Sean Wynn’s favorite motto is “lift as you climb.”
For the past three years while pursuing his degree at Harvard Law School, Wynn ’25 has used the law and his passion for helping to lift others every chance he gets.
Helping others helps you, said Wynn, “because when you give so much of yourself, you are able to have a richer network and community of support around you at all times, and it allows you to exceed in ways you wouldn’t have been able to do alone.”
Wynn has devoted his law school summers to rigorous legal work and his campus time outside of class to representing clients unable to afford lawyers through Harvard Defenders, building community among Black students at the school, encouraging prospective students to attend Harvard, and recognizing support staff at the school’s annual awards dinner. He has been treasurer and then president of the school’s Black Law Students Association, has been executive editor of financial operations for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, and has been president of the Harvard Association for Law and Business.
Others have taken note of Wynn’s many campus contributions. He was recently awarded the Frank S. Righeimer Jr. Student Prize for Citizenship that recognizes a student’s exceptional citizenship in the school community. Wynn said being nominated for the award by his peers and members of the faculty and staff was both an honor and an affirmation.
“It was a reminder to always do good by people,” he said, “and that you are always going to be more rewarded and be in a better position when you lead from the front and when you are of service to others.”
“I’ll always be looking down to lift as I climb. Because wherever I just was, there’s somebody who needs my hands. That’s how I want to live my life.”
Pursuing a legal career was long in coming for Wynn, who grew up in Oklahoma with visions of defending clients and arguing in a courtroom. He was a member of his school’s debate team and enjoyed arguing with his older brother and having spirited discussions with his mother, a journalism and mass communications professor who, he said with a smile, was “never one to shy away from engaging in back-and-forth discourse.”
But developing in tandem with Wynn’s interest in the law was an interest in the entertainment industry. After studying business administration at Jackson State University, a historically Black college in Mississippi, Wynn worked for years in California, first for the talent agency William Morris Endeavor representing several high-profile clients, and later with Live Nation, booking music shows and working with artists’ representatives. Throughout, he watched closely as industry lawyers dug deep into deals and renegotiated terms on behalf of their clients.
“Some of the experiences that I had with attorneys … really led to me wanting that expertise because often what the lawyers said, or the way they were able to navigate a client’s interest, would take precedence.”
Wynn decided that studying the law would allow him to blend his passions into one. He was accepted at a number of top-tier schools, but Harvard stood out for him. “I knew that I wanted to come to a law school that had a thriving Black community and a thriving BLSA, and Harvard is known for having the best BLSA in the country. And I can confirm that after having been a member for three years. It’s an incredible place to understand what it means to be a Black lawyer and to connect to other attorneys and create a peer network.”
Wynn had a firm hand in keeping that BLSA tradition alive during his time on campus. After the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling on college admissions quickly impacted universities’, and law schools’, student recruitment efforts, Wynn spoke out publicly and worked to boost the group’s independent outreach work. As BLSA president, he increased the number of students on the organization’s recruiting committee. He made his case in person, attending a career fair at his alma mater, Jackson State, and the national Black Prelaw Conference in New York City.
After graduation, Wynn will head to New York to join Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he will focus on mergers and acquisitions and conduct “a fair bit of media, sports, and entertainment” business. He’s staying on the East Coast for now so he can be close to Alexandra while she attends business school in Pennsylvania, though entertainment work back in Los Angeles is likely on the horizon.
Wherever he lands, Wynn said, he will continue giving back and lifting others around him in whatever way he can.
“Just because I’m leaving this campus doesn’t mean that I’m going to leave the network of people I’ve been mentoring,” said Wynn. “It’s just that rather than being the 3L, I will be the first-year associate and can provide them advice in that role. I don’t ever want the cycle to stop. For me, I’ll always be looking down to lift as I climb. Because wherever I just was, there’s somebody who needs my hands. That’s how I want to live my life.”
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