By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
Attorney Louis Brown Jr. draws inspiration from famous lawyers - including one who lived more than four centuries ago.
St. Thomas More’s career as a young lawyer led him to become a Member of Parliament and Chancellor of England serving King Henry the Eighth.
“This was extraordinarily inspiring to me then and now,” says Brown, who also finds role models in such other great men as Thurgood Marshall, Gandhi and Lincoln.
“These were men who — though imperfect — changed the world for the better by serving witness to authentic freedom and truth.”
While Brown — an attorney with Fraser Trebilcock Davis & Dunlap in Detroit — may not yet have served a king, he too has walked the corridors of power. His experience includes interning at the Michigan State Senate, clerking as a summer law clerk in the Office of Legal Counsel to the Governor, serving as a staff assistant to U.S. Sen.
Carl Levin in Detroit and Lansing, and working in several capacities in the nation’s capital.
A resident of the Washington, D.C., region for six of the last nine years, Brown spent three years at Howard University School of Law — where one of his law professors had assisted in the litigation of the companion case to the watershed U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation, Brown v. Board of Education; and another had a major impact on South Africa’s constitution after the fall of apartheid. His law school experience included working as a law clerk/extern for the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations during one of the panel’s investigations of offshore tax havens.
Upon graduation and passing the bar in 2007, Brown practiced at the Fraser law firm for two years before moving back to Washington in fall 2009. After a short stint at the Democratic National Committee, he worked as Associate Director, Social Concerns, for the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) in Annapolis, and lobbied at the state legislature for the Catholic Church in Maryland.
“Every day felt like an opportunity to promote the common good and advocate for the poor, vulnerable, and unborn,” he says. “Working on fair housing legislation, efforts to protect funding for the social safety net, and other measures affecting poor families and the homeless, inspired a relentless energy and fulfillment that made my work more of a vocation than a job.”
Working under the leadership of the MCC’s executive director and the Catholic Bishops of Maryland, including Cardinal Wuerl of Washington, D.C. and then-Archbishop of Baltimore Cardinal O’Brien, was an amazing professional experience, he says.
“When I watched the television coverage of the Papal Conclave and saw both Cardinal Wuerl and Cardinal O’Brien, who I had the privilege of meeting, walk into the Sistine Chapel to participate in the Conclave that eventually elected Pope Francis, it was incredible.”
In fall 2011, Brown became legislative counsel for U.S. Congressman Dan Lungren, then-Republican Representative for California’s 3rd Congressional District, and was his aide to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. Among other duties, he assisted Lungren at oversight hearings of the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
“It was constantly surreal to work and staff him in the same U.S. House Judiciary Committee Hearing Room in which the Watergate hearings occurred,” Brown says. “I won’t soon forget working on legislation on issues ranging from health care, small business, national security, and the social safety net to anti-human trafficking efforts and civil rights.”
Brown also attended President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Address.
“It was such a surreal experience that I’m still not sure I fully appreciate how rare an opportunity that was to watch history,” he says. “Those years in the D.C./ Maryland region were incredible and all gifts from God. Living in D.C. was amazing because the city attracts not only dynamic American culture, but also the best of our diverse global culture.”
But Michigan — and Metro Detroit in particular — will always be home for this Southfield native who grew up in Troy and currently makes his home there.
“I’m heavily invested spiritually, personally, and professionally in Michigan and especially Southeast Michigan — plus, my immediate family is here,” he says. “The East Coast is outstanding, but there’s nothing like Michigan and Metro Detroit — they’re in the beginnings of a resurgence that I want to help build and strengthen. We’re blue collar, salt of the Earth people that love God and our families and are concerned about our neighbor.”
According to Brown, there can be an over emphasis on status in the D.C. political world that undermines the understanding of the universal dignity of all work.
“Especially for political culture, it’s immensely important that people in government and politics understand and are inspired by everyday working Joes who work hard, don’t complain, and go home to their families — because that’s most of America,” he says. “In Detroit, people speak to each other and really couldn’t care less where you work and that’s incredibly refreshing.”
A member of the Oakland County Republican Party, and an award recipient at its 124th Annual Lincoln Day Dinner, Brown has been “obsessed” from boyhood with political and sports history and watching historical documentaries on the Arts & Entertainment channel.
“Whether it was a book or a television show about Lincoln or Dr. Martin Luther King, Babe Ruth or Jesse Owens or St. Thomas More, I had to watch it, read it, and learn about it,” he says. “As I grew older, I came to understand the impact our collective human history has on the living conditions and struggle of our brothers and sisters around the world.”
Like many other kids, Brown loved baseball. But around first or second grade he started paying attention to politics and in 1992, at the age of 10, came down with political campaign fever. Watching C-SPAN coverage, he was fascinated by the world of politics, debate, oratory, and personalities.
Childhood exposure through his faith, family, and neighborhood community to world events, American political history, World War II, and global history helped Brown to understand that the power of international actors — nation-states and non-governmental bodies — can become a force for oppression or a force for freedom. Wanting to be an agent of change, he was drawn to learning about the world community, global politics, and how politics and business interact.
As a student at Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, he was heavily involved with policy debate competitions and the parliamentary debate format of Model United Nations competitions, where he learned about the interplay of foreign policy, the history of global relationships among states, and the impact of all of these forces on human rights, human dignity, and the marginalized.
His undergrad degree was a double major in political economy and international relations from Michigan State University’s James Madison College, where he immersed himself in politics. Elected as External Vice Chair of MSU’s Student Assembly (one of two ASMSU assemblies within MSU’s student government), he also served as chair of the City of East Lansing’s University Student Commission in his senior year, served as president of the MSU International Relations Organization in his junior year, and was involved with a host of student and political groups.
“As a then-impatient college student, I was eager to get involved with the issues of the day in the Michigan State and East Lansing communities,” he says.
Brown has also drawn inspiration from his mother, Sharon Brown. A teacher at Detroit Mumford High School during the ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s, Mrs. Brown annually entered students into the Wolverine Bar Association Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Justice Oral Advocacy competition. As a youngster attending the competitions with his mother, Brown met numerous African-American lawyers and judges, and planned to follow in their footsteps.
“More than anything though, from a young age and going into college, I simply saw law as one of the best avenues for helping people,” he says.
His interest in politics was similarly sparked by the desire to help people and learn more about the rules, laws, and economic factors that impact the living conditions of others. Growing up as a Catholic, he despised poverty, the notion of homelessness, and elements of injustice in society.
“It made me sick and it still does,” he says. “I wanted to know how things in society should be formed to best improve the human condition and end poverty and homelessness — and the more I learned about history, government, and political power, the more I learned that those called to work in these areas have an enormous impact on human welfare.”
Brown serves on the board of directors of Direct Impact Programs, Inc. a Detroit nonprofit focused on health and wellness for children; and previously served the executive board of the NAACP Lansing Chapter and the board of directors of Highfields, Inc.
“These experiences, among others, were all opportunities to use my talents to serve the community I lived in,” he says. “Very few things are more fulfilling then giving of yourself in this way.”
An associate with Fraser Trebilcock from 2007-09, Brown returned to the firm this past January.
“Being back is truly a blessing,” he says. “Lawyers and legal assistants stay forever at the firm because, I truly believe, there’s no other law firm in Michigan that better values its people and their families. And working with some of the very best lawyers in Michigan like Thad Morgan and Mike Donnelly as well as being mentored by legends like Mike Cavanaugh is something few young attorneys have the opportunity to do.”
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