Adonica-Jo R. Wada
This is the fourth of six articles that will examine lawyers and their work practices by day in contrast to the personal interests that they pursue outside of the office. The goal of this column is to enlighten our readers about the private endeavors of attorneys with whom we come in contact in the profession. It is our hope that this series of articles allows our readers to see the other side of lawyers who manage to pursue unique interests despite their demanding careers.
Adonica-Jo R. Wada
When Adonica-Jo R. Wada is not practicing customs and international trade law as a partner in Serko Simon Gluck & Kane's West Coast office, she is very likely to be found on the water. A four-year member of the San Francisco Outrigger Canoe Club, Wada spends many evenings and weekends paddling with a team of six women across the open bay. From mid-August to late September, she competes in long-distance races, some as long as 42 miles. Twice, Wada has taken part in the Na Wahine O Ke Kai, a daunting Hawaiian course considered by many to be the Super Bowl of canoe racing.
Growing up on a remote Aleutian island surrounded by volcanoes and water, Wada developed a connection with the sea early on. Her parents, both native Guamanians, moved the family from Guam to the Aleutian Islands when Wada was still very young. Every other year, the family returned to Guam or traveled to Hawaii to spend summers with relatives, and it was during those long visits that Wada first became acquainted with outrigger canoe racing, a sport whose origins lie in the scattered islands of the Pacific.
"I'd always been aware of canoe racing. Some of my relatives were into it, but I never got a chance to actually participate until I joined the club in San Francisco," says Wada. "Training on the bay, we deal with currents, sailboats, ferries, kite surfers, and even cargo ships. It can be very tough. Using your core and back muscles, you definitely get in shape; a typical practice burns 2,000 calories."
Always an athlete, Wada was recruited to play basketball at Western Washington University, where she studied English and history. In 1990, she packed her Subaru station wagon and moved to Chicago to attend Chicago-Kent College of Law. For the first time in her life, Wada felt landlocked, and she didn't like it.
Crossing the Channel: Wada (first position in canoe) competes with her team in the 2006 Na Wahine O Ke Kai race in Hawaii.
In addition, Wada had to deal with fellow law students' inaccurate perceptions. Because she is not white, many assumed that Wada did not speak English, while others mistook her for a member of the cafeteria staff. Despite some disconcerting presumptions, the resilient 1L soldiered on, hitting the books and bonding with other minority law students, including members of the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association. After an awkward period of adjustment at law school, recalls Wada, things were fine.
"In retrospect, I might have benefited from a mentor," says Wada. "My parents knew nothing about law school. They had no idea about the cost, and were shocked at the price of a book. Basically, I had to make my own way. Fortunately, I ran into a lot of good and helpful people."
After law school, Wada clerked for two years for the Washington State Supreme Court's first African American judge, the Honorable Charles Z. Smith; following that, she went in-house with Expeditors International of Washington, a large freight forwarding company headquartered in Seattle. Throughout Wada's tenure at Expeditors, the company was restyling itself as a full-service consulting group, striving to assist clients in resolving problems with customs in addition to simply moving their freight. Next, Wada continued to do similar work, but this time as an associate in San Francisco for a Miami-based firm. In 2003, Wada was hired to open the San Francisco office of Serko Simon Gluck & Kane, a boutique firm specializing in import/export and international trade.
"As a law student, I was interested in environmental law. That was very much regulatory too, so it made it easy to fall into customs work," recalls Wada. "For anyone who doesn't practice customs and trade law, it definitely seems like a maze: extremely administrative with lots of layers to get through. The different government agencies involved don't always work together without hitches. Although Customs and the Department of Homeland Security are striving to ensure trade facilitation in spite of all the security measures that have been put in place since 9/11, other government agencies (like the EPA, FCC, and FDA) tend to demand further paperwork and slow things down."
"Prior to 9/11," explains Wada, "Customs was under the Department of the Treasury and everything was revenue driven; emphasis was placed on audits, determining whether or not companies were compliant with customs laws and regulations. Post-9/11, Customs moved under the Department of Homeland Security, and things became more security driven. As security programs were put in place, we observed a drop in audits and assessments. Only now are things beginning to get back to normal."
At work, Wada is both the only woman and the only ethnic minority. "Because Serko & Simon is a small, specialized practice, change in terms of diversity happens slowly," she explains. "At similar firms of comparable size, you find the same situation." While Wada respects her colleagues immensely, and in turn feels greatly respected by them, she concedes that, as the only woman on board, occasionally her male partners are a tad overly solicitous toward her. But Wada's not complaining-she enjoys her practice and her colleagues, and is very good at what she does.
What Wada most likes about outrigger canoe racing is the camaraderie she shares with the other paddlers. "Our club's pervasive Hawaiian spirit of ohana, or extended family, makes the racing experience very special," explains Wada. "The feeling of support among club members is awesome."
"Paddling is definitely a team sport," says Wada. "I've played team sports all my life, and, in a sense, what I do at the firm is an extension of that. When I work on cases, I definitely think of it as a team effort. I'm not a partner who barks commands, but rather someone who works alongside others, expecting everyone to contribute and do his or her best. For me, it's more enjoyable to work together as a group, and in the end, for everyone to share in the success." DB
Patrick Folliard is a freelance writer based in Silver Spring, Md.
From the July/August 2007 issue of Diversity & The Bar®