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Minorities And The Law: ‘Nobody Knew I Was There’

After slow start, minority-owned firm flourishes on Lawyers Row

By CHRISTIAN NOLAN

Connecticut native Tony E. Jorgensen was all signed up to take the Pennsylvania bar exam in 2002 after he finished law school at Temple University in Philadelphia.

But on the very last day of registration for the Connecticut bar exam that spring, he had an unexplainable urge to come back home instead.

He hurried to Connecticut that day and sat inside the state’s registration office on Washington Street in Hartford. Using an old typewriter plugged into the wall, he frantically filled out the paperwork before the deadline.

He passed the exam and secured a job at a local firm. But something still didn’t feel quite right. After less than a month, he quit. “I wanted to be my own man,” Jorgensen said.

The next day he sat in the car with his father on what’s called “Lawyers Row” on Oak Street in Hartford, discussing his future. At one point, he looked up and saw a sign in a window for space for rent with a phone number.

He decided to call the number. The property turned out to be owned by Hartford Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Miano. Jorgensen and the judge talked and he decided to open his own practice in the rented property. The judge was even kind enough to give him a few months of free rent.

“And then he basically said, ‘Good luck, kid’” Jorgensen, now 33, recalled. “The first year or two of my practice, nobody knew I was there. I spent most of my time learning substantive law. I didn’t get out much, didn’t network. My first client was a walk-in.”

But that first client may have been his most memorable. She was having problems with the Department of Children and Families. It was taking the custody of her children away due to her abusive boyfriend.

Through Jorgensen’s help, she regained custody. The payment for his troubles? Only a figurine that the woman’s relatives from Puerto Rico gave to him.

Joregensen said the small statue will sit in his office until the day he stops practicing law. Just recently, the woman called to tell him how well her children were doing in school.

“It’s kind of something I use as a benchmark,” said Jorgensen. “It’s not all about money, contrary to what the opinion is about lawyers.”

No Overnight Success

Over time, Jorgensen’s firm took off. But it certainly didn’t happen overnight.

In time, he teamed up with a friend and formed Jorgensen & Joiner. But his legal partner wanted to focus on criminal law while Jorgensen wanted to focus on real estate and representing state agencies, municipalities and other businesses.

After that he formed the Jorgensen Law Firm. In less than two years, his firm has grown into a staff of five attorneys, two paralegals and a legal secretary.

One of his biggest accomplishments to date is serving as a district counsel for the Metropolitan District (MDC) where he’s been able to acquire certain property rights that the agency needed to complete a $25 million Clean Water Act project.

Very few 33-year-olds can claim to own and operate a multi-lawyer firm.

“I pride myself on that. I don’t take credit for it. The people that I work with on a regular basis are the reason why I’ve been successful,” a modest Jorgensen said.

And even more unique in comparison to the majority of the Connecticut Bar, it’s a minority-owned and operated law firm. The lawyers consist of three African Americans and two white attorneys.

“In Connecticut there are very few minority firms…can probably count them on one hand. I think that’s another important component of what I’m doing,” Jorgensen said.

One of his first associates at the firm, Cherron M. Payne, described the minority ownership aspect as “adding to the richness of the experience.” Since coming from a corporate law background, Payne has been able to work with a few Fortune 500 companies, do some family law, personal injury and even entertainment law, since joining the Jorgensen firm in January 2008.

Jorgensen also takes time to mentor local Hartford public school kids who might be interested in law. He brings one or two students in each summer as interns.

In general, Jorgensen thinks diversity in the bar is slowly improving. He thinks if each generation is more aware and proactive than the one before, progress will continue.

In addition, he said he’s been the beneficiary of a number of mentors since starting to practice law and many of them were non-minorities.

Jorgensen now owns his firm’s office building, which is just three doors down from the one he rented from Judge Miano when he first started in 2002.

“I’m literally 75 yards from where I sat with my father that day figuring out what I was going to do with my life,” Jorgensen said. •