Bro. Cory J. Person

Following in the example of Brother Fred G. Minnis, Brother Cory J. Person is a pioneer in the Legal community of Tampa & St. Petersburg Florida. Brother Cory J. Person is currently the first Diversity and Inclusion Shareholder in the history of Hill Ward Henderson, a regional full-service law firm based in Tampa, Florida.  He is the firm’s only African-American partner, and one of two African-American lawyers of his more than 100 lawyer firm. Bro. Person previously served as President of the largest African-American Bar Association in the Tampa area, and in the spring of 2020, was elected as President-Elect of the 7,000 member Hillsborough County Bar Association. Bro. Person will become only the third African-American President of the Hillsborough County Bar Association in June 2021. Bro. Person received his law degree from the University Of North Carolina School of Law.  During his final year of law school, he served as President of the UNC Trial Team, President of the UNC Trial Law Academy, and Managing Editor of the UNC School of Law First Amendment Law Review. 

Serving as the Diversity & Inclusion Officer presents its own set of unique challenges, but also presents an opportunity to serve his community by advocating for people of color as attorneys and vendors of the firm.  In this role, Bro. Person has the occasion to help shape the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion initiatives for the future, which he endeavors to ensure will include many more lawyers and partners of color. 

Bro. Person was initiated into the Beta Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma in the spring of 1996. He shares:

The spring of 1996 will always be one of the most important and indelible times of my life, as it is when I became a man of Beta Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma, Inc. while attending Tufts University.  Though I did not know it at the time, the lessons and values of Brotherhood, Scholarship and Service would guide me in adulthood, and in some measure, are responsible for much of the success that I have attained. March of 2021 will mark my 25th anniversary as a Sigma man.  There are few associations that can last as long as 25 years.  The binding tenets of Sigma, and the true brotherhood that I have experienced as a brother, has held me fast to my fraternity.  Over these 25 years, I have leaned on and benefited from the support and guidance of my Sigma brothers.  I have known that wherever my professional career may take me, there is a strong likelihood that I will have a ready affinity group of other brothers. 

Following Bro. Person time at Tufts, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. While serving, he worked as a military paralegal, which ultimately sparked his interest in the law. He completed his undergraduate degree while serving, earning his B.S., magna cum laude, from Methodist University before heading to UNC School of Law.