Alumni Spotlight: Dadri-Anne Graham
Name: Dadri-Anne Graham
Title: Senior Commercial Counsel — Cargill
Firm Background: Associate, 2017–20; Business Litigation, Minneapolis
What have you been doing since departing the firm?
I have been working in-house at Cargill, Incorporated. I am a senior commercial lawyer, and the primary counsel for two of our North American business groups — the Edible Oils group (so your vegetable cooking oil, or oils that go into some of our favorite household foods and snacks), and then our Cocoa and Chocolate group — that one doesn’t need much explanation!
What is the most challenging and/or most rewarding part of your work?
Currently, the most challenging part of my work is balancing the needs of both businesses on a daily basis. Both businesses are very busy with different market dynamics/conditions at play and have different regulatory and compliance issues. Those components make it so that I truly don’t have any two days looking the same. The most rewarding part of my work is helping my businesses achieve their goals. As a strategic partner for the businesses, and a lawyer, the black and white issues are fairly easy — and because they are, they are not where the real opportunities arise. The opportunities exist in the gray spaces — there I have to, or rather get to, balance both the legal and regulatory compliance aspects, but also use some curiosity and creativity to help the business achieve its goals. That is where I find the most reward — seeing my input contribute to some real positive impact on the businesses.
What made you decide to become an attorney?
I am a cliché when it comes to this question. I was enamored with becoming a lawyer ever since I saw Matlock and Perry Mason. My grandma, aunt, mom and I would regularly gather in the living room to watch Perry Mason in action. From an early age, I was captivated by how passionate the lawyers were when defending their clients and the joy the clients experienced at the end of the episodes. I was determined to dedicate my life to doing the same — helping others make their lives better.
What is your fondest memory/best experience/what do you miss about Faegre?
I miss my Bus Lit colleagues the most (Minneapolis and Chicago), and second most would be some of my PLMT colleagues. I also do miss litigation in general — I miss the court action aspect of litigation. Maybe not one memory in particular, but I will always remember how supported I felt from day one at the firm, regarding my professional development. Within one year, I was arguing motions in both state and federal court as a young attorney and that level of support/encouragement is something that will stay with me.
What would you change about the legal industry if you could?
One thing I would change is the way we define success, or what is good — especially in law firm settings. Working to the point of exhaustion or without balance in your life should not be the barometer we use to determine lawyers’ worth to an organization. Neither should we analyze newer lawyers’ probability of success based on their willingness to endure some things that some of us more experienced lawyers had to endure — this is a lot on the generational differences that really are not limited to the legal industry. The legal industry is often slow to adapt to certain trends or development in other industries — I find that to be true even with in-house legal departments — but if our collective goal is to be a part of a profession that is equitable, accessible and focused on fairly adjudicating matters that relate to peoples’ rights as well as creating/maintaining or ensuring law, order and justice in our society, we need to be better focused on really taking care of the talent (the people) who are doing the hard work — and that’s all of us.
What are you reading/watching/listening to right now?
Right now, I’m reading Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson because I want to watch the Hulu series that has been released — a bit late on that one. I just wrapped up Apples Never Fail, and it was…okay. I will tell you my guilty pleasures are almost all the Dick Wolf Entertainment series — Chicago Med, Chicago PD, Law and Order SVU, Law and Order and Law and Order Organized Crime. Abbott Elementary and Grey’s Anatomy are also on the rotation. And Cowboy Carter is of course playing on every Alexa device we have in our home. I’m a certified Beyhive member, so of course it’s going to be on repeat for a while.
How do like to spend your time outside of work?
Spending time with family and friends, traveling, reading, exercising. I live in the Maple Grove area with my husband Jahvaughn (Jay) McLeod; and one major ‘thing’ I’ve been doing since leaving the firm is “momming.” Not sure if Gen Z would approve of that vernacular. So Jay and I are very busy at home with our very sweet 2-year-old, Grayson. We are doing lots of immediate and extended family/friends play time and play dates.
What’s next for you personally or professionally?
To be honest, I’m not quite sure. I still feel there is a lot to do and to learn at Cargill, so will hopefully see some internal professional development in the next year or two, related to additional responsibility or transition to different business/enterprise groups. And personally, still figuring out ways to balance my personal and individual goals versus the mom-goals/wife-goals, etc. Jay and I do not really have family around to help (most of them are in Jamaica), so we’ve done a bit of traveling to ensure Grayson gets some family time (and we sneak in some beach time).
