UT Law Alum Rudy Metayer On The Importance Of Representation, From The State Bar To ‘Beauty And The Beast’

“I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA.” — Kendrick Lamar

This month, Rudy Metayer, a corporate litigator at Chamberlain McHaney, was a featured speaker for the continuing legal education presentation titled “Effective Lobbying: Using Your Legal Skills to be a Persuasive Citizen,” in Austin, Texas.

Metayer was born in Brooklyn, and raised in a small Texas town, which has given him the unique opportunity to have conversations, and become friends with, people from a wide range of backgrounds. He recently helped with the notable Austin 2016 Diversity Report Card for Law Firms. In addition to being an attorney, he is a nationally ranked soccer referee and Vice President of the Austin Texans Soccer Club.

This week, I had the opportunity to catch up with Rudy Metayer. He believes that we as a society have a lot more in common than our differences and people across all segments of society realize this to be true. His various leadership roles within his community have motivated me to become more involved, and I hope his words will inspire you to do the same. Without further ado, here is a (lightly edited and condensed) write-up of our conversation:

Renwei Chung (RC): You were born in Brooklyn, but your parents immigrated here from Haiti. Can you tell us about their journey?

Rudy Metayer (RM): My mother came to this country in 1972 and my father came here in 1974. They met at the New York Public Library in Bryant Park. Though both of them are from Haiti, they came from very different backgrounds. My mother was from a middle-class family; my Dad was from a very, very poor family.

However, they both came to this country because of the opportunities it could afford them to reach their dreams. They are the ones who taught me early on that the United States may not be perfect, but it is one of the few places in the world that no matter who you are, you can achieve your dreams.

RC: You had quite the interesting, varied path between your undergraduate (government and philosophy majors), law school, and master of public affairs education at the University of Texas. Why UT? Why law school?

RM: I’ve known I wanted to be a lawyer since age four, when I first found my parents book The Kennedy Years and the Negro and discovered who Thurgood Marshall was and how he was able to use his skills as a lawyer to help people. I ended up at Texas merely by God’s grace when my parents told me that maybe I should look at public colleges for my undergraduate education because loans for law school would be expensive and therefore I should try to save as much money as possible beforehand on my education.

The only things I knew about UT were that: 1. They were the Longhorns. 2. They have a great law school. 3. They used to (at the time) play the Aggies in football on Thanksgiving. I arrived on campus sight unseen, and the rest is history. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and I acknowledge all that time that I’m blessed to have graduated from this renowned university with the skill set to truly advocate well for my clients while also help to serve the community at large.

RC: I happened to meet you because you spoke alongside Daniel Hu, Jin Hwang, and Gene Wu (State Representative—Houston) during a civil-leadership presentation. Why do you think it is important for people of color to lobby?

RM: For people of color, all too often we do not understand our opportunity and ability to help bring issues that impact us disproportionately to the forefront of discussions with our policy makers.

Frankly, many times we are not heard. I believe one of the main reasons this happens is because we do not take the time to our lawmakers, and leverage our networks, to bring our concerns front and center.

I look at marching/lobbying as two sides of the same coin, and you need both to make effective issues you care about. I believe we are very good at one side of the coin and getting better about the other side.

RC: As a Director of the State Bar of Texas and a board member of various other organizations, you’ve had a good amount of opportunity to lead others fairly early in your career. Why is this important to you?

RM: I don’t look at it as much as “leading people” as much as connecting people and using the skill set that I’ve been blessed with for the betterment of those around me. I truly believe that God blesses us with unique abilities and it’s vital that we use them for not only our own career advancement, but to help those who may not have a voice and need our support.

Leadership is service. If everyone understood this, I believe we would have an even better society than we have in America right now.

RC: The diversity of the cast in Disney’s new Beauty and the Beast adaptation came up in our conversation. What did the ending mean to you and your three daughters?

RM: I love the fact that you brought this up. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie of all time. I’m sure part of this is the fact that I was raised in a French-speaking family. I believe another reason is that the old adage of “judging a book by its cover” is something that is timeless and a lesson all of us must learn at some time in our life.

For my daughters to see, on the big screen, beautiful women who look like them — it plays into the pride that they have in who they are and how they look. Parents are the first line of defense in helping to shape the viewpoints and ideas of their children. However, the world around them quickly affects them as well. I’ve heard people say that they believe racism is as rampant in society as it has ever been. I strongly disagree. Though I will say that it exists in our society still, the real issue to me is implicit bias and how people need to know more people, personally, outside of their socioeconomic background, and on an intimate level.

Just as it is vital in the practice of law to forge personal relationships, the same can be said in life in general. The great part is that I am seeing more and more people realizing this right now and therefore things will change for our children and beyond. When things are organic, they are more powerful. I see this only growing with time.

RC: It was great chatting with you. Is there anything else you would like to share with our audience?

RM: I’m a proud member of the bar and the legal community. As lawyers, we get to open doors and have conversations with many people we normally would never meet. Use those connections to help everyone in the world around you. We’ll all be better for it. As I learned long ago, wherever you go and whatever you may do, the eyes of the bar are always upon you. Hook’em!

On behalf of everyone here at Above the Law, I would like to thank Rudy Metayer for sharing his story with our audience. We wish him continued success in his career.

Earlier: Implicit Bias: The Silent Killer Of Diversity In The Legal Profession

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Renwei Chung is the Diversity Columnist at Above the Law. You can contact Renwei by email at [email protected], follow him on Twitter (@renweichung), or connect with him on LinkedIn.