"Once you have earned a law degree…it is easy, if not necessary, to focus on self promotion…. The challenge is to not lose sight of the wonderful things that a law degree allows you to do. You are well trained and positioned to help your community…. Give back, and do it selflessly."
Richard E. Mitchell
General Counsel
Washington State Governor
Christine Gregoire
Richard E. Mitchell was born in London, England, to parents who immigrated as teenagers to England from the West Indies and Guyana in the 1940s. Although his grandparents lacked formal education, and his parents did not go on to college, his family's experiences provided him with invaluable life lessons. Inspired by the drive, ambition and leadership of his grandfathers, both of whom moved their entire families under challenging circumstances to England in pursuit of a better life, Richard has not lost sight of his humble beginnings and his passion for social justice.
After immigrating to the United States at age 12, Richard successfully navigated his way through a boarding school in Maryland, college, graduate school, and law school. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree with honors from Cornell University and a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Michigan. In 1995, he earned his juris doctor degree from Syracuse University's College of Law, with a concentration in International Law and Affairs. Richard is currently serving as general counsel to Washington Governor Christine Gregoire.
Describe your duties as general counsel for the governor?
There are many duties for which I am responsible, probably too many to list. Some of them are as follows: responding to all ethics issues for the governor's office; acting as the governor's designee on several authorities and commissions that issue tax exempt bonds; reviewing bills that pass both houses of the legislature for legal issues; preparing veto messages; reviewing proposals for gubernatorial directives and executive orders; serving on the governor's Executive Domestic Security Team; reviewing and advising the governor on all appeals of agency rules; advising the governor on clemency and pardons petitions; and providing the governor with legal and/or policy advice involving certain pieces of litigation.
Probably my most important duty is to manage the judicial evaluation and appointment process. After screening all applicants, I advise the governor on a short list of candidates for her consideration. One cannot adequately prepare in private practice for the role of general counsel to a governor. The job requires quite a bit of depth and breadth of prior experience, sound judgment, and the willingness to take on and think through new tasks.
What comes to mind when you hear the word diversity? How do you define diversity?
Diversity is the current phrase used to describe an issue that has its historical roots in race. For the most part, America's race issues and the Civil Rights Era, have matured into issues including sexual equality, disability and sexual orientation. As a result, the topic of diversity is broad. When discussing diversity, it is important to consider how the debate on civil rights has changed over the years. From my perspective, racial and ethnic diversity is a very focused discussion. Gender diversity is a very focused discussion. Disability and/or limited ability is a very focused discussion. Sexual orientation is also a very focused discussion. Yet, the word diversity encompasses all those issues and more.
What role have mentors played in your life?
To answer that question, I have to think about all of the people who have been pivotal in influencing my life. I grew up as a young boy in England, primarily observing the unfulfilled ambitions but strong leadership of my paternal and my maternal grandfathers. My maternal grandfather in particular, Percy Adolfus Lewis, did not have a formal education. But he was able to teach himself to read and write very basic things. He (and I should note that he was an orphan) was able to find a way to save enough money to move his family from Guyana to England. His life, which included working in sugar cane fields and gold mines in Guyana, always reminded me of the drive and ambition that I had to maintain in my own life above all odds.
While at Cornell University, I was fortunate to spend a significant amount of time with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. He was my architecture thesis adviser. At that time, he was the director of the African American Affairs Program at the university. His focus on understanding and articulating the African American experience was of tremendous value to me. It helped me focus my subsequent disparate academic and professional experiences into a focused intellectual endeavor, into a purposeful sense of community obligation.In the practice of law, I have had a number of mentors. But one person stands above them all — James Hermsen. He was a little tough at times — but always well intentioned. He made an impact because of his selfless dedication to improving my lawyering skills. Lastly, I am frequently asked what it is like is to work with the governor. The answer is that there is nothing quite like having an amazing mentor as your boss.
Did you have any prior experience with attorneys or the judicial system prior to deciding to go to law school?
None. Absolutely none. My only exposure to the law was as a practicing architect in London in 1989 working for a British architect, Sir Terry Farrell, and a Canadian developer, Olympia York. The project was the London Docklands Redevelopment, which at the time was the largest urban redevelopment project in Europe. While discussing matters with Olympia York's American and Canadian lawyers, I realized that if my understanding of architecture and urban redevelopment were going to mature, I would need to learn more about finance and law. Whether it was European law or American law, I knew that I would need to be conversant. So my exposure was through self-realization and self-development as I developed my career.
