opportunity that I don’t think other people would have. 如果你开门，我就踢开它. 每个人都应该得到一个机会. 但我留下来也是因为我真的很擅长! Any good litigator has to have a healthy ego, but you have to temper that ego. The case doesn’t belong to the lawyer; it belongs to the client. 你必须做对客户最有利的事. 我们的工作是提出合法的道德选择.
你能谈谈你的一些引人注目的案子吗?
The case that impacted me as a lawyer more than anything I have done was representing University of Maryland basketball coach Bob Wade [who was forced to resign in 1989 after charges of rules violations from the NCAA]. 他是巴尔的摩的传奇人物. He was not welcomed with open arms by the entire University of Maryland community when he went there. 我理解为什么那些曾经为他效力的球员如此热爱他. 在这种情况下，他确实受到了不公平的待遇. 作为一名澳博app，我从代理他的过程中学到了很多. 前运动员和社区里的人会来找我. 我没事，因为我代表韦德教练.
还有什么案子让你念念不忘呢?
其中一个是公共住房案件. The most significant thing about working on that case was the opportunity to reshape public housing in Baltimore City with the use of federal resources. Four high-rise developments were essentially demolished and replaced so that they looked like other row houses. 它真的改变了景观.
任何其他?
Another case was about an HIV misdiagnosis, which was eventually tried in Superior Court in D.C. A guy was told he was HIV positive, but it turned out, several years later, that he wasn’t. 他因此提起了诉讼. It was significant because there had been a stigma about all the information about HIV. 我代表实验室. But if you’re on the opposite side of a case that doesn’t mean you are unsympathetic.
你能谈谈你的社区活动吗?
One of the more interesting is the Thurgood Marshall Opportunity Program through the Office of the Maryland Attorney General. Five law firms have committed to pay a certain amount to sponsor [law] students in the [summer] program. 澳博app事务所赞助早餐, 午餐, 和研讨会, and speakers can talk to them about things like applying for judicial clerkships. 这也是一个建立联系的好机会.
你想过从政吗?
I think it takes a particular personality type to be in politics and I don’t know that my skin is that thick. I would rather be in the position to support people who are going in the right direction. 我给你们讲个轶事. 当我年轻的时候，我经常去教堂, I wanted to be a minister because the people who were significant to me — Martin Luther King, 拉尔夫阿伯纳西, 杰西。杰克逊, 安德鲁·杨，都是牧师. So I talked to my minister and he said, “It’s not a job you aspire to; it’s a calling. 除非你有这种感觉，否则你不应该这么做.“这真的让我很震惊. And it wasn’t until I got to be a lawyer that I learned a lot about Thurgood Marshall. 对很多像我这样的非裔美国家庭来说, 我们相信出人头地的唯一途径就是通过教育. My mother had gone to Morgan State, my father had some college and went into the service. 他们都推我. So when you see people who don’t have that, you appreciate their journey even more.
