Law Students

Esquisite Paths: Rhonda Joy McLean

By Paula214

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Rhonda Joy McLean is an inspiration.  I first met Rhonda briefly when she was honored at the Association of Black Women Attorneys (ABWA)?s 30th Anniversary gala.  One of my mentors took me to the event and told me that I had to meet her.   Rhonda has the type of spirit that makes you want to hug her often and sit cross-legged in her living room listening to her tell stories.  I was excited to learn more about her path as an attorney in New York City. 

During our conversation, Rhonda spoke about many topics, including her experience integrating an all-white high school in North Carolina, her annual solo vacation, instrumental mentors and the new book she co-authored with Elaine Brown and Marsha Haygood, ?The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women?.  I hope that the words of wisdom she expressed during the interview will help you on your Esquisite Path.

Name: Rhonda Joy McLean                                                                

Employer/Title:  Deputy General Counsel of Time, Incorporated

Practice Area: Advertising and Consumer protection/ Data Security and Privacy  

Favorite NY Restaurant: Bobby Van?s Grill

Favorite NY Spa: The Red Door Spa (Manhattan) & Noelle Day Spa (Brooklyn)

Favorite Legal Themed Movie: Movie based on the book One L  & John Grisham Movies

Full Bio: http://www.rjmcareertransitions.com/about.html

Paula Edgar: What made you decide to become an attorney?

Rhonda Joy McLean: One of my first mentors outside of my family, Barbara Kamara was running a leadership development program in Greensboro, N.C.  Her job was to identify young folks that she felt would make a difference and bring them to work with her at what was called the LINC, Learning Institute of North Carolina, LDP.  They received federal funds to train people to work with Head Start workers, most of whom were laypeople.  Our job was to train them, to make sure that they complied with the state and local requirements for their health programs.  They provided social services to the low-income families and curriculum.  They were beginning to do what was called ?multicultural curriculum development.?  I was just blessed to have this wonderful, brilliant lady who had been in the Peace Corps.She had lived in Africa; she had such a broad worldview.  She also was very politically involved, I began to work with her in the community registering people to vote, getting people to go to the polls, getting very active in the community, and as a layperson representing people on various boards like the Legal Aid Society Board of North Carolina.  As I became more active, I realized that lawyers were everywhere.  People were very intimidated by them.  Most of them were white men.  It was rare that they were black people.  The black lawyers that did exist were Civil Rights lawyers who had their own solo practices.  In the institutions that we were trying to change, the lawyers who advised them were almost always white men.  They weren?t always against us.  Sometimes they were with us, but they were almost always white men.  As I worked more and more with them, they encouraged me to go to law school myself and eventually I did. 

Paula: What has been your most victorious moment as an attorney?

Rhonda: I think certainly when I was with the Federal Trade Commission.  We won several cases against fake product manufacturers.  They had defrauded consumers out of millions of dollars.  We were able to claw back some of that money and give it back.  That really was a wonderful sense of pride and achievement. 

One of the cases was the ?Fat Magnet? case, which we brought in Los Angeles in the early ?90s.

Full post as published by Ms. JD on April 21, 2010 (boomark / email).