From Holland & Knight's "In the Spotlight"
June 26, 2015
About Charles S. Johnson: Charles is a trial lawyer and counselor. He
joined Holland & Knight in 1997.
Tell me how you believe you expand your comfort zone with respect to diversity and inclusion? I’m a product of a segregated environment and, like most of us, I continue to live in an environment that is still characterized by a significant amount of racial and cultural isolation. The workplace is a principal venue for cross-cultural interaction, a place where any level of functional success requires an ability to meet people where they are without forgetting who I am. As an associate, that meant speaking up for myself (through regular and irregular channels) in seeking the amount and kind of work that I felt was necessary to secure appropriate professional development. As a partner, it has meant speaking up for policies and practices that ensure that the firm maximizes its return on investment in all of its diverse talent and doing what I can personally to ensure the equitable allocation of professional development opportunities.
Tell me how you believe you expand your comfort zone with respect to diversity and inclusion? I’m a product of a segregated environment and, like most of us, I continue to live in an environment that is still characterized by a significant amount of racial and cultural isolation. The workplace is a principal venue for cross-cultural interaction, a place where any level of functional success requires an ability to meet people where they are without forgetting who I am. As an associate, that meant speaking up for myself (through regular and irregular channels) in seeking the amount and kind of work that I felt was necessary to secure appropriate professional development. As a partner, it has meant speaking up for policies and practices that ensure that the firm maximizes its return on investment in all of its diverse talent and doing what I can personally to ensure the equitable allocation of professional development opportunities.
How has expanding your comfort zone impacted or changed you?
I am fortunate that, as a younger lawyer, several senior lawyers took an
interest in my success, and I have tried to take full advantage of this
interest. I remember one senior lawyer in particular, to whom I was not
regularly assigned and whose race was not the same as mine, who facilitated a
discussion about the kind of work I was doing. It seems so simple now, but it’s
important: I took the opportunity which this discussion afforded me to indicate
that I wanted more than mere research opportunities, that I wanted the
opportunity to manage cases and try them. As a result of this encounter, I was
afforded opportunities that might not have come to me otherwise, and the result
has been that I have been able to exercise a level of control over the direction
of my own professional development.
Did you have any key mentors or people who deeply influenced who you
are, what you believe in and what you’re committed to in your work and
life? I grew up surrounded by people who had an abiding commitment to
social justice, each of whom pursued that commitment in his or her own unique
way. It never really occurred to me that there was any other way to approach
life. While in college, I got to know Judge Constance Baker Motley and study her
career. Through Judge Motley, I got to know John Lewis, who introduced me to
Atlanta and to the community of people who in the 1960s were changing the world
and who in the 1970s would begin to change Atlanta. My college dean steered me
to the law school that Father Robert Drinan was transforming at Boston College,
and my law school dean steered me toward the law review and the institutional
practice of law. Philip Alston, a senior partner at my first law firm, went out
of his way to let me know that his firm valued its service both to the firm’s
clients and to the community, both of which were to be pursued with
professionalism and integrity.
What is your favorite book/movie? The Arc of
Justice by Kevin Boyle. It’s a true story that touches upon so many things
that are of interest: race relations in 19th-century Lakeland, Fla.; the history
of Wilberforce University and Howard University College of Medicine; the
influence of the Klan in early 20th-century Detroit (a city which is home to my
wife and several friends and clients); and the role of Clarence Darrow in the
first major piece of litigation brought by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. It’s
great reading, and I recommend it.
When you are not at work, what would we most likely find you doing?
Cycling, working for an accountable and representative judiciary,
supporting Bard College and its diverse and wide-ranging initiatives, supporting
families affected with sickle cell disease, and communing with my own
family.
What are people most surprised to learn about you? I’ve gone
through life with a hearing impairment, with total hearing loss in one
ear.
