Enthusiastic mentor, admissions recruiter, Board of Councilors member and longstanding supporter — Norman Barker does it all
Strictly speaking, Norman Barker (BS 1969, JD 1972) didn’t need to be in Los Angeles on Nov. 14. He could have attended the USC Gould Board of Councilors meeting by Zoom from his home in Bradenton, Florida.
But Barker had his own reasons for being on campus. A Washington, D.C. insider who prides himself on fostering connections, he wanted to be present at two high-stakes meetings he’d arranged for his mentee, 2L student Marshall Amaya.
The first meeting was with A.J. Merton (JD 2011), a top litigation partner in Quinn Emanuel’s Washington D.C. practice. The second was with Cofer Black, former CIA counterterrorism chief and post-9/11 Ambassador-at-Large to the State Department.
Both men are Trojans. Merton is Barker’s former mentee. Black, who earned both an undergraduate and master’s degree at USC, first met Barker at the Congressional Country Club and later worked together for a mutual client. Both were eager to meet their friend’s protégé.
Earlier in the year, Dean Franita Tolson had asked Barker to take Amaya under his wing. A first-generation student from a working-class family, Amaya was trying to land a summer associate position with a white-shoe law firm.
But after spending time with his new mentee and getting to know his passions, Barker had an idea for a great fit. He recalls how he “did a great deal of soul searching” about an ideal professional opportunity for Amaya.
Amaya was stunned when Barker suggested “starting your career as a lawyer in service to your country — something in the intelligence community, the Justice Department, the SEC, Treasury, or the military.” Government service had never crossed Amaya’s mind, but he quickly warmed to the idea.
Barker has advised and befriended many USC Gould students – representing a diverse range of backgrounds and interests – over the years. Recent mentees include Johnathan “Chief” Coleman (JD 2022), an intellectual property litigation and privacy associate with K&L Gates in Los Angeles and vice chair of the City of Long Beach ethics commission; and John Bender (JD 2022), a private equity and M&A associate with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in San Francisco. There’s also Sean Khoury (JD 2023), an associate specializing in complex real estate transactions at Kirkland & Ellis in Los Angeles; and Aigerim Saudabayeva (JD 2022), who focuses on merger clearance, litigation and cartel investigations in the antitrust division of Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider in Washington, D.C.
“All are highly intelligent, hard-working, driven young people who are a joy to know,” Barker says.
Road to friendship
Unlike these more recent mentees, A.J. Merton was already a successful attorney when Barker entered his life in 2014. The Quinn Emanuel litigation partner who interviewed Barker’s new mentee in November had been a Justice Department lawyer back then.
Barker and Merton originally met at the annual USC Gould Dean’s Reception in Washington, D.C. For the past 20 years, Barker has hosted this elegant social mixer at his own expense. The event typically draws about 50 attendees, evenly divided between alumni and newly admitted students with offers from the most prestigious law schools in the country. The goal, according to Barker: to persuade “a bit more than our fair share of top candidates” to commit to USC Gould.
In 2014, Merton was looking to transition out of DOJ, and he had his eyes on Quinn Emanuel.
Following the Dean’s Reception, Barker invited Merton to lunch at the Metropolitan Club to discuss his career options. As their friendship deepened, Barker together with Bill Burck, Quinn Emanuel’s global co-managing partner, co-sponsored Merton for membership. Later, Barker co-sponsored Merton for membership in the Congressional Country Club.
By the time Merton came up for partner at Quinn Emanuel, his potential as a well-connected rainmaker was not in doubt.
“His deep intelligence, killer drive, integrity and membership in these clubs mattered,” Barker says.
The road of friendship goes both ways. In April, Barker was Merton’s guest for the Saturday and Sunday rounds of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga.
California roots
Though Barker can trace his ancestry back to the American Revolution, he wasn’t born to country-club privilege. His dad had fled the Texas oilfields during the Great Depression to reinvent himself in California, passing the CPA exam and beginning a career with Howard Hughes and later Northrup Corporation.
Barker grew up in Inglewood and transferred to USC out of El Camino College. His bachelor’s degree was in psychology, but by far his favorite electives were in accounting. He stayed on at USC for law school, working part-time at Ernst & Ernst, now Ernst & Young, and stuck with the Big Four accounting firm for the next 30 years. EY “duty tours” took him from Los Angeles to Cleveland and New York, serving as partner-in-charge of the firm’s tax practices in Orange County, Detroit, and finally the Washington, D.C. office, where he ended his career was a member of the National Tax Department.
In midlife, Barker embarked on a second career in private client wealth management with AllianceBernstein. After 20 years, he left in 2020 to run the private trust company of a Florida-based, ultra-high-net-worth family. Last year, Barker and his wife Kathy sold their Potomac, Md., home to be near their daughter, Jordan, her husband, Thomas, and their now 17-month-old granddaughter Terra in Florida.
At 77, Barker remains active. “The word ‘retirement’ is anathema to my self-image,” he says. His public service roles include trusteeships at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and Eckerd College (his daughter’s alma mater) in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Though he left Los Angeles more than 50 years ago and never practiced law, Barker’s commitment to USC Gould has stayed rock-solid.
“All the richness of the life that I’ve enjoyed goes back to USC and law school,” he says.
Beyond the hundreds of hours invested in his USC Gould mentees, admissions recruiting efforts and service on the Board of Councilors, Barker and his wife Kathy have generously supported the law school, endowing both a student scholarship and a dean’s discretionary fund.
Passing the torch
As for Marshall Amaya, at the end of his hourlong meeting in November with Merton, the Quinn Emanuel partner offered to fly him out to Washington, D.C., take him around town, and introduce him to other partners and associates. (Merton serves on the D.C. office’s recruiting committee.) Amaya and his girlfriend will be Merton’s guests during their stay.
Later that day, Ambassador Cofer Black, the retired CIA counterterrorism chief, gave Amaya candid and insightful advice for setting the wheels in motion to pursue job opportunities with the federal government.
But for Barker, the cherry on top was when Merton told Amaya: “I may steal you away” — and take over as the young man’s mentor. “Marshall left the room walking on air,” Barker recalls.
It delights Barker immensely to know he’s passing the mentoring torch to his former mentee.
The day after the meetings, Amaya expressed his gratitude in an email to Barker: “I think A.J. and I will be friends for a long time,” he wrote, “and I have no one but you to thank.”
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