The Honorable Bethamy Beam Brinkley

The Honorable Bethamy Beam Brinkley

Chairman
Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals

A native of Tennessee, Bethamy Beam Brinkley studied English Literature and writing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, then earned her law degree at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

Before joining the Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals, the agency that adjudicates bid and contract disputes between state government and contractors or vendors doing business with the state, she worked as a summer law associate at Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, and as an associate at Miles & Stockbridge PC, the 90-year-old Baltimore law firm.

She was also the owner and principal attorney at Bethamy N. Beam PA, in Frederick, and is the past president of the Bar Association of Frederick County.

“Beth sat as a member for a year before Gov. (Larry) Hogan named her chairman,” wrote her husband, David R. Brinkley, a former state senator, in nominating Beam Brinkley for this award.

“She wrote the first known dissenting opinion as a member,” Brinkley continued. “The board no longer is a ‘rubber stamp’ for the state. She is holding both contractors and the state accountable for procurement activities.

“Decisions are now organized and accessible online by the profession and the public, professional research tools are available to the members; the board has doubled in size to accommodate the increased workload; decisions are getting out the door quicky; appealed decisions are withstanding scrutiny of circuit and court appeals.”

“As chairman of the MSBCA, Mrs. Brinkley embodies leadership in the law,” said Sonia Cho, a fellow administrative law judge on the State Board of Contract Appeals.

Brinkley “cares deeply about improving the state’s procurement system and passionately advocates for changes that will equalize the playing field for all participants at every opportunity.”