Brooksley Born

Law Professor and Chair of the Commodities Furures Trading Commission

Spring 1957 Graduate

        Brooksley is one of the country's most prominent lawyers. After graduating from Lincoln in Spring of 1957, Brooksley attended Stanford University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961. At Stanford Law School, Brooksley was President of the Stanford Law Review and Order of the Coif. She was awarded her Juris Doctor in 1964.

        Following her graduation from Stanford Law School, Brooksley clerked for Judge Edgerton of the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia circuit for a year. She then joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter as an associate attorney in 1965. She has been a partner of that firm since. 1974. In addition to practicing law, Brooksley has been Adjunct Professor of law at Georgetown Law Center and a Lecturer at Law at Catholic University.

        Brooksley is extremely active in the American Bar Association. She was a member of its Board of Governor from 1990 - 1993; Chairman of the Section of individual Rights and Responsibilities from 1977-1978; and Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Federal Judiciary, 1980-1983. She has been a member of the ABA's Resource Development Council since 1983; Chairperson of the Consortium on Legal Services and the Public 1987-1990 and a Member of the ABA House of Delegates 1978-1986, 1990 until the present.

        She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bar Foundation since 1989; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Center for Law and Social Policy since 1977; chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Women's Law Center since 1981; member of the Board of Trustees of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law since 1978; member of the American Law Institute since 1979; member of the Board of Directors of the American Judicature Society from 1984 until 1988; member of the Board of Directors of Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs since 1992; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southwestern Legal Foundation since 1993 and Chairperson of the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors, 1986-87.

        Accorded numerous honors, Brooksley was named Women Lawyer of the Year in 1981 by the Women's Bar Association of Washington, D.C.

        In recognition of her many accomplishments, Brooksley was inducted into the Abraham Lincoln High School Wall of Fame in May 1994.