In his last case as an assistant United States attorney, Reginald Harris successfully prosecuted another black man, then-St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer Kenneth A. Grooms II. Grooms unlawfully seized a man who had insulted his girlfriend and took him on a rough ride in the back of his police SUV, driving hard with the man handcuffed and not belted down.
It was not a typical case for the later years of Harris’ career with the Department of Justice. He recently joined Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner as a partner within the Investigations, Financial Regulation & White Collar Practice Group in the St. Louis office. The firm’s placement of him reflects his deepest body of experience. “I’ve done matters involving financial crimes, internal investigations, corporate embezzlement,” Harris said.
Harris’ ascension to partner at a global law firm with 1,400 lawyers in many offices across several continents is quite a stretch for a 47-year-old black man who grew up in North St. Louis around Walnut Park and then North Point. He received all of his higher education, undergraduate and law school, at the University of Iowa before moving back home to start his legal practice at age 25.
Prosecuting Grooms at the end of his career as a federal prosecutor was a throwback to the beginning.
“Particularly early on in my career as a federal prosecutor, I handled some matters where the defendants were folks that looked like me,” Harris said. “It’s something in one’s mind. Nevertheless, if the case falls on my desk, I have the obligation to look at the case and determine whether they have broken the law and the office should be prosecuting it. That’s always the most important fact to consider: he looks like me, but this is my job.”
He understands, given the demographics of defendants and the reputation of criminal justice in the black community, why relatively few African Americans pursue careers as prosecutors.
“I wouldn’t discount someone’s personal concerns about this kind of work,” Harris said. “If you go into prosecution, there is a likelihood you will find defendants of African-American descent. However, I have had the benefit in my career of working with number of African-American federal prosecutors, and they do a great job understanding that their role is to seek justice.”
He said that prosecutors learn to focus on seeking justice for the victims – and, just as tragically, many victims also are black.
“If things are happening in a community that affect the community regarding criminal law, then it’s noble for me – and I’m sure the colleagues who worked with me felt the same – to be a part of bringing some justice for folks who are affected in those communities.”
He remembered in particular securing justice for the residents of Pine Lawn – 96 percent of whom were black in the 2010 Census – in successfully prosecuting its then-Mayor Sylvester Caldwell for extortion and a white cop, Steven Blakeney, for violating the civil rights of one of Caldwell’s opponents.
“Those are some proud moments,” Harris said. “At least we were able to get some justice for the folks who live in those areas who historically may have distrusted law enforcement and criminal justice. Part of a prosecutor’s job is to convey to people that the law applies to everyone equally. I will do what I can to make sure that is a reality.”
He was speaking as if he is still a prosecutor, though he insisted that representing plaintiffs is not a fundamentally different responsibility.
“You take the same oath,” he said. “When you are an assistant U.S. attorney, essentially you have one client, the United States. Here, I will have a number of different clients, and mostly all of them will be private. But the job in essence is the same: to represent my client zealously, maintain client confidentiality, and comport myself within the rules of ethics and professional responsibility.”
Though he is not likely to be taking on many top-dollar white-collar clients from Walnut Park or Pine Lawn, he continues to dwell on the black community and its broken relationship with law enforcement.
“Unfortunately, a large segment of people have a blanket view of law enforcement as just either no good or ineffective, while I have worked with many people in law enforcement who are doing their level best trying to make progress and build trusting relationships,” Harris said.
“And I suspect a significant portion of folks in law enforcement believe that the people in these communities just don’t care enough to be a part of and effect change, and that also is so unfortunate. Having come from these neighborhoods and knowing people who live in these neighborhoods and go to church in these neighborhoods, there are many people doing their level best to build trust and make safer and stronger communities.”
He paused.
“If something can be done to bring those two together, that’s the thing to do,” he said. “But it’s such a difficult thing. It’s such a long history.”
