Professional Biography
While attending law
school, Charlie was active in the American Indian Law
Students Association (now called Native American Law
School Association) holding office in both the local and
the national organization. In addition to the
required courses, Charlie was on the UNM mock trial
team, seeing it as a way to learn to be a trial lawyer.
Charlie also concentrated on UNM’s clinical program
because of their practical and real world experiences.
For example, he prosecuted misdemeanor crimes and
traffic offenses in Metropolitan Court as part of the
District Attorney Clinic.
In the second
semester of his third year, he was selected for an
externship in the Violent Crimes Division of the
District Attorney’s Office prosecuting felony cases.
Working with a supervising Deputy District Attorney,
(now a District Court Judge) who required co-counsel to
prepare and present at least half of the case before the
jury, Charlie was co-counsel in four felony trials. Two
of the trials were first degree felonies, one, a
criminal sexual penetration of a child less than
thirteen years old.
When Charlie
graduated, in addition to receiving his diploma, he
received the Honors in Clinical Law Award, the A. H.
McLeod Prize for trial advocacy and the Dean’s Award.
When Charlie finished law school at the University
of New Mexico in 1985, the three years he had lived in
Albuquerque was as long, or longer, than he had lived
anywhere else in his 35 years.
Recognizing the
importance of the help he received from experienced
trial lawyers, he donates countless hours to helping
others. If at all possible, he never turns down a
request for help.
The Second Judicial
District Attorney’s office hired Charlie right out of
law school. He evaluated cases and prepared the cases
for Grand Jury presentation as a law clerk until he
passed the Bar examination. After being admitted as a
lawyer, Charlie was an Assistant District Attorney in
the Metropolitan Court prosecuting misdemeanor and
traffic offenses and a Children’s Court Attorney in the
District Court. He went to the Violent Crimes Division
where he became Deputy District Attorney, supervising
and training Senior Trial Prosecutors and Assistant
District Attorneys.
Charlie then
chose to broaden his experience by joining the highly
regarded Moses Law Firm. Charlie continued in the
state criminal system as a defense attorney but also
moved into the complex world of civil law. Charlie
first represented a client at trial in Federal District
Court while at the Moses firm. He enjoyed business
litigation and personal injury, but could not resist the
District Attorney’s request to return to the D.A.’s
office to handle high profile cases and train Senior
Trial Prosecutors and Assistant District Attorneys.
Charlie stayed until the D.A. announced he would not
seek re-election.
Charlie worked as
a sole practitioner until Espinoza, Sitterly and
Associates asked him to join their civil firm. His case
load included personal injury, complex business
litigation, and criminal defense in state and federal
courts. He also represented clients in tribal court and
was a Special Tribal Prosecutor at Nambe Pueblos.
Charlie was
recruited by the District Attorney of the 13th
Judicial District, Mike Runnels, who asked Charlie to
become the Deputy District Attorney in Sandoval County.
In that position, Charlie prosecuted every criminal and
delinquency case in the county, supervised and trained
the lawyers and supervised all support staff. Charlie
stayed in that position until Mr. Runnels announced he
would not seek re-election.
Shortly
thereafter, Charlie was recruited by the U.S. Attorney
for the District of Alaska, whom Charlie had met when
training lawyers for the National Institute of Trial
Advocacy (NITA). Charlie was sworn in as an Assistant
United States Attorney for the District of Alaska. He
prosecuted all kinds of criminal cases: guns, drugs, air
rage, white collar and environmental. After two and
one-half years he needed to return to “sunshine” and New
Mexico.
Back in New
Mexico, Charlie was asked to handle a backlog of complex
cases in the 13th Judicial District, and
spent nearly a year and a half resolving those cases.
Charlie then worked helping other lawyers prepare cases
for deposition or trial and trying cases as co-counsel
until he was unanimously recommended by the bi-partisan
nominating commission to be a District Court Judge.
Judge Brown took
the 2nd Judicial District Court bench on
August 1, 2007.
Judge Brown is
recognized as an outstanding trial lawyer and a gifted
teacher and instructor. He's able to translate complex
legal theories and skills to understandable, practical
applications regardless of the skill level of the
practitioner and the judicial system in which they
operate. In addition to teaching evidence law, advocacy
and trial practice at UNM Law School. He is also an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy
(NITA). NITA is the premier provider of legal skills
training to practicing lawyers. After each program, the
participants, rate each faculty instructor. Only those
meeting NITA’s high standards are invited to future
programs.
Judge Brown’s
commitment to the rule of law and individual rights has
taken him far from New Mexico. The American Bar
Association selected him to be part of its Central
European and Eurasian Legal Initiative for legal
reform. Judge Brown was one of four lawyers chosen to train
trial advocacy instructors from ten former Soviet bloc
countries. He worked with new judges on judicial reform
in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he received a special award
from the Azerbaijan Prosecutor’s Office. He was
selected to train war crimes’ prosecutors and lawyers in
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In January, 2008,
Judge Brown traveled to Tokyo, Japan. He was one of
four Americans chosen by the Japanese Federation of Bar
Associations to train lawyers from throughout Japan in
trial presentation and advocacy before a citizen jury.
Japan has changed its constitution to require citizens
to be jurors in criminal cases starting in 2009, a
privilege they haven’t had since 1942.
