Before embarking on a career as a public servant in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Kirsten Brown, ’08, was the first Black woman to be president of McGeorge’s Student Bar Association (SBA). Now, driven by a desire to stay connected to her law school, she is the first Black woman to be president of McGeorge’s Alumni Board.

“I wanted to give back,” Brown said. “I work for the government, so it’s more challenging to give back financially, but I can give my time.”

Brown was recruited to the Alumni Board by a former classmate. Her focus on staying connected and giving back have been central to her goals for the Board since becoming its president.

“One of our focuses as a board is engaging and reengaging students with the school, fostering that feeling of connection, and finding the best ways to serve our students,” Brown said.

The Alumni Board supports students in many ways, including fundraising to provide bar exam support scholarships for first-generation students and students of color. The board also works with McGeorge’s Career Development Office (CDO), SBA, Office of JD Admissions, and other offices to find ways to help the school meet the needs of students. Board members work with the CDO to track down students or recent graduates who staff or faculty have lost communication with and they help Admissions recruit students.

Brown is also uniquely qualified to lead the Alumni Board at a very dynamic time in McGeorge’s history, the beginning stages of the institution’s anti-racism initiative. The initiative is close to the heart for Brown and one that she fully supports.

“It’s about affirmatively working to make the institution more equitable,” said Brown of the initiative. “The experience being the first Black woman to be SBA President helped me learn how to bring individuals and groups to a place of mutual understanding. Right now, it’s about getting people to the same starting point, using a shared language, and focusing on the goal ahead of us – affirmatively working to make the institution more equitable.”

“The school has already changed so much for the better. Students and alumni should feel incredibly proud of their law school. The legal profession is changing dramatically and McGeorge is leading in preparing students for 21^st Century Lawyering,” Brown said.