Name: Wanji J. Walcott, Vice President, Chief Technology Counsel
Company Name: American Express Company
Address: 200 Vesey Street , New York, NY 10285
Practice Area: Technology law
Nominated By: Glynna K. Christian, Partner and Chair, Sourcing Group, Winston & Strawn

What is your most successful or favorite rainmaking tip?
Focus on these two things:

First, be the best lawyer you can be. Develop a reputation as the knowledgeable, go-to person who will get the job done.

Second, once you have developed your reputation as the go-to person, then build your brand. This means getting out and developing relationships. In these times, you can’t hunker down and assume work will come to you just because you’re good. This is particularly important for women and minorities because others may assume that they have no common ground. To begin developing a relationship with someone, you may need to make an extra effort to find common ground and build the other person’s comfort level with you. This applies in every situation, from interviews and networking opportunities with strangers to building relationships with clients, co-workers and supervisors. For example, I recently attended a women’s bar event, which was attended primarily by litigators. Because I have a transactional practice, I expected to have very little in common with the other attendees. However, I mentioned that I recently served on the jury during an extended criminal trial. Many of the women litigators were very interested in my experience as a juror. I have since been contacted by the bar association for an interview for its magazine and I have been asked to speak on the subject as a panelist, with a judge, at an upcoming conference.

What is your proudest accomplishment?
Although American Express has long been a supporter of pro bono activities, I led the creation by the General Counsel’s Office (GCO) of a formal pro bono program in 2004. The program is so successful that even in its short period of existence the GCO has already received a Pro Bono Award from the City Bar of New York and the New York Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel. My pro bono activities, while in private practice and while at American Express, have given me the chance to marry the sophisticated corporate and commercial work I enjoy with the public interest work that I find so rewarding.

What was the best career advice you’ve received?
Know and be open to what it takes to succeed at the firm or company where you are. For example, if the successful people at your company are good managers but you have no management experience, focus on what you need to do in order for people to view you as a solid manager. This may mean you model your behavior after those who are already good managers, take on projects that provide you with management opportunities, take management training classes, or so forth.

Have you ever had a mentor who made a genuine difference in how your career turned out? If yes, how did he or she influence you?
Early in my career, mentors played a role on a more informal basis and more in the form of modeling. If you find someone you view as successful, whether in your organization or externally, then talk to them, watch what they do and how they behave, and model your behavior after them. I have developed relationships throughout my career with informal mentors that I can call whenever I need advice or to serve as a sounding board on accomplishing my career goals.

If you were mentoring a young woman lawyer, what rainmaking advice would you give her?
You have to learn how to develop and maintain relationships.

Knowing what you know now, if you were starting out as a lawyer today, what would you do differently?
I have no regrets so there is nothing I would do differently.