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As a young child, Alan Bowie—now senior counsel at publishing giant Simon & Schuster—thought long and hard about his future. His fate was sealed when he was in third grade and his uncle Jim was installed as chief judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a federal trial court.
“We all attended as a family,” Bowie recalls. “Seeing the court, the ceremony, and how folks admired and spoke about my uncle Jim made me think that this was something that I would want to do.” The seed had been planted.
By fifth grade, Bowie had ditched his backpack for a briefcase. “My uncle Bill, bless his heart, bought me a briefcase. I remember going to Staples to get it,” Bowie says. “I had this idea that if I wanted to grow up and be this lawyer, I needed to get started now. That was the genesis of both the decision—the inspiration—to be a lawyer and me putting it into practice as young as fifth grade.”
While some individuals attend law school with dreams of practicing a specific type of law, like civil rights or labor and employment, Bowie’s goal was simpler. He aspired “to be a good lawyer,” a goal he set for himself after reading William Coleman’s book, Counsel for the Situation: Shaping the Law to Realize America’s Promise.
In the book, Coleman argues that firms have become bloated and lawyers are too quick to specialize in a specific type of law. “He says in the book, ‘The greatest talent of any lawyer is to quickly become an expert in what is relevant,’” Bowie says.
Although viewed as a “big firm lawyer,” Coleman had wide and varied experiences. He helped write the brief for Brown v. Board of Education, was the first Black lawyer to graduate first in his class from Harvard, clerked for both the federal appellate court and the Supreme Court, and was elected partner at a white-shoe law firm. “I liked this idea. Here was this guy who just wanted to be a good lawyer,” Bowie says.
After earning a degree in economics from Howard University and a JD from Wake Forest, Bowie went to work at Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey. Applying Coleman’s philosophy to his own newly minted career, he aimed to become a firm lifer, with the goal of building a client base and becoming a partner. “I thought in between those lines, I would get to do interesting, fun work,” he says.
“An effective legal team has its thumb on the pulse of the critical issues of the company and is ready and willing to do all that needs to be done.”
Alan Bowie
Bowie amassed an impressive book of business while at Carmody, but his career took a detour when he was offered a job working for “superstar general counsel” LaTanya Langley of BIC. “I couldn’t truthfully turn down the opportunity to work for her,” Bowie admits. Moving from Carmody to BIC reframed Bowie’s career.
“I wanted to be this commercial litigator and labor and employment lawyer at a national level. Working at BIC gave me the opportunity to do that, but to do it in a different way,” Bowie says. “Rather than being a partner at a firm, I was an internal business partner at BIC.”
Inspired by Langley, Bowie stretched his intellectual curiosity, as his legal role model Coleman had. “It changed my career trajectory and made me think more broadly. It was in harmony with this idea that I am intellectually curious about the law. It met with my personality and the career I wanted to build,” Bowie says.
Bowie left BIC to join Simon & Schuster as senior counsel in November 2023. He now manages the publisher’s litigation portfolio, works on general commercial affairs, and supports special sales. He also advises one of Simon & Schuster’s imprints on its day-to-day issues.
As part of his responsibilities, he manages the prosecution or defense of lawsuits. Commercially, he helps the company achieve its business objectives by entering into business agreements that also protect the company.
“There are a number of issues that may arise,” Bowie says. “My job as a legal partner is to make sure the company is able to meet all its legal requirements.”
Simon & Schuster’s legal team is composed of eight lawyers, all of whom report to the company’s general counsel. Bowie believes individuals in a legal department must be flexible, good communicators, and willing to assist in all matters. “An effective legal team has its thumb on the pulse of the critical issues of the company,” Bowie says, “and is ready and willing to do all that needs to be done.”
