Alumnus/Alumna of the Month

Richard A. Brown (LL.B. '56)

Read an Interview with Richard A. Brown.

On June 1, 1991, Judge Brown was appointed district attorney of Queens County by Governor Mario M. Cuomo. He was then elected to a full four-year term as district attorney at the general election held in November 1991 and has been re-elected three times since. Under Judge Brown's leadership, the Queens County District Attorney's Office has attained a reputation as one of the finest prosecutors' offices in the state.

Since graduating from the NYU School of Law in 1956, Judge Brown has spent nearly all of his illustrious career in public service. Prior to becoming a member of the judiciary in September 1973, he spent nine years serving in various important legal positions on behalf of the leadership of the New York State Senate and Assembly and at the 1967 New York State Constitutional Convention. Judge Brown also spent four years as New York City's Legislative Representative in Albany where he managed the City's Albany office and supervised its legislative program.

After serving as a judge of the criminal court for less than two years, Judge Brown was appointed the supervising judge of the Brooklyn Criminal Court and assumed full administrative responsibility for the operation of that court and supervision of all judicial and non-judicial personnel. In January 1976, Judge Brown was designated an acting justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.

In November 1977, Judge Brown was elected a justice of the Supreme Court in Queens County. At the end of the following year he returned to Albany as counsel to Governor Hugh L. Carey where he served as the governor's chief legal advisor. On March 3, 1981, Judge Brown returned to the Supreme Court and the following year was designated by Governor Carey as an associate justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department. He was thereafter twice re-designated as a member of the Appellate Division by Governor Mario M. Cuomo.

Judge Brown is a past president of the New York State District Attorneys Association and a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Queens County Bar Association, among others.