Nacente Seabury Fights for Justice

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During the hot, humid summer of 2014, Nacente Seabury was busy studying for the bar exam in Kansas City. It was August, just days after police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed an unarmed teenager named Michael Brown in Ferguson, twelve miles northwest of St. Louis. The killing ignited protests that Seabury first heard about on social media from friends and family in St. Louis.

The aftermath of the incident—and the cries of the people gathering and organizing—were haunting, Seabury says. The ambitious law school graduate was already hoping to use her degree to fight for equality, justice, and progress. The Ferguson protests only strengthened her resolve, spurring her to work with two other women to plan a peaceful rally in Kansas City. More than a thousand people attended the rally, which aimed to honor Michael Brown and demand change.

“I watched these protests unfold, and I saw lawyers working to protect the rights of those involved,” she explains. “I started to see it as my duty and obligation to orient my work so I could be a true advocate for those who don’t have a voice.”

It doesn’t hurt that Seabury likes to argue—a characteristic that emerged at an early age. Seabury’s parents still joke about her ability to successfully argue for juice over water before her fourth birthday.

Seabury was born and raised in Sedalia, a town whose population of approximately twenty thousand includes a vibrant history encompassing ragtime, railroads, agricultural and industrial foundations, and close-knit neighborhoods and communities. The median household income in Sedalia is under $48,500 per year, and nearly one in five Sedalians live below the poverty line.

The town is part of a larger historic river region known as Little Dixie, where early settlers used slave labor to grow crops like cotton and tobacco on large plantations. Seabury’s family, like most remaining in Little Dixie, has lived there for many generations.

“My people came here in bondage, but look what has been born out of it. The resilience of my ancestors has left its imprint on me, and I carry that resilience with me in my practice.”

Nacente Seabury

Seabury, who majored in history at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, still carries the heritage and legacy of Little Dixie with her today as she works as corporate counsel at Cummins. “My professional life is both humbling and a source of pride. My people came here in bondage, but look what has been born out of it,” she says. “The resilience of my ancestors has left its imprint on me, and I carry that resilience with me in my practice.”

That perspective has motivated all of Seabury’s career choices. She spent her 1L summer and an entire semester her 3L year working with The Internation Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), an international human rights NGO, with offices in West Africa, including Accra, Ghana. FIDA holds the Ghanaian government accountable for its obligations regarding laws that impact women, children, the poor, and other vulnerable people.

When Seabury started her career, she wanted to be a labor and employment attorney. But she was placed into the environmental law practice group at Polsinelli and became an environmental litigator instead. While the learning curve was steep, Seabury benefited from the mentorship of a young environmental partner, Adam Troutwine.

This turn of events taught her the importance of staying flexible and open-minded. “I found an opportunity in an unexpected place and wrote my own story after that. You can’t control everything that happens to you, but you can control how you react,” she says.

After several career stops, including a move from Kansas City to Chicago to join Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP, Seabury joined Cummins in 2022 as the engine manufacturer’s corporate counsel of litigation. In that role, she manages and supports active legal issues, including warranty claims, contract disputes, sophisticated commercial litigation, prelitigation matters, and environmental litigation and policy.

“I started to see it as my duty and obligation to orient my work so I could be a true advocate for those who don’t have a voice.”

Nacente Seabury

One major initiative requiring Seabury’s time and attention is Destination Zero, the Cummins plan to reach zero emissions by 2050. While the finish line is twenty-five years away, the company is making rapid progress with quantifiable goals for 2030. Its internal combustion engine technologies, for example, will focus on employing advanced diesel, gas, and hydrogen technologies to lower emissions from newly sold products by 25 percent over the next six years.

Additionally, Cummins has introduced Accelera. The new brand offers a broad portfolio of zero-emissions alternatives, such as battery electric and fuel cell electric solutions. Cummins has already reduced the greenhouse gas emissions from its facilities by over 30 percent.

Nearly three-fourths of the Cummins workforce participates in its official community engagement program. The legal department, however, has another opportunity to make an impact. In the wake of the racially motivated political unrest of 2020, departmental leaders created the Cummins CARE Initiative. The initiative pools time, money, and other resources to support Black and Latinx communities, with an emphasis on providing pro bono legal services.

For Seabury, who became a lawyer to fight for the vulnerable and marginalized, the initiative was a welcome development. “I was worried I might have to give up volunteering while in an in-house position, but Cummins jumped at the chance to support pro bono work,” she says. “I get the best of both worlds: the chance to get involved in cutting-edge litigation with a company that values making a difference in the lives of others and impacting society as a whole.”

Simply put, Cummins allows Seabury to be herself. As a mentor to many associates and young attorneys, she encourages those following in her footsteps to seek out the same kind of environment. “You can’t hide,” she says. “Refuse to conceal the things you think others may not accept. Find a place where you can live your truth, because that’s how we grow as people, move a business forward, and evolve as a profession.”

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