Name: Casby Harrison III
Occupation: Opened his own law firm on Sept. 23 at 807 Broad Street, Suite 100, not far from his home, after spending 13 years at the law firm of Tillinghast, Licht and Semonoff, and its predecessor, and two years as associate executive legal counsel for Gov. Bruce Sundlun (1991-1992). For the last five years, Harrison has been a partner in the Tillinghast, Licht and Semonoff law practice, among the very few African-American lawyers to achieve that status in a majority law firm
Community: He is a member of the Rhode Island Law Firm Group, a committee of the state Bar Association designed to encourage recruitment of minorities into the law profession; a member of the Rhode Island Black Lawyers Association; a past chairman of the Southeastern New England Chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews; chairman of City Year Rhode Island’s advisory board; on the board of The Providence Plan.
Education: University of Dayton, B.A. political science in 1979, and a 1982 graduate of the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C.
Age: 42
Residence: South Providence
Family: Married, and he and his wife, Sylvia, have two children.
CASBY HARRISON, III: ‘I also thought it was important for me to repackage myself.’
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PBN: Why did you choose to open your practice in South Providence?
HARRISON: I’ve been living in this neighborhood and decided I wanted to practice in this neighborhood. At the same time I didn’t want to give up having a downtown presence, so I have two offices. An office on 2 Williams Street on the corner of South Main.
Are you in this practice alone?
I have several individuals working on a contract basis. Ultimately it’s my goal to bring people on as full-time employees.
You were in one of the more successful law firms in Rhode Island. You were a partner, which is unique as a minority lawyer in Rhode Island. It seems you had it made, and you gave it up to come here. Why?
I have to say that first of all, you’re absolutely right, I had a very good thing. I had some wonderful people to work with. I had a kind of family relationship with them. Challenging cases and good work. But I think it’s also important to place my departure in the proper context. In the 15 years that I’ve been affiliated with that law firm at that location, at least 75 different lawyers, if not 125 different lawyers have come and left that office.
The whole profession is just changing so rapidly. It used to be you’d work in a law firm 20 to 25 years. But now people are moving every couple of years. It was just my time. I wanted to build something of my own. There’s that old saying you can never get rich working for someone else.
I also thought it was important for me to repackage myself. I could probably be more successful in making an even bigger contribution to my community, my neighborhood if I was located in the neighborhood. I think there are people who need legal services in this community who don’t come downtown, who don’t know where to find me, who are intimidated by the big firm environment. Here there’s much more word of mouth business, much more pedestrian traffic.
A different kind of case than you would have done at Tillinghast?
Certainly, I think more cases coming from small businesses and individuals as opposed to some of the very large institutions that Tillinghast was representing. But part of it is I fully expect to continue to do work with large institutions, like the hospitals, like the banks, like the state of Rhode Island. I think that I’ve established some good relationships and demonstrated some capability of delivering some professional services to them and that I’ll continue to get that work, but at the same time have a greater opportunity to assist businesses and people in the community.
Do you perceive the minority community as underserviced legally?
I think there’s a wealth of opportunity up and down Broad Street. There must be close to two dozen new businesses that have opened up on Broad Street in the last three to five years. I intend to make my presence known to all of these businesses, and then there are entrepreneurs throughout Elmwood, South Providence, the West End and other parts of the state. I have minorities calling me from Newport for cases. To a certain extent the public, I think, has a perception that when you are in a large law firm you don’t need their business, and there is the intimidation factor about coming downtown. In the last month that I’ve opened my doors as a small law firm, friends, colleagues, legal associates, people I’m just acquainted with have been interested in helping to refer cases. That kind of help wasn’t being extended before. I don’t think that the kind of work is going to change as much as just that it is going to be broader.
How did you come upon this location?
This was the Steere House Home for the Aged. In about 1995 or 1996, the Steere House was interested in donating this building to a community service organization. And somehow they got connected to talking with the Rhode Island Indian Council, which I happened to be representing for many years. So I was involved in the deed being handed over by Steere House to the Rhode Island Indian Council for $1, and then I was involved with the Indian Council in their efforts to try and rehab the building. It has an entirely new HVAC system, $120,000. They’ve already painted the pillars in the front and they are going to be doing an extensive paint job of the exterior. It’s all taking time, but the entire first and second floor are rented now. One of the things I like, every day at least 100 or 150 people are walking past my door, going to their various organizations.
Ultimately my goal is to build a practice that is the largest minority owned law practice in New England. That’s for starters.
One concern among minority law firms has been the inability of minority lawyers to become involved in some larger corporate or government contracts, without partnering with a majority law firm. Do you share that concern or do you think it is something you will be able to overcome because of the path of your career?
I think the path of my career will help me to overcome whatever difficulties others may have faced in that area. I think I have a strong track record handling high profile corporate cases, litigation, as well as transactional work. Relationships that I have established will probably enable me to have access to some of the corporate leadership in the state.
Do you think corporations are beginning to recognize that there is a broad spectrum of people who can do corporate work?
Absolutely, I think it’s changing. I think organizations like Leadership Rhode Island and organizations like the Providence Journal, which has placed a greater emphasis on reporting on issues of concern to the minority community, have helped to open the minds of our corporate leadership around Rhode Island and that is just a kinder, gentler environment for minorities who are trying to build businesses in Rhode Island.
There has been some concern about the lack of minorities in the law profession in Rhode Island. Has that been changing?
The last time I remember reading something about minority lawyers, primarily African-Americans, the numbers seemed to be still around 2 percent of those taking the bar exams or graduating from law school. I think that’s down from the era when I was going to law school in the early ’80s.
But it seems to me that Rhode Island has a perception of having a lot of lawyers per capita and that employment opportunities in small, medium and even large law firms are becoming harder and harder to acquire for all graduates of law school because the growth of legal business itself hasn’t kept up with the growth of lawyers. Because of that high level of competition more minority lawyers are seeking employment opportunities outside the state where it may be less competitive. I think that those who do graduate from law school, and as a young lawyer want to work in Rhode Island, to the extent that they have a father, uncle, mother, someone who has been practicing in Rhode Island for a few years can assist them in private practice, maybe even employ their son and daughter. Those types of opportunities aren’t available for the broad spectrum of minority lawyers because we don’t have very many minority lawyers in the first place. But you’ll see a lot of prominent named attorneys who are able to employ their sons or daughters and therefore they have an opportunity to work.
Do you see that locating here gives you the ability to have some influence on young people?
Absolutely I do. I’d say two or three nights a week there’s 40 little kids coming here to their karate class. My door is always open and they’re walking past the lawyers office. I’ve had some clients who bring their children for their meeting with me. Their children have an opportunity to sit down in a lawyer’s office. I would hope that would be one of the benefits of my locating here.
Does the Black Lawyers Association still exist?
It still exits. It hasn’t been as active as in past years, but we really haven’t had much in the way of a crisis for the Black Lawyers Association to rally around. Some of the energies of the Black Lawyers Association has been refocused into the Rhode Island Lawyers Group, which is focused on increasing hiring opportunities for minority lawyers.
