Tony Pierce Profiled, Quoted in NLJ Article on African-American Law Firm Leadership Network

In its cover story “The Vanguard and the Vision: A Key Network Binds African American Managing Partners,” The National Law Journal spotlights the African American Managing Partners network, which it describes as a group of Washington, D.C.-based managing partners that began as quarterly dinners doubling as informal strategy sessions.

Tony Pierce, partner in charge of Akin Gump’s Washington, D.C. office since 2008, was a founding member of this group, which formed in 2009, and the article discusses his career.

Akin Gump international trade partner Nnedinma Ifudu Nweke is quoted in this article on Pierce and his impact on her at the firm. She recalls, “My first year as a partner, there was a lunch meeting. That first lunch, I opened the door and it was a sea of white faces and white men. And in that moment, I have never been more grateful to have Tony in the room. It was a moment of ‘you belong.’”

Pierce himself recalls the impact on his own career of a prominent African-American lawyer: Vernon Jordan Jr., senior counsel at Akin Gump. Pierce, discussing the importance of business development, says Jordan once said to him, “There are a lot of lawyers in Washington [who] know almost every aspect about the law. But you know what, Tony? They've got to have someone to tell it to.”

Ifudu Nweke says of similar advice to her from Pierce, “Tony doesn't sugar coat anything. He just tells you, ‘Go get some business.’”