Preet Bharara.

At a summer cocktail party for minority law students at the Yale Club in New York, a young black woman posed this question to Preet Bharara, the high-profile former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York: What can minorities do to overcome discrimination in the legal profession?

“The best way to overcome anything is to work really, really hard,” Bharara responded. “You can overcome prejudice by sheer excellence of work.”