ALL ABOUT ZANE

Life moves fast. Every decision counts.

One day I was sleeping on a pallet on the floor of the Ida B. Wells projects. Years later, I woke up to skyline views from the Ritz during the Holland & Knight All-Lawyer Meeting.

Notre Dame saved my life. It made me a global citizen. WashU in St. Louis School of Law rewired my brain to solve problems, layer by layer. I spent 11 years in BigLaw—first at Holland & Knight, then at McDermott Will & Emery—where I learned how to practice law at the highest level.

That training helped in my role as Head of Legal at a video game company. But when my father overdosed in 2023, I realized I needed time—real time—for myself. The kind I never took during my entire legal career.

So I reconnected with who I was: an entertainer.
Like my father, I was born with the creative gene. WGN News ran a feature on how I balance rap and law. I've opened for Akon, Clipse, Mya, Cake, and Talib Kweli, and my music’s been licensed by ESPN, ABC, and more.

After my father passed, I took my passions seriously. Music, yes. But also acting. In the last two years, I’ve led national campaigns for Popeyes and Salesforce, landed a supporting role in a horror film now on Amazon and Apple TV, and most recently co-starred in an episode of Law & Order—and I didn’t play a lawyer 🙃.

By most measures, I should be dead, in jail, or lost.

But here I am.

I'm J. Zane Stephens—but you can call me Zane. I’m an attorney from Chicago, living in the middle of his wildest dreams.

I wasn’t supposed to be here.

My father left Chicago at 16 to attend Xavier University. He spoke three languages and played five instruments by ear. But addiction followed him, and he never graduated. My mother also battled addiction and never finished high school. I was raised on the South Side of Chicago by a rotating cast of aunts, uncles, and grandparents—my grandmother the crown jewel.

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