‘I found having the responsibility for the growth of a (law) firm to be an exciting challenge,’ says Regina Petty. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

After spending six years as an associate and four years as a partner at Gray Cary — the large San Diego law firm now called DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary — Regina Petty wanted more flexibility and control over her job. So she left in 1992 to establish, with three partners, what she calls a business litigation boutique law firm — Wilson Petty Kosmo & Turner. The Downtown office has 45 employees, 19 attorneys in all.

“I’m not an institutional person,” says Petty, who was born in Watts and grew up in the Los Angeles area. “I am more entrepreneurial than the typical large firm partner wants or needs to be. I found having the responsibility for the growth of a firm to be an exciting challenge.” She adds that “navigating the politics of a large firm” was not appealing to her.

With unabashed pride, Petty says the business is both woman owned and minority owned. Her partners are Claudette Wilson, Fred Kosmo and Vickie Turner. They share managerial responsibilities but depend a lot on Joel DeVof, the administrator they hired 11 years ago.

The four partners are in the same age range. Petty will turn 50 in August. Unlike others who might fear that onset, Petty welcomes it. “It will be an exciting milestone for me,” she says.

The Stanford Law School graduate, a single mom who was a TWIN honoree in 1989, is proud of her children. Her daughter, Alicia Ramsey, attends Spellman College in Atlanta and has a French major with minors in pre-law and political science. Son Sterling Ramsey, a sophomore at Francis Parker School, is a budding entrepreneur who planned and carried out an elaborate birthday party for himself when he turned 16. He also is considering a law career.

“I’m very pleased that being the children of a working mom has not caused them to be uninterested in the law or to have negative feelings about attorneys,” says Petty.

— Manny Cruz