Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Law alum elected president of National Bar Association

Rodney Gregory Moore '85

By Susan Vogel

Rodney Gregory Moore ’85, the newly elected president of the National Bar Association, a network of 22,000 African-American lawyers, judges, law professors and law students, has a seemingly simple proposition: "that African-American lawyers be fully included in all of the great economic rewards offered by the legal profession." Does this include equal pay? Of course. Does it include having the same doors open to African-American lawyers as all lawyers? Certainly. But it also includes a more subtle proposition: that making money, including by working for mainstream corporations, not be seen as in conflict with serving one’s community.

"One of the main challenges facing African-American lawyers," says Moore, "relates to finding a balance between the desire to be an engineer for social justice and the desire to earn a good living." Moore believes attorneys can do both.

Moore grew up in San Jose. The summer after eighth grade, he attended a program at SCU called Project 50, designed to prepare students for challenging academic courses in high school.

He graduated from Silver Creek High School in the East Side Union High School District and went on to earn a B.A. in political science at the University of Washington. He says he chose law because of the way lawyers were, and still are, perceived in the African-American community.

"The role of the lawyer is more respected in the African-American community than in the overall community," says Moore. "Lawyers are viewed as a positive force." Moore himself was inspired by the Civil Rights era and especially the Supreme Court opinions of Thurgood Marshall. "Advocating for social justice seemed like a powerful thing to do. As a young kid, this caught fire with me," he says.

Rodney Gregory Moore ’85 is the newly elected president of the National Bar Association.

Within a few years of graduating from Santa Clara Law, Moore established his own practice representing plaintiffs in employment cases. He joined the board of trustees of the East Side Union High School District and, in 1997, became employed as general counsel. Three years later, he joined the Atlanta Public Schools as its general counsel. In 2005, he was recruited to the Atlanta office of Greenberg Traurig, a firm with 1,700 attorneys and offices worldwide. In 2007 he was included in The Best Lawyers in America. The same year, the firm ranked number one in the U.S. in number of minority partners according to Minority Law Journal’s Diversity Scoreboard.

True to his belief, Moore’s career success has not hampered his commitment to community service. Besides serving on the board of the East Side Union High School District, Moore has served as pro bono general counsel to the Santa Clara County Black Chamber of Commerce, as chair of the National School Board Association’s (NSBA) Urban School Law Committee, and on the boards of the Santa Clara County Bar Association and the NSBA’s Council of School Attorneys. At Santa Clara Law, he has served on the Alumni Board and on the Board of Visitors.

Moore says his commitment to social responsibility was affirmed at Santa Clara, where, he recalls, "the goal was not to preach or to lecture in terms of ethics, but to really incorporate it into the teaching." Ed Steinman and Howard Anawalt particularly helped Moore understand the impact of the law and how it affects the community. These days, Moore brings social awareness to his practice of counseling corporate clients, giving them the straight facts whether they want to hear them or not. "I’ve been told I’m a refreshing voice," he says.

Moore lives in Atlanta with his wife, Yaslyn. They have two children at home and a daughter graduating from college next year.