We were lucky to catch up with Matthew Graham recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Matthew thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Is there a lesson you learned in school that’s stuck with you and has meaningfully impacted your journey?

In middle school, I learned something about myself that has contributed to my growth as a husband, father, and attorney. In seventh grade, I had a class that comprised of four tests. I studied extremely hard for the first test and felt comfortable with the material. To my surprise, I received a poor grade on the first test. I was upset and disappointed in myself to say the least. However, rather than spending an excessive amount of time and energy reflecting on what went wrong, I sat in the classroom after receiving my score and began writing calculations in my notebook on the scores I needed on the remaining tests to obtain the grade I wanted in the class.

While I understood that reflection on what went wrong was important in order to learn from my mistakes, I focused my energy on what I needed to do in the future to get the results I wanted. I realized in my mind that all I needed was a glimmer of hope to motivate me to improve from the person I was yesterday. This mindset continued in high school, my undergraduate studies, throughout law school. Further, I utilize this mindset in my personal life as well. I am extremely focused on what I can do to improve as a person in all facets of my life. I understood that every day may not be perfect, regardless of your preparations or intentions. However, one poor grade, test, speech, debate, trial, or argument could never define me. I realized that how I responded to adversity would define me, not the adversity itself.

That moment in seventh grade allowed me to consider the following when adversity inevitably occurs in life: “today did not go as planned; but do I have an opportunity to learn from this and put myself in a position to make tomorrow better?” If yes, them I am putting all of my energy, effort, and focus into that future result.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Born and raised in Maryland, I am a commercial litigation attorney who assists client in all phases of the litigation process, from analyzing contracts to crafting complaints to vigorously preparing for trial. My client’s come in all sizes, ranging from small businesses in the local community to some of the largest corporations in the country.

My back story to becoming the person I am today is full of twists and turns. Decades ago, my parents came to this country from Ghana with the intention of living the American dream. They saw the United States as an opportunity to give their future kids a life that they could not foresee in Ghana at the time. My parents came to this country with hope, but not much more.

My parents instilled in me from a young age that a career in medicine would allow me to have a respectable career and provide for my future family. “Surgeon” or “pharmacist” or “dentist” was the way to a better future. I saw examples of people who looked like me in the medical field. My dentist was African American. My pediatrician was African American. I learned about Dr. Ben Carson and the influential career he had as an African American surgeon. Though I did not love medicine, I saw a future in the medical field for me.

When I graduated from high school, little did I know that I was destined for a career as an attorney. While I was interested in medical field, I realized other talents and interests of my own. I loved to debate. I loved to argue. I loved to ask “why,” I loved subjectivity rather than objectivity. However, growing up, I was not fully aware of the different career paths that would allow me to utilize these skills. I was fearful of the unknown.

I graduated from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry, with the intention of becoming a pharmacist. However, during this time at Towson University, I was presented the opportunity to utilize my love and passion for public speaking, debate, and the opportunity to make change in my community, when I became a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. in 2014. This opportunity, along with a goal of becoming one of the 5% of lawyers who identify as African American in the United States, prompted me to pursue a career in law. It was not an easy decision. I considered how my parents would view my decision. Or friends who heard me talk all day long about how I would become a pharmacist in the decision. But I realized that making the right decision is not always easy.

I enrolled in the University of Baltimore School of Law’s evening program, while working full-time during the day as a law clerk. For 3.5 years my schedule consisted of working 8:30am to 4:30pm as a law clerk, driving across town to law school, and attending law school classes at night from 5pm to 9pm. It was grueling mentally and physically. However, I was committed and focused.

While I wake up every day proud of way I am able to accomplish for my clients, I am more proud of the opportunity my career as an attorney allows me to impact my community. I enjoy speaking to minority youth at schools to inform them that law is a viable career path for people that look like them, despite the underrepresentation of African Americans in the legal field. My goal is to strive for greatness in every facet of my life, and to inform others that they can strive for greatness as well, whether they know they can or not.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

As an attorney, my reputation is everything. Your reputation may assist you with obtaining business from people you know personally, but it can also allow you to obtain from others you may not know. For example, you may work with client “A,” who thinks you handle an urgent matter for them efficiently. Unknown to you, client “A” then goes to lunch with potential clients “B, C, D, and E” and tells those potential clients how great a job you did. A few days later, potential clients “B, C, D, and E” reach out to you and ask for your assistance.

This is also important in my role at my law firm as an associate attorney who obtains work from the partners of the firm. If I do good work for partner “A” on an assignment, then partner “A” may inform partners “B, C, D, and E,” which may allow me to obtain additional assignments from partners “B, C, D, and E,” thus increasing my importance and relevance in the firm.

The reputation I built, and intend to continue building, within my market is based on two core principles, reliability and dependability. With regard to reliability, I always do my best to set expectations prior to starting a business relationship. I typically ask a series of questions, which revolve around setting expectations, working efficiently, asking the tough questions, absorbing critiques rather than being defensive, and being honest.

With regard to dependability, I dedicate myself to being a problem solver. I always consider the current state of affairs, but remain focused on the next move. I am an open communicator who is willing to consider unexpected curveballs that may arise.

These traits allow my clients, and the partners at the firm, to feel comfortable that they know I will maximize all effort to get the job done but that I am also well-suited to handle unforeseen issues, which are very common in the legal field.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I had to unlearn is that immediate substantial improvement is not always necessary to experience growth. During law school, I developed a great confidence about my abilities and knowledge of the law. I learned that poor results meant that something went wrong and could be immediately fixed when given another opportunity. My mindset was that I could always quickly improve in the future. I always had another exam, test, or class in a few weeks or a few months to show that the poor grade was an outlier.

However, as a first-year attorney, I did not realize how different life as an attorney would be from law school. The effort that I would put into immediate substantial improvement in law school did not immediately correlate to my career as an attorney. Drafts of complaints that typically would be considered exceptional in law school were returned to me by my bosses with red ink, which included requests to make several changes. While I would improve after multiple drafts, it was not the immediate substantial jump I was hoping for. It felt as though I was going from a “D” to a “C” to a “B” to an “A” grade on my work rather than an immediate jump from “D” to “A.”

I developed a fear of making mistakes and a confusion as to why I was not seeing immediate substantial improvement as an attorney. I began to overthink straightforward situations and assignments for fear that I was “missing something.”
I became overly critical of myself due to a belief that immediate substantial growth meant no growth at all.

Through trial, error, and consistency, I was able to build the confidence to accept that I was not going to be perfect or exceptional on everything immediately, which is perfectly fine. I realized that the practice of law is expansive, and that attorneys who have been practicing law for 20, 30, or even 40 years are still learning and growing. Learning is part of any journey, and immediate substantial improvement is not always necessary.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mk_graham4/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-k-graham-b6076b144/