2004 2005 - Berkeley Law - University of California, Berkeley

ALUMNI
A Passion for Boalt:
Alumni Couple Gives Back
GREG ’90 AND SHANNON ’90 BROOME are true Boalt believers. After a
spectacular student experience, the couple is firmly committed to helping the law
school maintain its tradition of excellence and accessibility.
Despite busy professional careers and
the nonstop business of raising three
lively young sons—7-year-old fraternal
twins, Axel and Shane, and 3-year-old
Rudy—the couple finds time to regularly
support Boalt in a variety of ways.
“It’s just been a priority,” says Greg, a
partner at Thelen Reid & Priest in San
Francisco. Greg is a past board member
of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association,
and twice in the past two years served
as his firm’s captain for the Partners in
Leadership law firm giving program. In the
latter effort, Greg helped obtain annual
gifts for Boalt from every alum at his firm.
Shannon, a solo practitioner, co-chaired
her class campaign in 2000. After her
great success in that effort, she’s once
again co-chairing this year’s class of 1990
reunion campaign.
The two say their dedication to Boalt
emanates from several sources, including
their gratitude for a great legal education
and the opportunities it provided, a desire
to support a fine public institution, and an
interest in preserving the value of their
Boalt diplomas.
With annual costs of a Boalt education
now topping $24,000 for residents and
$36,000 for nonresidents, the Broomes
want to ensure that the law school stays
accessible to all students, regardless of
their financial circumstances. The couple
Robert M. Klingon
Thomas A. Letscher �
David B. Levant
Dora Y. Mao &
James C. Lu �
Jason R. Marks �
Stephen Matchett �
Charles L. Miller �
Judi K. Mosley
Christer L. Mossberg
Chiahua Pan
also hopes to provide resources so that
new graduates are not saddled with
enormous educational debts that limit
their career choices. “I’ve always been a
big believer in public schools,” explains
Shannon, who notes that Boalt cost just
$1,800 annually when she attended. “It
was a first-rate education.”
Mindful that Boalt faces severe
financial challenges stemming from a
dramatic decline in state support, Greg
wants to sustain the top quality of Boalt’s
clinics and other academic programs. “I
want to do my part,” he says. Greg further
demonstrates his support for the school
and its lawyers-in-training by participating
in on-campus and mock interviews
with Boalt students.
The Broomes say they flourished in
Boalt’s close-knit and noncompetitive
environment. “It was small and friendly.
It was more focused on learning,” says
Shannon, who met her future husband
when they were undergraduates at UC
Santa Barbara. They began dating in law
school and were married the year after
graduation. Both worked for professors
while at Boalt: Shannon as a research assistant
to Professor William Fletcher, now
an emeritus faculty member who is a U.S.
Court of Appeals judge for the 9th Circuit;
Greg as a teaching assistant in tax for now
emeritus Professor Babette Barton ’54.
Robert J. Plotkowski
Dana Shilling Rieger
Lisa M. Romo
Gregory R. Shaughnessy
Theodore J. Stroll �
Charles A. Swartz �
Richard S. Taylor �
Lisa Steres Weinberg
Carolyn P. Williams-
Goldman �
Viviana I. Wolinsky
1988
21% participation
Elizabeth Josselyn
Boalt Associates
Priscilla & Peter Carson �
Diane L. Stewart �
28
Greg ’90 and Shannon ’90 Broome
After graduation, the two found jobs on
the East Coast, but maintained ties to
Boalt classmates. They became actively
involved with the law school after returning
to the Bay Area in 1999. Today the
Broomes consider Boalt one of their top
philanthropic priorities. And classmates
from their Boalt days are among their
closest friends. In fact, their friend Tom
Stoever ’90 is co-chairing this year’s class
campaign with Shannon. With several
classmates living nearby, Shannon juggles
her parental and campaign responsibilities
with some skillful multitasking: she
and fellow campaign committee member
Kim Thompson ’90 sometimes review
progress reports while watching their children
play on the neighborhood schoolyard.
Given their common academic connection
and affection for Boalt, serving their
alma mater is a mutually shared passion
for the Broomes. Boalt, they say, is an
institution that they gladly support with
both financial and volunteer resources. “I
can’t imagine having gone anywhere else,”
says Greg.
William Carey
Jones Associates
Lindsay Brown &
David A. Zapolsky �
Gregory T. Davidson &
Helen M. Wilmot �
Murray D. Feldman
Geoffrey T. Gibbs