LEADERSHIP
He attended Columbia University, where the late
1960s student protests were getting under way, and
he became an activist in the Black student movement.
As a result of charges stemming from a confrontation
between police officers and protesters, Brown “became
the football in an important legal battle.” He wasn’t convicted and was never indicted, and the legal experience
made him decide to become an attorney. “I realized that
lawyers are the core who can
challenge the legal system,” he
recalls.
Working Within the
Law for Change
He went to law school at the
University of California, Berkeley,
where activism and legal knowledge went hand in hand. As he
launched his legal career, the
people he’d met through his father
globally made him want to explore
human-rights ramifications in and
outside of the United States.
“It’s hard to be around a person
like my father and not realize how
important this is,” he says. “I grew
up in the movement. I met my first
aboriginal people who came to the
U.S. in 1956 … I saw the Ghandists
around Dr. King and the strate-
gic value of non-violence. There’s
always been an aspect of the civil-
rights movement that had an eye
toward all people who were oppressed.”
This “natural progression, intellectually and person-
ally,” led him to an astounding career, domestically and
globally. In the United States, where he’s specialized
in white-collar crimes and corporate compliance, he’s
appeared in high-profile trials, including the trial of for-
mer Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan and the suc-
cessful eight-year defense of senior executives of a large
corporation charged with environmental violations.
Globally, he’s conducted investigations in Kenya, East
Africa, El Salvador, the Cayman Islands, Switzerland,
the Bahamas, Colombia and Sierra Leone.
What jump-started his work for human rights was
being asked to be an anchor on Court TV, reporting
on war-crime violations. He has continued his legal/
journalism career, hosting the Emmy Award–winning
New Jersey Network Program “Due Process” and often
serving as a legal analyst for broadcast programs. He
has also taught international criminal law at Seton
Hall University, has been a prolific public speaker and
has received numerous awards, including the Award
of Excellence from the Thurgood Marshall College
His trial experience has
included criminal cases, seri-
ous violations of international
humanitarian law, RICO viola-
tions, environmental pollution
and internal investigations for
public and corporate clients.
Fund, the Distinguished
International Award from the
National Council of Women in
the USA and the Van Y. Clinton
Award for “excellence as a
tireless advocate for just causes”
from the Garden State Bar
Association.
RAYMOND M. BROWN
CURRENT POSITION
Partner in Greenbaum Rowe Smith
& Davis’ litigation department
(Woodbridge, N.J.) and chair of the
White Collar Defense & Corporate
and International Human Rights
Compliance Group
BAR ADMISSIONS
New Jersey 1974
New York 1983
Special Court for Sierra Leone 2004
International Criminal Court 2006
PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY
ACTIVITIES
Fellow of The American College of
Trial Lawyers and The American
Board of Criminal Lawyers
Chairman of International Refugee
Rights Initiative, Kampala, Uganda
Board member, Human Rights First
President and cofounder,
International Justice Project
Crimes Against Women
Brown and his wife, Wanda, who
is also an attorney, operate the
International Justice Project,
which fights human-rights abus-
es. “We focus on crimes against
women. If you sexually assault
women, you demoralize them
and destroy the family union,” he
says. “Women are the key to economic life. The deliber-
ate attempt to destroy women is a big part of how the law
looks in many countries.”
As a result of these experiences, Brown has pio-
neered the development of a new practice area, working
with corporations to make them aware of the risk-
assessment and business benefits of their involvement
with human-rights causes.
“A C-level person says, ‘Wait a minute. Think of the
short-, mid- and long-term requirements of regulations
and how we’re perceived at a time when businesses are
required to act as sovereign entities.’ There is a profound transformation now culminating in a way that
affects businesses,” he says. I
“If you sexually assault women, you demoralize them and destroy
the family union. Women are the key to economic life.”
Raymond M. Brown will be a featured speaker at DiversityInc’s April 24–25 event.
