Diversity and inclusion isn’t limited to company walls or country boundaries, says Raymond M. Brown. Hislife work fighting global human-rights violations started in a low-income housing project in Jersey City, N.J.His values and priorities were set early on by his father, Raymond A. Brown, a noted criminal attorney and civil-rights activist who defended Rubin “Hurricane” Carterand Joanne Chesimard.
“My dad was easily the greatest human being I’ve ever known because of his tremendous compassion for people, especially the underdogs. This influenced every aspect of my life,” says Brown, who is a partner in Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis’ legal department and chair of the White Collar Defense & Corporate and International Human Rights Compliance Group.
Brown was raised in what he calls a “Jim Crow housing project,” the Booker T. Washington complex. After a childhood watching his father organize protest marches and fight David vs. Goliath legal battles, he wanted to be anything but a lawyer.