Which people or what experiences influenced you to become a lawyer?
My initial desire to study law flowed from realizing that certain aspects of law were fundamental to understanding urban redevelopment. It was a very narrow experience that led to a profound change in my professional direction.
What were the greatest obstacles you had to overcome to become a lawyer?
I think the biggest obstacle for me was just getting through the process of completing my undergraduate degree; completing my graduate degree knowing that I wanted to go to law school; preparing to take the LSAT and completing the law school applications; and going on to and finishing law school. It always seemed like I was doing something no one in my family had done before — and therefore no one could provide me with the support that I needed. It was an odd lonely experience. I went through my college years not quite knowing whether I was doing the right thing. The obstacle was really not knowing and not having a support network. My family thought I had become a professional student. Another obstacle was the impending sense of fear that came from the potential for failure. There was so much pressure to break the cycle of a family who did not go to college and had not achieved economic success. I tried to change that pattern in my own academic and professional life.
What advice would you give to high school and college students considering a legal career?
The advice I am likely to give flows from my law firm experience. I would say that it is important to develop good reasoning, analytical, and writing skills. It is important to be able to read and comprehend complex materials easily and quickly. Skill development in these areas requires some high school and college course work that exposes you to complex subjects and to different styles of reasoning and writing. I would also say that lawyers should take a direction prior to going to law school that develops a professional competency. I found that my work as an architect and my understanding of the construction industry was invaluable early in my legal career. It opened a number of doors with law firms and made relations with clients easier. So, from my perspective, an individual who has professional competency in an industry that he or she will serve as a lawyer will be more credible and will likely be more successful.
What advice would you offer to a young attorney from an underrepresented background just starting out in the legal profession?
My advice would be to not lose sight of the wonderful opportunity a law degree presents to you. For me and for a number of my colleagues, we were the first to go to law school. In many instances, it is frightening to still say that we were the first to go to college. But once you have earned a law degree or any professional degree, coming from very humble beginnings, it is easy if not necessary to focus on self-promotion, the development of wealth, income, professional status and the like. The challenge is not to lose sight of the wonderful things that a law degree allows you to do. You are well trained and positioned to help your community in ways that require you to think about more than self. You have to give back, and do it selflessly. With a law degree, your community believes if not expects you to be a leader. So be one.
Describe a challenge you faced as a young attorney and what you did to overcome it? And did being an attorney of color have any bearing on this challenge or its resolution?
Perhaps the single most significant challenge that I faced was recognizing that my own legal career in a law firm was not moving in the direction that I expected. The path to success was no longer as clear as it was when I was a naïve first year lawyer. While on the one hand, the reasons for the derailment could have been an issue of lack of development, it could, on the other hand, have been an issue of the failure of my environment to recognize my value, abilities, and skills. Either way, I always attempted to couch my experience while I was in the middle of it in terms other than race. It seemed though that no matter how I discussed it, and whomever I discussed it with, there was always a discussion about race. I guess that was inevitable since my experience was, to some degree, consistent with all the other lawyers of color who had preceded me.
So the most challenging thing for me was to decide whether I would attempt to rehabilitate perceptions and perceived deficiencies, or whether I would prepare to move on professionally. I made the decision to do both — it seemed the only wise thing to do. I believed that if there was any credibility in the criticisms levied, I was obligated to respond to them. Similarly, to the extent there was no truth to the criticisms, I had a family to take care of and to safeguard. I could not afford to be summarily released. That was probably the most challenging experience that I have ever had. Even though I am many years past the experience, it still bothers me now to talk about it.
If you could change one thing in the practice of law or the legal system, what would it be?
I would change the amount of resources we provide to our court systems. There simply is not enough funding provided to support our judges; to support the representation of juveniles and indigent clients; or to fund our jury system. Our justice system still is not truly accessible to all.
Has being an African American helped you to be a better lawyer? If so, how?
I don't think my race alone has either helped or hindered me. I do think my experiences as a lawyer of West Indian and South American extraction, who grew up in England under very humble beginnings have informed my sense of justice and how I wish to use my law degree.
What do you enjoy most or least about being an attorney?
In the private law setting, one of the toughest things to work through as a young lawyer was the billable hour environment. Learning how to be a lawyer, develop a practice, participate in your community, raise a family and give of your free time to other firm-related endeavors really was not conducive to a healthy lifestyle. But do not misunderstand; I do enjoy private practice, particularly the variety of matters that one can work on. The intellectual gymnastics are quite satisfying.
