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Brandeis School of Law welcomes two new professors
There will be two new faculty members commanding classrooms at the Brandeis School of Law beginning this month. Goldburn P. Maynard Jr. will teach estates and tax-related courses and Justin Walker will teach Lawyering Skills.
Professor Maynard
Professor Maynard joins Brandeis after serving as Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Florida State University, teaching Introduction to Critical Tax Theory Seminar and Trusts & Estates.
Prior to his time at FSU, Professor Maynard was a tax associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP in Chicago. He then served as an estate tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service in Oakland, California, where his path to professorship began courtesy of a little serendipity.
Shortly after reaching his third anniversary with the IRS, Maynard received an email “out of the blue” from a former professor encouraging him to apply for a fellowship.
“I sat on that email for about two months. It made me think it was a real possibility,” he said.
He started applying for visiting assistant professorships and landed an opportunity at Washington University in St. Louis, where he spent two years and met current Brandeis Professor Laura McNeal.
“(Professor McNeal) said great things about Brandeis and when it came time to interview with different schools, I just felt really comfortable there. I was dealing with ridiculously intelligent people who were also personable and excited about my work. It all just came together to be there,” Maynard said.
Teaching style
Maynard didn’t dive headfirst into law after receiving his JD. He spent a year “trying to figure things out,” and took some writing and journalism classes. Eventually, he decided he wanted to practice, focusing on tax law.
“Not because I love numbers, but because tax is an area where we collect all of the money and make decisions based on distributive justice; where we divide the responsibilities of societies and do the things we need to do as a society,” he said.
Because of his interests, he also focuses on income distribution and wealth disparity issues. Much of his work has been tied into the effects wealth disparity has had on racial disparity, particularly after the Great Recession. Consistent with Justice Brandeis’s legacy, Maynard has leveraged other fields to further his scholarship, including a partnership with a psychology professor at FSU to research “why people resist redistribution and are there ways to present redistribution policies that would be more palatable?”
He said his teaching style embraces interplay between law and other disciplines.
“My work is focused on this great big issue of wealth and equality. Law can’t figure that out alone. It needs a multidisciplinary approach,” Maynard said.
He also pushes students by introducing hypothetical problems and facilitating discussions.
“I don’t like to lecture. I prefer back and forth with my students,” he said.
Maynard was born in Panama and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He received his bachelor’s degree from Atlantic Union College in 2002 and his JD from the University of Chicago in 2005.
At the University of Chicago Law School, he was a staff member of the University of Chicago Law Review. He also served as an intern at the ACLU of Illinois, where he researched constitutional issues for civil rights and reproductive rights litigation, and at the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago.
Following law school, Maynard earned his LL.M. in Taxation with honors from Northwestern University School of Law. Professor Maynard is a member of the Illinois bar.
He calls himself a “huge sports fan” and said he is particularly excited to cheer on the Cardinal Football Team. He also likes to travel, refers to himself as a foodie and enjoys all types of music.
Professor Walker, a Louisville native, joins Brandeis after serving as the Executive Director of the Global Game Changers, while also working as an attorney and writer. Named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Law & Policy List in 2011, Walker has been a lawyer, teacher, speechwriter for the Secretary of Defense, nationally recognized blogger, ghostwriter and editor for several books, both fiction and nonfiction.
Walker received his undergraduate degree from Duke and his law degree from Harvard (2009). He then clerked for some judges in Washington, D.C., including Judge Brett Kavanaugh, whom he calls a great mentor and writer.
Then, from 2011-2012, he received the chance to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
“Clerking on the DC circuit was a great thrill, and to clerk for Justice Kennedy was an amazing opportunity. He is as kind and idealist a person as I’ve ever met. I never dreamed I’d get to do that,” he said. “When I walked into the courtroom on that first day, I felt like ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.’"
Having that front row seat at the Supreme Court provided a learning experience every day, Walker said.
“Watching the greatest attorneys in the country arguing the biggest cases was like being a bat boy at the World Series. It was thrilling,” he said.
For the past two years, he’s led Global Game Changers, a children’s education initiative. The organization’s mission is to teach elementary school kids that “no matter where they come from and how young they are, they can make a difference.”
Participants in the program are introduced to fictional super heroes who fly around the world looking for kids who are doing nice things for other people, whether it’s small, like visiting their grandparents at a nursing home, or bigger, such as asking for donations in lieu of gifts for their birthday party.
“Whatever way a child can be inspired to use their talents to make this world a better place, we teach them how to do that and encourage them,” Walker said.
He was introduced to the organization through his wife, Anne, who is the program director.
Walker displays an obvious passion for the organization, but says his dream has always been to teach. He has gravitated toward the research and writing side of law and last year had the opportunity to be an Adjunct Professor at Brandeis for one semester.
“Getting to teach in a classroom has been a dream. I just love it – the students, teaching them legal writing …” Walker said. He believes that legal writing skills are often the difference between success and failure for young attorneys.
“It’s also the skill employers are most in need of. If they can get it, they can go a long way. If they don’t get it, they can end up in a tough situation,” he said. “I believe this subject is important and I’m looking forward to helping these students be better lawyers.”
His teaching style revolves around listening to students and paying attention.
“I don’t come into something thinking I know all of the answers. It’s very important to me to figure out from students the things they are struggling with and make sure those get addressed,” he said. “Paying attention is the rarest and purest form of kindness.”
Homecoming
Walker’s dream is not only coming true with the opportunity to teach, but to do so in his hometown. He proudly declares his opportunity wouldn’t be possible without the strength of his mom, who raised him on her own. He also notes that he is the first in his family to graduate from college.
“If I could do anything in the world, it would be to teach law. If I could be in any city in the world, it would be Louisville. It’s where I grew up, where my family is and where I want my daughter to go to school,” he said. “I feel so lucky I get to do something I’m so passionate about in the city where I want to spend the rest of my life.”
Walker and his wife have a daughter, Isabella. His hobbies include touring Civil War battlefields, cheering for the Chicago Cubs and following college basketball. He admits he has a unique fan perspective as a Duke graduate who is going to work for UofL, and pledges to cheer on both teams.
