Transformative Giving: Jeffrey S. Brown Endowed Scholarship Created To Assist Health Law Students

When Jeffrey Brown ’82, partner at Garfunkel, Wild, P.C., a highly respected healthcare attorney, speaks about Seton Hall Law he talks about being proud. He shares how proud he is to be a graduate of a leading law school. How proud he is of the way Seton Hall Law cares about its students. How Seton Hall Law was one of the first law schools in the nation to develop a health law and policy program. How the top-ranked Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law connects students with practitioners who help guide their development. This pride inspired him to create the Jeffrey S. Brown Endowed Scholarship to assist health law students in good academic standing who have a demonstrated financial burden.

“When I first came to Seton Hall Law, I got off to a rough start,” recalls Brown, who now serves on the Advisory Board for the Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law. “That changed when I had a professor who took a real interest in me and cared about me personally. I wasn’t just a student. I felt then and clearly now that the law school takes a personal interest in students and their success.”

That personal interest made such a difference that Brown was able to succeed as a student and serve as a member of the Seton Hall Law School Legislative Journal. It is that culture of caring that Brown wishes to support with the endowed scholarship he is funding.

“I have such a fondness for the law school,” says Brown. “They cared about me. As you get older you think back on the people who helped you. Now it’s my turn to help.”

He also has a great deal of respect for Dean Kathleen M. Boozang. Prior to assuming the school’s top leadership position, she established Seton Hall Law as a leader in healthcare law and policy at a time when few law schools were focusing on that area.

“She was the linchpin who established the link between the school and practitioners. By bridging that gap between law school and practice, she made the program more effective,” notes Brown.

As an undergraduate student at Rutgers, Brown thought he would enter a pre-med program as his next step. Then he got involved in a number of political campaigns and his attention changed direction. He enrolled in law school thinking he would build a career in politics. His first job as an attorney, however, had him handling a number of medical malpractice cases, and two of his interests were merged – healthcare and public policy. He was on track to become a partner when he received an offer to work as an in-house attorney at JFK Health Systems. That experience turned out to be invaluable.

“It allowed me to learn the business and how the healthcare industry works,” he says. “What allows me to be a better attorney is the in-house experience that I had.”

Among his awards and recognition, he is listed on Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business - Healthcare (2009-2020), Best Lawyers in America - Health Care Law (2015-2021) and New Jersey and New York Super Lawyers (2005-2019).

Jeffrey Brown '82, Partner at Garfunkel, Wild, P.C.,