Jacqueline Brooks

Partner
Duane Morris LLP

A 2006 graduate of the Washington University School of Law, in St. Louis, Jacqueline Brooks has been a partner with Duane Morris LLP, in Baltimore, since September of last year.

Her practice is in general business and commercial law, including antitrust, consumer protection, and more. She also heads the Real Estate Investment Trust Division of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group.

Brooks has received many professional awards and honors, ranging from Female Athlete of the Year at Georgia Southern University and a Pro Bono Service Award from the Maryland State Bar Association to Maryland Super Lawyers recognition from 2013-2021, and recognition as one of the Best Lawyers in America for Corporate Law.

As a first-generation lawyer in her family and the first to pursue a graduate degree, Brooks believes it is important to give back any way she can. She participates in expungement clinics held by Maryland Legal Aid and sits on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the Homeless Persons Representation Project, Inc., the American Red Cross Central Maryland Chapter and Emerging Technology Centers, Inc.

While she has wanted to be an attorney since she was about nine years old, Brooks said the only person with that job she knew of back then who looked like her was the character Claire Huxtable, from the popular 1990s television sitcom, “The Cosby Show.”

“I knew of the great Thurgood Marshall and other leaders of color, but you learn about them in history and library books,” she wrote in her application for this award. “It is quite another thing to see it in person.

“The impact of having a diverse group of people in leadership positions in the law can only assist with creating a profession that will in the end be more equitable for everyone,” she added.

Asked how her work has affected her profession, community or society at large, Brooks wrote: “At the end of the day, I would hope they have given people of similar backgrounds the ability to see someone that looks like them doing what they want to do…allows you to know that is attainable.”