Actions Speak Louder than Words for Chris Campbell

In celebration of Black History Month, Gamecock Athletes Magnifying Excellence (G.A.M.E.), which is the student-led organization for minority student-athletes, salutes Gamecock alumni who are achieving professionally outside of their sport.

As a lawyer, former South Carolina track & field student-athlete Chris Campbell (2010-2012) is accustomed to helping to settle disputes, but he is also dedicated to resolving problems and encourages others to seek and have access to justice outside of his professional life.

Campbell & coach Delethea Quarles at ’15 World Championships in Beijing

“We find ourselves at a curious time in our nation’s history,” Campbell said. “There’s a lot of anger, a lot of hurt, and justifiably so for the last year. If these United States are to continue as a united front, we have to find a way to listen to each other, hear each other out, and lay down our ideological arms. If we can’t do that, then we have much bigger problems, not just domestically, but abroad. I would hope that student-athletes that hear this will use this as a chance that right now, today, it’s not too early to start getting involved. Whether that be with politics, whether it’s with organizing, there’s so much work that we have to do.

“There is certainly someone in your community that would love for you to be involved. That’s what I challenge everyone: if you don’t like something that you see in your community, it’s on you, not anyone else, to get that done.”

The Irmo, S.C., native is an in-house attorney based out of the Florence, Italy, office of Baker Hughes, and has spent the last year in Portugal after the COVID-19 pandemic became prominent in Italy. Campbell’s fiancé, Ana Coimbra Trigo, is Portuguese, which made that adjustment easier as well.

Working overseas is nothing new for Campbell, who graduated in 2012 from South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business and went on to graduate from the School of Law in 2015.  Since then, he has earned a wealth of experience in entrepreneurship and international law. In fact, in his last year of law school, he spent the entire year abroad in Beijing, working in a Chinese law firm.

“I always had an international interest in a general sense,” Campbell said. “We had these life skills classes that we had to do that were required for all student-athletes (at South Carolina). I ended up talking with some international business folks and that’s where it sparked the interest. I had an aunt that worked in China a lot when I was growing up. Those were the seeds, and I started studying Chinese as an undergrad student, and the rest is history.”

Not one to put himself in a box, another fun fact about Campbell is that he had done a lot of voiceover work while in China, and his voice was localized for use in GPS devices there.

“I’ve never been shy about sharing my opinion. I always try to do so respectfully and again, in a way that will bring progress.”

Fast forward to his life after law school and Campbell currently practices international dispute resolution.

“So, that means mediation, arbitration, contract negotiation, and basically anytime where our company is doing business outside the United States,” Campbell explained. “Typically, we don’t want to go to the local courts, necessarily, and the local folks don’t want to come to U.S. courts, so we agree to compromise and say we will put our dispute or contract in before some arbitrators or mediators.

Campbell at the Great Wall of China

“I really love this job because you’re basically a problem-solver, all day. It’s always about resolving the problem.”

Campbell can speak Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and is learning Portuguese. Wherever he has traveled, Campbell has enjoyed the challenge in adapting and embracing different cultures.

“It’s a challenge, but it’s also the biggest benefit that when you go abroad for the first time you might find out that people just do things differently and you need to understand where they’re coming from. While that’s a challenge in some sense because it can be frustrating, at the same time, it broadens your horizons in so many ways. You may have thought that a problem should be dealt with one way, and you see that other folks genuinely see it differently because of their experience. It’s not wrong or right, it’s just different.”

That perspective has helped him in his career as well as other passions.

“As a lawyer, everyone always thinks their side is right,” Campbell said with a laugh. “I’ve yet to win a case by going in and saying, ‘you’re wrong. Pay us.’ More practically, with a lot of the tensions that have gone on in the last year, it’s one thing to say that you believe your ideology is right and correct, but it’s wholly other thing to say, here’s how we are going to get to a point where we are going to come together and move forward in a unified fashion. I wish that was something that more Americans could do; to have that ability to understand a completely different mindset without it being a vilification of the other side.”

Campbell noted that there were Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Portugal last summer with similar demands for justice that were seen in the U.S. and a change for systems that they felt were oppressing certain minority groups.

“We have to find a way to demand those things, but also do so in such a way that we can actually bring progress. For better or for worse, I’ve never been shy about sharing my opinion. I always try to do so respectfully and again, in a way that will bring progress.”

In that regard, Campbell has been vocal in amplifying black voices and started his own podcast called “Tales of the Tribunal” that has evolved into advocacy for topics such as providing some sort of compensation for internships that are normally unpaid opportunities.

“Nobody likes working for somebody when you don’t get paid. My colleagues and parallel organizations work together to try to provide opportunities, funding, and alternatives so that people do not have to work for free and there is some sort of tangible benefit that they are getting out of their experiences.

“We did a fundraiser last year called ‘Arbitration Idol’ where we connected up and coming practitioners with senior folks in the field. That was step 1. Step 2 is doing that same event his year. We’re going to be collaborating with law folks across the field to give opportunities to students that want to get involved.”

Campbell also advocates online for different things the corporate world can be doing better to engage any minority group that needs greater representation.