Second chances lit the path to lawyer’s success

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As I sat on a hospital floor wondering whether my mother would live or die, the heartbreaking realization set in that she had sacrificed so much for me to be a successful college graduate. Yet there I sat, a college dropout. My mother — the innocent victim of a tragic crime — suffered three gunshot wounds. I prayed to God that if he would give my mother a second chance at life, I would return to Indiana University, apply myself and graduate. God kept up his end of the bargain.I’ve been fortunate to count a number of big breaks, each one another steppingstone in my current path in life. I returned to Indiana University with a deep commitment to right my past academic wrongs, and I graduated in 1999. My dream was to be an attorney. Although well-meaning counselors repeatedly told me it was doubtful that I would be accepted to law school with my relatively low GPA, I did not give up. I live by the mantra, “Ask anyway. All they can do is tell you no!” Angela Espada, dean of admissions at the IU School of Law-Indianapolis, asked me if I were to be admitted would I promise not to embarrass her, and I swore I would make her proud of that decision.

While in law school, my most significant professional big break came in 2001 when Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan Jr. allowed me to be his law clerk. The prestige of being a law clerk for Justice Sullivan opened several doors for me. He helped me to develop as an attorney in the Indianapolis community, but our close personal relationship is what impacted me the most; he will always be a second father to me.

My next big break came when Barnes & Thornburg hired me as a litigation associate and paired me with the firm’s general counsel, Kenneth Inskeep, as my partner mentor. He invested countless hours guiding me through the intense and difficult process of becoming a partner at the firm. His sincere passion for assisting me with my career development was pivotal to my success.

Ultimately, asking Tamara McMillian to be my wife, and the birth of our twin boys Lance and Xavier, were my biggest breaks — and biggest blessings. They motivate and encourage me every day to make the most of my future big breaks.

McMillian and his wife, Tamara, have two sons. He received the John Morton Finney Award for Promoting Diversity in 2002 and received the Barnes & Thornburg’s Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award and the Honorable Carr L. Darden Leadership Award in 2005. He is a member of the board of directors for the Indiana University School of Law–Indianapolis Alumni Association and Reach for Youth Inc. He is vice president of the Neal Marshall Alumni Association and past president of the Marion County Bar Association, of which he is a lifetime member. McMillian is a member of the Indiana Bar and Indianapolis Bar Associations, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

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