Amber Rogers knew she wanted to be a lawyer for as long as she could remember. “Like most,” she says she joined the legal profession to help people.
“Every day I am provided the opportunity to work side-by-side with clients as they face some of their most difficult workplace, people-related challenges,” said Rogers, a labor and employment partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth.
Throughout her 14-year career, Rogers has shaped herself as a proven leader in the workplace — for her employer clients as well as the legal profession that she is employed in.
Her achievements and leadership have landed her a spot on the honoree list for the Dallas Business Journal’s 2020 Women in Business.
Rogers has high-ranking leadership roles at HuntonAK as the first African American woman on the firm’s executive committee and as hiring partner of the firm’s Dallas office. She also frequently mentors younger associates and gives them valuable “firsts” in their careers, such as the opportunity to direct-examine a witness.
At a time when diversity remains an ongoing problem in the legal profession, Rogers is also pioneering solutions through work outside of her firm. The strongest example is her involvement in the NEW (Network of Empowered Women) Roundtable, a nonprofit Rogers founded with a handful of law school friends to empower Black women lawyers, enhance their careers and influence the wider legal profession to improve hiring, retention and promotion of Black women. Members include lawyers from both the law firm and corporate in-house communities.
“Despite diversity being a daily topic in the legal community, the needle is not moving, particularly for African-Americans, and even more particularly for African-American women at large law firms,” Rogers said. “I have learned that sometimes you have to create your own seat at the table and then ensure that you bring others along.”
Rogers was also in the founding class of the Dallas Bar Association’s WE LEAD, a leadership program tailored toward the challenges that high-performing women face in the legal profession.
Before COVID-19, you could find Rogers flying around the world to train executives on effective workplace investigations. You’d also find her in various courtrooms, including the time she first-chaired a reverse discrimination, sex discrimination and retaliation trial in rural Missouri that she won for Smithfield Foods before both sides had presented their cases to the jury.
These days, you’re more likely to find her advocating for her clients at a virtual hearing over Zoom, or blowing off the steam of the 24/7 work-from-home life through her half marathon training or her new hobby, golf.
While she longs for parts of pre-pandemic life, like eating at a restaurant, Rogers thinks some things (like the workplace) will never be the same.
“I do not believe we will be able to go back to the workplace environments we had early March,” she said. “Even after it is safe to return to work in mass numbers, I think a lot of businesses are going to reexamine their footprints and the cost of having office space and all that comes with it.”
Editor’s Note: This story is part of the Dallas Business Journal’s 2020 Women in Business Awards program. Amber Rogers is one of 30 honorees and will honored at a virtual event on August 19. Click here for more information on the event.