Attorney Chinwe Foster is the Founder and Principal attorney of The Foster Law Firm, LLC and has been practicing law in Atlanta since 2005. As a Howard University School of Law graduate, she models the way she practices law based on Howard University School of Law’s mission statement: “A lawyer’s either a social engineer or… a parasite on society … A social engineer [is] a highly skilled, perceptive, sensitive lawyer who [understands] the Constitution of the United States and [knows] how to explore its uses in the solving of problems of local communities and in bettering conditions of [its] citizens.” Attorney Foster and the Foster Law Firm have established a reputation of providing the armor for people fighting for their livelihood, freedom, and future. Her accomplished record in trials has led her to be called one of the GOATs (Greatest of All Time) by her colleagues and clients.
Q: What separates Foster Law Firm from other Family And Criminal Law Firms?
A: I always say that we are a holistic law firm and I really stand by that. I think that when you’re making a decision about your life, whether you take a plea or not, whether it’s to two years to serve, or 10 years to serve…you’re making a decision about your life, and you have to have someone that you trust that is navigating you through that process. We look at each case in a holistic way. We communicate with the families. We communicate with the client. We try to and I always say ‘if this was my family member, how would I want them to be represented? How would I want them to be treated? How would I want them to be spoken to? That’s why it’s also important to me the kind of attorneys that I hire, because you can hire someone who was just here for a check, who doesn’t really care about the clients that we deal with. When I see a client, I think about what attorney might match best with a particular client, so that we can give that client that holistic representation that sets us apart from all the other firms in Atlanta.
Q: There are only a handful of women (Black) owned/principal attorneys with their own law firm in the country. What are your thoughts on this?
A: The legal field is a male dominated, non-minority dominated field. I think that it doesn’t surprise me and it’s not a good thing. In fact, there’s a statistic that I saw that said, basically, black women are only 2% of the population of practicing attorneys. So it doesn’t surprise me that they’re not that many of us. But there is a group of women that I do know, at least in Atlanta, that are Black women who are running firms who are doing a great job at what they do. It is unfortunate, given the field that we’re in, that the percentage is so low. But just as we have more Black women, go to law school, attend law school, come out, build, you know, their craft, build their businesses, hopefully that will change in the future. As you know, more young Black women are seeing women like me, and the other Black women that I know, who do own their own law firms, and are deciding to go out on their own. My hope is that in the future, that will change and the numbers will increase.
Q: What is one misconception in the legal process you would like to shed light on?
A: Oh, there are a lot of misconceptions. I would say the biggest one is that we’re not magicians. I think people hire you and expect you to perform magic. I don’t care how skilled or how excellent, or how holistic we are…we are not magicians. We can help you, we can navigate you through the system, we can give you the best representation possible, but we are not magicians and we cannot make magic happen.
Q: Who are the women in law that you admire?
A: The interesting thing is that these are women that I work with. I can think of Tanya Miller, who was now a state representative of Fulton County. Fani Willis, who is a Fulton County district attorney. Ellaretha Coleman, who is one of the top Family Law Attorneys in Georgia. Regina Edwards, another Family Law Attorney. Edidiong Aaron, she’s another one that is exceptional. The women that motivate me are the women that I see every day, who are in the field that I’m in and who I see in court killing it. That’s what inspires me. They’re not big names that people would expect. It’s the women that I see and even my own attorneys that I hire when I see them. Attorney [Tiffiney] Franks, Attorney [Janee] Hawkins, Attorney [Alexis] Coleman-Watkins. Just seeing them every day come in and being so eager to help people and do what they do. The women in law that inspire me are the women I see every day performing magic, although we’re not magicians.
Q: Any lasting words of wisdom that you want to give?
A: When you look at the attorneys who all the celebrities go to hire or who are the highest paid attorneys, they’re typically white males — they’re not black women, they’re not people of color. The level of representation that you would get with these attorneys that I’ve named, as opposed to the big name attorneys, is you can clearly see the difference if you actually sit down and go and watch the trials. When you see both of them, the difference is clear. I hope that platforms like The Bold Maven™ will continue to shine a light on Women of Color, Black women and minorities, who are doing excellent so that people will see you that don’t have to go and spend your money in with Joe Blow just because you think that they’re the best because society makes you think that they’re the best. If you’re looking for great representation, look at other places or give Black women a chance. You will very likely end up in a much better situation than you would think if you were to go and hire Joe Blow.
Explore more about Attorney Chinwe Foster and Foster Law Firm:
Website: Foster Law Firm
Facebook: Foster Law Firm, LLC
IG: @fosterlawga
