Notable Alumni

Graduates of the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law have shaped justice, policy and leadership in Kentucky and across the nation. From breaking barriers on the bench to advocating in landmark cases and leading major corporations, Brandeis Law alumni carry forward Justice Brandeis’s legacy of service, innovation and impact.

Our notable alumni include:

• *David Armstrong (’69) — Late Louisville mayor and Jefferson County judge-executive
• *William Marshall Bullitt (1895) — Solicitor General of the United States
• J. Michael Brown (’79) — First African American named as Secretary of the Kentucky State Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Deputy Attorney General, and Assistant Commonwealth Attorney, 30th Judicial District. He was also the first African American President of the Louisville Bar Association. Paratrooper and infantry officer with the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina
• Dan Canon (’07), Joe Dunman (’12), Dawn Elliott (’07), Shannon Fauver (’03) and Laura Landenwich (’07) — Represented Kentucky’s plaintiffs in the Supreme Court’s landmark same-sex marriage case, Obergefell v. Hodges
• Chief Judge Denise Clayton (’76) — The first African American woman to serve on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the first African American to serve as the court’s chief judge
• Former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd (’72) — Chairman and CEO, Motion Picture Association of America
• Joshua D. Farley (’06) — One of the youngest attorneys ever to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court on their own petition for certiorari and win
• *Howard Fineman (’80) — Analyst, NBC/MSNBC
• Mike Harreld (’69) — Regional President of PNC Bank for the Greater Washington DC Area
• Lucy Lee Helm (’82) — Executive Vice President and Chief Partner Officer, Starbucks
• Judge Janice R. Martin (’80) — The first African American woman to serve on the judiciary in the Commonwealth of Kentucky
• *William McAnulty (’74) — The first African American justice to serve on the Kentucky Supreme Court
• Nancy Niederman (’80) — Former Senior Vice President 20th Century Fox
• State Rep. Sannie Overly (’93) — The first woman elected majority Caucus Chair in the Kentucky House of Representatives
• Senator Robert Stivers (’88) — President of the Kentucky State Senate
• Greg Stumbo (’75) — Former Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives; Former Kentucky Attorney General
• Steve Trager (’85) — Chairman and CEO, Republic Bank
• Wilson Wyatt (’27) — Former Mayor of Louisville and lieutenant governor of Kentucky; namesake of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs

_{* Deceased}