Steps and leaps

I grew up in Atlanta as the only child of an aerospace engineer (dad) and certified public accountant (mom), the first in their generation to attend college. My parents encouraged me to pursue excellence, no matter the challenge. As an African American dreaming of my own future accomplishments, an early role model was Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first African American mayor, an important milestone in the South.

The study of electrical engineering at Duke—with summers interning at Northern Telecom followed by law school in Austin—started my path that led to a profession in intellectual property (IP) law. These choices were part of my desire to solve complex real-world problems for a living. During my seventh year of practice, I decided to pursue networking and professional opportunities beyond my local reach. It was serendipity that I joined the ABA-IPL Section.

Read the full article by Senior Counsel George Washington Jordan, III. 

©2019. Published in Landslide, Vol. 12, No. 1, September/October 2019, by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association or the copyright holder.