‘The Next Person’s Journey’

Omar Bareentto is an investor—but not the kind focused just on finance. The Newark attorney believes in putting time into people.

In his current portfolio are: Aaron, a 17-year-old he connected with through Big Brothers Big Sisters of America a decade ago; fellow members of The Collective, a loose association of lawyers of color that he helped launch; and the next generation of African-American legal leaders.

“Black lawyers in the ‘70s and ‘80s … didn’t have people that came before them to share their experiences. They were kind of doing it on their own,” says Bareentto, 33, a business litigator at McCarter & English. “I have an obligation to share my experiences so people can learn from them.”

That’s part of the idea behind The Collective, a group of about 30 male African-American lawyers focused on promoting community service and business development, which has taken part in initiatives ranging from placing computers in Central New Jersey schools to packing lunches for the unhoused in Camden.
“Making a difference is having a positive impact on the next person’s journey,” he says. “Networking and relationship-building is a long process … but that’s where opportunities are going to come from.”

Aaron, his “little brother” from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Essex, Hudson & Union Counties, was 7 when the pair first connected.

“He’s taught me a lot. Words can’t describe what he means to me,” Bareentto says. “Seeing him grow up is an honor. His mom is a single parent and she’s amazing. I’m really just here to give her an assist when she needs it.”

Bareentto’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from the Oromia region of Ethiopia in the 1980s after the Red Terror, years of political instability marked by violent uprisings and government-sanctioned murders. The couple, both members of the Oromo ethnic group, met in Minnesota, where almost all the estimated 40,000 Americans of Oromo descent have settled. For work, reasons, the couple moved just outside Boston, where they raised Bareentto and his two sisters before returning to Minneapolis as empty nesters.
“I realized early that having a good grasp of the law, knowing the rules, really empowers you in this society,” he says. “It came with a sort of stability and respect.”

Bareentto earned his J.D. at Rutgers, attracted by the school’s financial aid package and its Minority Student Program.

“MSP is an organization that measures its success by the success of its members,” Bareentto says. “I wanted to be part of that.”

After graduation, he spent about a year practicing tax and real estate law with a Boston firm, then returned to New Jersey. He was eager to return to the New York metropolitan area, where he already had multiple business contacts, and to McCarter, where he’d worked as a summer law clerk. It was a firm, he says, “that took a genuine interest in my future.”

He was immediately in the thick of it, contributing work to a yearslong consumer fraud lawsuit involving the New York Giants. “I got to see all of the work that goes into preparing for trial—how much time, effort and attention to detail it requires,” says Bareentto, who helped write motions and voir dire questions. “Watching how people did it, and me being involved with it, really stuck with me.”

Another case Bareentto is proud to have been a part of: a 2020 lawsuit regarding vote-counting in the Montclair mayoral race. The complainants, 15 residents and the losing candidate, wanted votes previously rejected in Montclair’s mail-in only municipal election to be counted.

Bareentto argued the motion for dismissal, which the judge granted.
“I never thought I’d be working on something like that, so close to home; so important because it’s going to determine who will be the next mayor for the next
four years,” he says. “National politics may be more salacious and in-your-face, but local county and state are probably more consequential.”

Bareentto says he’s learned a lot during his seven years at McCarter.

“Things are always changing, and as I’m practicing more and more, it keeps things exciting and fresh,” he says. “This really affects people’s lives, their businesses, their bottom lines. It comes with a lot
of responsibility.

“In litigation, very rarely are people coming to you in good spirits,” he says. “People come to us with problems, and we’re taxed with fixing them to the best of our ability. Litigation is complicated, but at the root of it, you’re fixing a problem.”