Brandeis alum J. Michael Brown receives Nelson Mandela Award

J. Michael Brown, Secretary, Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, recently received the 2015 Nelson Mandela Award from Department of Public Advocacy.

Brown, a 1979 graduate of the Brandeis School of Law, was named Secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet by Governor Beshear in 2007. A former district court judge in Jefferson County, he was law director for the city of Louisville, an assistant commonwealth attorney, and served on the board of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority for 12 years, including six as the board's chair. During that time he guided the authority through major construction and noise mitigation programs and the attraction and expansion of cargo and passenger carriers.

Brown, a native New Yorker, is the son of a lieutenant colonel and battalion commander in New York's famous, all-black 369th National Guard. He followed in his father's military footsteps, serving as a paratrooper and infantry officer with the 82nd Airborne Division. He later attended flight school and piloted helicopters until concluding his military career as a captain with the 101st Division at Ft. Campbell.

Once in Kentucky, Brown pursued another strong interest: the law. He enrolled at the University of Louisville School of Law, where he earned his law degree in 1979. He has practiced in various areas including labor and employment, airport and aviation law, administrative law, entertainment and commercial litigation. He has served as a partner at the Louisville law firms of Stites and Harbison and Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs.

He is a former board member of Republic Bank and several Louisville-area civic groups and nonprofit organizations, including Metro United Way and the Louisville chapter of the American Red Cross. He was elected the first African American president of the Louisville Bar Association, and chaired the Kentucky Bar Association's Task Force on Minorities. He is a current member of KBA's Ethics Committee, and has served as a member of the University of Louisville Board of Overseers and the board of directors of Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

In presenting the Award, Public Advocate Ed Monahan said, “DPA is organizationally placed in the Justice Cabinet, which has state police, department of juvenile justice and corrections. DPA’s placement is fraught with impossibilities… but not under Secretary Brown. Secretary Brown has ensured that DPA functions independent of any political or professional interference with an explicit Memorandum of Agreement that is implemented faithfully and fully. As Nelson Mandela said, ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done.’ For safeguarding and advancing the professional independent representation of indigent defendants in Kentucky,  J. Michael Brown is the 2015 recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award.”