Lonnie T. Brown, Jr. is the Dean and Elvin E. Overton Distinguished Professor of Law. He joined the College of Law in 2022, after spending 20 years at the University of Georgia School of Law where he was the A. Gus Cleveland Distinguished Chair of Legal Ethics and Professionalism and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor, the university’s highest honor for teaching excellence. From 2013 to 2015, he served as Georgia Law’s associate dean for academic affairs.

Dean Brown’s research concentrates primarily on legal ethics in the adversary system, and he speaks and writes frequently in this area. He also has written a biography of former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark titled Defending the Public’s Enemy: The Life and Legacy of Ramsey Clark (Stanford University Press, 2019) and is a co-author of Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach (West Academic, 5^th ed. 2023).

Earlier in his career, Dean Brown was an assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Law and served as a visiting assistant professor at Vanderbilt University. In addition, he taught at Emory University as an adjunct professor. He also served as a judicial clerk for Judge William C. O’Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. From 1991 to 1999, he practiced law as an associate and a partner at Alston & Bird LLP in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dean Brown is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a member of the Board of Trustees for the American Inns of Court. He also serves on the Drafting Committee for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam and has been a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, a body responsible for issuing formal opinions interpreting the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct and Model Code of Judicial Conduct. In addition, Dean Brown served for 11 years on the State Bar of Georgia’s Formal Advisory Opinion Board and is a longstanding member of the ABA’s Center for Professional Responsibility and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers.

A dedicated teacher, Dean Brown has received numerous teaching awards throughout his career. He was the inaugural recipient of Georgia Law’s C. Ronald Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching and received the Student Bar Association’s Professionalism Award on 15 separate occasions. In addition, he was selected five times to serve as an honorary faculty marshal at commencement by graduating classes. At the university level, Dean Brown served as an Administrative Fellow in the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, a Senior Teaching Fellow, and a member of UGA’s Teaching Academy.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Emory University, where he was a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar, student body president, and recipient of the Marion Luther Brittain Award, Emory’s highest student honor. He then earned his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School, where he was a Patrick Wilson Scholar and editor-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law.

He and his wife, Kim, have two children, Theddaux and Olivia.

• Education & Experience
• Publications

J.D., 1989, Vanderbilt University Law School
B.A., 1986, Emory University

Curriculum Vitae

Books

Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach, West Academic Publishing (2023)

Defending the Public's Enemy: The Life and Legacy of Ramsey Clark, Stanford University Press (2019)

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Full list of SSRN scholarly papers