After teaching at University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law for 17 years, Clinical Professor Melissa Brown, plans to retire in June 2026.

Brown served as the director of the school’s legal clinics from 2013-2023 and as director of the Elder & Health Law Clinic since 2011.

She started her career by shadowing her aunt MaryJane Brown in the courtroom during the 1970s. That experience stuck with her for the rest of her life.

“My aunt was a role model; she was the first female public defender in Yolo County,” Brown said.

She said the experience tagging along on some of the bad cases that her aunt worked on, shaped her long and fulfilling career working in law. She observed discrimination first-hand with her aunt and decided to spend her time working towards equality.

Brown knew she wanted to become a lawyer while she was still in high school and pursued a political science degree in her hometown at Chico State University. She also earned a public interest law certificate and then went to Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. 

She has worked on everything from seniors' access, health care and financial matters to justice issues. She began her career at McGeorge as a consultant and legal fellow for the Institute of Laws of Health and Aging. As the Director of Professional Education, she represented the institute in various McGeorge programs examining pending legislation such as the Affordable Care Act and then-President Dr. Pamela Eibeck’s “Beyond Our Gates” health related initiatives. 

Brown started teaching at McGeorge in 2009 as an adjunct. She then transitioned into teaching in the Legal Clinics, launching the Elder & Health Law Clinic which has served hundreds of community members in Sacramento.

“Professor Melissa Brown made it easy to fall in love with the Elder & Health Law field. Her passion encouraged students to take a real-world look at the difficulties faced by our aging population and how we, as future lawyers, can help them,” Kennedy Skinner ’26 said.

Students have learned not only substantive skills, but to put into action the highest ethical and professional standards that follow them into their legal careers. By providing basic estate and end-of-life planning, her students provide legal services to ensure the protection of generational wealth, autonomy, and dignity for their clients. 

“Working with Professor Brown during the Elder & Health Law Clinic was one of the most formative experiences of my legal education,” Bernadette Bet-Mashal ’21 said. “She not only recognized my legal interests early on but intentionally aligned my clinic work with them, giving me the confidence and practical foundation to open my own firm shortly after law school.”

Brown developed a successful community education program to prevent elder abuse. The clinic’s reputation and value to students have resulted in applications for clinic enrollment that exceed its capacity in virtually every year of operation.  

The clinic is the only legal service in Sacramento County that represents modest and low-income elders in elder financial abuse litigation, resulting in recovering over $13 million in assets for their clients since 2016, many of whom would become unhoused without their advocacy.  

“I am especially proud of developing this expertise in our clinic and the opportunity it has provided to students to engage in civil litigation,” Brown said. “This is the perfect job for me because I have worked as a clinical professor and I have been able to mentor students, so it has been wonderful.”

Brown said being able to work with students as well as the ethics of law and to mentor them on how to be effective and empathic has been extraordinary. She helps give students awareness of their role in society and for her that is the greatest gift she can give.

“Melissa challenged me to look at situations in new ways to address not only my clients’ stated concerns, but issues that might arise later in the representation,” Lauren Sorokolit ’13 said. “She taught me to continue asking questions even if a situation seems straightforward, something I must do every day as an in-house attorney.”

According to Sorokolit, Brown helped her understand the complex regulatory landscape of governmental programs, including social security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which created a strong foundation for her career.

"Melissa Brown was an incomparable role model. As elegant and gracious in the courtroom as in person, she is empowered by both deep legal competence and humanity,” Malina Walker ‘22, said. “Her work is striking: effective, passionate, ethical, and driven by a sincere desire to add to the good, for her students, her clients, and in the world."

Brown said working with students and giving them their first legal opportunity to work in the field has been one of the most rewarding parts about her job. Additionally, providing legal service to the community otherwise would not have legal access is equally important to her.

In addition to teaching, Brown does private practice at Fraulob-Brown focusing on workers’ compensation and elder law with her husband, Don Fraulob.

“We have hired a lot of students from McGeorge at our firm,” she said. “To sign their first paycheck is rewarding.”

In recognition of her teaching, Brown was given the Hether MacFarlane Award for Innovative Teaching in 2022. In recognition of her service as the Legal Clinic Director for a decade, clinic students who devote more than their required clinical hours are recognized with the Melissa C. Brown Legal Clinic Honors Certificate.