Ep: 54 Chris Lewis | General Counsel of Edward Jones | Betting on Yourself | Civil Rights Heroes | The Buttermilk Group | Reverse Commute | St Louis

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I had a wonderful conversation with the General Counsel of Edward Jones. We discussed several topics such as:

• Civil Rights Heroes
• Betting on Yourself 
• Being Intentional with DE&I 
• Joining Edward Jones & 10x the Legal Dept 
• SIFMA & The Buttermilk Group
• Leadership Inspiration 
• St. Louis & his Community Involvement
• From Jamaica to NY
• Recommended Books on the Black Experience 

Here are some highlights of my interview with Chris Lewis:

Sometimes, many times, in my career, I'm the only person in the room of color. I have been really blessed, notwithstanding that, to be surrounded by people who are filled with integrity, eager to learn, and open to different perspectives. 

Diversity is impacted by hiring. Equity and inclusion come from how we develop, how we promote, and how we engage in that work.

The conversation really is how do you strategize and think through the application of law in areas where there really isn't law yet, because the technology has evolved so quickly, and finding law firm partners that can help us to think through that.

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Inspired by Civil Rights Heroes  

Chris B: Who were those folks that inspired you to step into the profession?

Chris L: For a lot of people in my generation, Thurgood Marshall is at the top of the list and the historic work that he did. But for me personally, in addition to Justice Marshall, there are other heroes, like Constance Baker Motley and, in particular for me, a gentleman by the name of Charles Hamilton Houston, who I have a picture of in my office. He was the architect of the 25-year struggle to dismantle Jim Crow that ended up with Brown v Board of Education. His foresight was remarkable in strategizing case after case around the large mosaic of how to dismantle the system of inequity starting in the 1930s. The irony, Chris, is that he didn't live to see Brown v. Board of Ed, but he died before that. It was pretty clear that the strategy that led to that case, the individual decisions, were all stitched together with a grand vision that was his. It was started decades before most other people could see the vision that he had. So, I have a picture in my office of him to remind me of not just working towards a purpose, but also thinking strategically as to how you get there, because that's what he did, and we all benefited from that.

The Reverse Commute  

Chris B: How did that door open at Edward Jones?

Chris L: The door opened via my dear friend, Jim Tricarico, who was a colleague of mine at Duane Morris. We moved our practice from K&L Gates to Duane Morris about 2004. Previous to joining the law firm Jim had been General Counsel at financial firm Prudential Securities. Jim was solicited to consider the role of General Counsel here at Edward Jones in St. Louis. When it became clear that he was going to be making that transition, I approached him and we started talking about me joining him to help build and lead the legal division with him at Edward Jones. Prior to Jim coming, the legal division had a different model. A lot of the work was outsourced and the idea was when Jim took the helm, to create a new model where we would build the expertise within the division itself. We would still rely on our law firm partners, but begin to grow. So by reference, Chris, I was lawyer number seven when I joined the legal division at Edward Jones. Now, we are up to 10 times that in terms of lawyers and well over 100 individuals in the division itself.

*Click here to read or download the full PDF transcript or Listen to the Podcast Episode*