#2.5: Willie D. Powells III in the Heart of Law

EPISODE #2.5:  The Heart of Law with Willie D. Powells III

Have you ever met a true brainbox? Someone intrepidly astute? Someone so capable, they can accomplish almost everything they set their mind to do? Wait until Mirena introduces you to her friend and present-day Renaissance man, Willie D. Powells III. He and our incisive host talk nineteen-to-the-dozen on today’s Heart of Law episode, showing us a cerebral way of living life to the fullest.

Thanks to his wise father who encouraged Willie to explore diverse academic fields before committing himself to the life of a physician, Willie did nothing less than reach for the stars. Calling himself a professional student, he shares his inspiring scholastic journey at Drexel University while under the wing of his genius mentor, Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., and revisits how he became an accomplished academician through and through. He conquered the GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, became an athlete, a concert violinist, a pianist, a chemical engineer, a biologist, holds an MBA, and graduated with multiple dual degrees alongside a law degree to boot! What can’t Willie do? How did he do it all in less than record time?  

On the one hand, Willie’s stint with ExxonMobil allowed him a glimpse of the chemical engineering industry; on the other hand, Willie’s subsequent work with Wendy Buskop Law Group immersed him in patent law—jump-starting his legal career. Down the road, Willie decided to make a seismic shift in his legal track after his sister asked basic legal questions he could not answer, “I can tell you about engineering and the law—all of this sophisticated intellectual property stuff—But the very common, everyday issue that you would expect a lawyer to know about, like divorce or somebody [getting placed] in jail … I couldn’t answer!” He questioned the direction of his legal career after that encounter. With his beautiful, brand new, very expensive, black Corvette staring him straight in the eye, he pivoted. Willie “hung the shingle out” by joining forces with Irvin Gadson, George Tennant, and Derek Harmon. He began a new kind of education; Willie learned the ropes of criminal law, courtroom life, and how a boutique litigation practice should run. And ran with it, he did. A few years later, Willie set off to open his firm, the Law Offices of Willie Powells III & Associates, PLLC. As much as his entrepreneurial background and business acumen helped establish his nascent practice, Willie prudently did every menial and mundane task himself. He paid thoughtful attention to minute aspects of his business: humble enough to cut overhead costs, wise enough to choose strategic branding fitting his vision, and patient enough to personalize his services for every client. As Mirena points out, now Willie is a huge celebrity lawyer in Texas. 

Willie’s inspired enthusiasm for living and learning certainly fills the air and is nothing but contagious. While he talks with so much vim about what he learn