No one is above the law, and all people are equal – that’s the Rule of Law.
It’s also the core of democracy and the spirit of justice, said John Barsanti Jr., president of the St. Louis Bar Foundation.
The St. Louis Bar Foundation awarded Ronda Williams, senior corporate counsel for Savvis Inc., with a 2009 Spirit of Justice award last Friday – for being an attorney who works to promote this spirit in her work and community service.
“Ronda has made an indelible mark in this community in just seven years, working diligently to not only grow in her career, but also by utilizing her knowledge, experience and leadership to promote the administration of justice equitably throughout our community,” said Zoe Lyle, executive director of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.
Ronda Williams has always taken justice to heart. No one would know that better than Robyn Goins, Williams’ sister.
Raised by their grandmother and father, the two sisters were always taught to fight for what was right. Goins has seen her sister, four years younger, change and grow – but that principle has never wavered.
“Her justice is more proactive than reactive,” Goins said. “She’s about blazing a path of doing it a better way.”
Williams is a woman who can organize and volunteer actively with five organizations at one time.
Williams is a woman who took care of her grandmother for two years before she died – and fought to make sure her rights and finances were not abused.
She’s the woman who told a restaurant owner in Altanta that he would have to move her physically before he would rush her through her dinner because they needed the table.
Williams didn’t become a lawyer to earn a high income or for the status, Goins said, but because it gave her more voice to do service.
This June Williams became the president of the Mound City Bar Association. The oldest black bar association west of the Mississippi River, it has 240 members. Among many community service plans she has as president, she intends to organize member mentors in schools, offer free community law workshops and provide local law students with financial assistance.
Law student to attorney
Before Williams was an attorney that the St. Louis Bar Foundation awarded, she was a law student the foundation nurtured.
When Williams was a law student at Saint Louis University School of Law just seven years ago, she received a scholarship from the foundation.
Williams recalls that she wasn’t sure how she was going to pay for law school. Her father, Roger Williams, was dead set against her decision to go to law school. After paying for her undergraduate degree at Hampton University, he thought it was a bad – and expensive – decision.
“She had a decent job with a financial institution in St. Louis,” Roger Williams said. “I always thought that once you landed a good job, you don’t take chances.”
Williams, now retired, was a freight train conductor for 42 years with Union Pacific – along with the generations before him.
“She proved me wrong,” he said. “Even if she doesn’t do anything else, she’s exceeded my expectations. At the rate she’s going now, she can go all the way to the top.”
Already at Savvis, Willams is a senior corporate counsel in the legal department for the outsourced internet infrastructure company
with more than 4,000 customers.
While in college, Williams interned at White Coleman and Associates, where Susie Farlind, a St. Louis Bar Foundation board member at the time, encouraged her to apply for a scholarship.
As an intern, she handled many difficult projects with grace, and her personable character made her enjoyable to work with, Farlind said.
“I had the opportunity to see her develop as a law student to an attorney,” Farlind said. “She is one of the best examples of someone who has really done what she needs to do to develop her talent and skills to the fullest.”
Now as president of the Mound City Bar Foundation, Williams said she keeps her own law school experience in mind when looking at MCB scholarship applications.
“Our goal is to look at other aspects of education, such as community service, as well as academic leadership,” Williams said.
As president, she also initiated a few “adopt” programs, which include mentoring two local schools, a local church, local organization and a village in Ghana.
Northwest Academy and Soldan High School are two schools that offer law programs in their curriculum. MCB mentors will be guest speakers for the classes and coaches for the Mock Trial team.
In high school, Williams was on the Mock Trial team for Hazelwood East High School, back before she or her family had any idea that she would become a lawyer. A friend talked her into being a “witness” for Mock Trial team.
Williams realized then, “I wanted to be the person asking questions,” she said, “I ended up doing that.”
Since becoming an attorney, Williams has consistently worked as a mentor for young people, Goins said.
Aside from her work with MCB, she is also the deputy chief of staff for the National Bar Association, the national umbrella organization for black attorneys.
Mavis Thompson, president of the National Bar Association, said Williams is one of her go-to people.
“If Ronda tells you she is going to do something, she will be there 100 percent,” Thompson said. “She’s innovative in her thinking. Not only does she have vision, but she also knows how to implement it.”
Books for Africa
One of her ideas that struck Thompson was a proposal to bring the MCB and the National Bar Association together to do community service projects in Senegal and Ghana. In June 2010, the association will send $10,000 worth of books to the countries, through the Books for Africa program.
Thompson said, “She wanted local members to get involved on an international level, and the partnership is a great way to do that.”
Williams is also active in Read Across America, Project Angel Tree and the St. Louis Aids Foundation.
“As her resume attests, she has turned her concerns to action by her community involvement and leadership positions with the Mound City Bar Association,” said Booker Shaw, an attorney with Thompson Coburn and part of the St. Louis Bar Foundation.
“She exhausts herself giving her time and talent to causes she believes in,” Goins said.
Goins, an educator, shares with her sister a devotion to children and giving back. It’s something that was instilled in them early.
“Being motherless as a child, and our grandmother was an older person, you had to step up and take care of things,” Goins said.
“But we are not a statistic. She became a woman without those stereotypical pitfalls. She’s always been tenacious and achieving her goals, for herself and others.”
