Giving Back: Geraldine Soat Brown, ’75
Growing up, Geraldine Soat Brown, ’75, didn’t know any lawyers. She had no idea what lawyers did exactly and no idea how one would go about practicing law. Yet Brown had a dream of becoming a lawyer. She recalls how a trip to Washington, DC, with her aunt when she was 10 left her absolutely fascinated with the founding of the United States, and how so many of the ideals and concepts of democracy and equal rights are rooted in law.
“One of the things I appreciated about the Law School is that the professors didn’t teach you how to practice law, they taught you how to think about law, how to understand it, how to see its growth and development,” she said. “It was tough, but it was an incredibly intellectually stimulating place to grow.”
Brown is a retired magistrate judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where she served for 16 years. She presided over thousands of civil cases involving employment, breach of contract, civil rights, torts, and civil RICO cases. Before her time on the bench, Brown worked in commercial and construction litigation in Chicago for 25 years.
And she has been giving back to the Law School for 33 consecutive years.
“I see the Law School’s acceptance of me as a turning point in my life,” she said. “I feel grateful to the Law School for taking a chance on me because I was not an obvious choice: a woman (in the 1970s) from a non–Ivy League school (University of Dayton) with no Chicago connections.”
And Brown took a chance too, a leap of faith, as she calls it. She had never been to Chicago before her acceptance letter came. “My husband and I had just gotten married, and we knew nobody in Chicago,” she said. “The only friends we had were the friends I was making at the Law School, some of whom have remained lifelong friends.”
Brown and her husband still live in the Chicago area, and now proudly have two grandchildren. Though she’s retired from the bench, Brown currently works part-time as a mediator and arbitrator at JAMS, a private alternative dispute resolution provider. For the past five years, she also has been serving as a special master, appointed by a federal judge in a 30-year-old case in which the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services, where she is assisting the parties as they work to improve the care of children in DCFS custody.
“I found my time at the Law School to be very challenging, but it taught me that I needed to be able to stand up for myself and be disciplined if I wanted to practice law,” said Brown. “I feel proud to be part of a community of fellow Law School graduates who are also faithful contributors. Giving back has always felt personal because the Law School took a chance on me … and I want the Law School to continue to take chances on people.”
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Day job: Retired magistrate judge and current mediator and arbitrator at JAMS
Because of the Law School: I got a start on the career of my dreams.
Best career advice you’ve received: Perseverance is critical to success. In any argument, try to be the reasonable person.