Tracey Brame
Associate Dean of Experiential Learning and Practice Preparation, and Professor
B.A. University of Michigan, 1992
J.D. University of Michigan, 1995
bramet@cooley.edu
"As an African-American woman, I chose law as a profession because I believe it to be, at its best, a great equalizer that nudges us toward our better selves. It has always been my mission to be a resource as well as a mentor to my community, and help to hold our country to its highest ideals."
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I serve as the Associate Dean of Experiential and Practice Preparation and the Director of the Cooley Innocence Project, and am also the Immediate Past President of the Grand Rapids Bar Association.
I came to Cooley Law School in February 2006 from Legal Aid of Western Michigan, where I was a staff attorney. I advised and represented low-income clients on family-law, housing, and consumer-law issues. I also collaborated with other programs to address legal issues faced by ex-offenders re-entering the community. In addition, I translated for Spanish-speaking clients.
Previously, I served as a staff attorney for the Public Defender Services for the District of Columbia, was a research and writing specialist with the Federal Defender Office, and was an Assistant Defender with the State Appellate Defender Office in Detroit. I began my legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. Julian Abele Cook, Jr. in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan.
Early in my career, my passion for justice led me to an internship with the Alabama Capital Resource Center. In this role, I garnered death-penalty litigation experience. I conducted extensive legal research; interviewed inmates, relatives, and former jurors; compiled statistics on racial composition of juries; helped prepare an argument for the U.S. Supreme Court; and drafted racial-justice legislation for the state of Alabama.
I later brought that interest in justice to Cooley, where I started the Access to Justice Clinic at the Grand Rapids campus in 2006. I have overseen both this clinic and the West Michigan Public Defender Clinic. In addition to these roles and my work as an Associate Dean, I have also taught elective constitutional law courses. Prior to joining the law school, I also served as an adjunct professor at Grand Rapids Community College.
I have volunteered with young people also, discussing the law with middle-school, high-school, and college students. I have worked with the 3R’s Program, where lawyers volunteer each month at UPrep High School, teaching ninth graders about the Constitution. I also helped prepare the students for an end-of-year mock debate hosted at the Grand Rapids Cooley campus.
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Articles (Law Reviews and Law Journals)
- Devin S. Schindler & Tracey Brame, This Medication May Kill You: Overload and Forced Commercial Speech, 35 Whittier L. Rev 27 (2013).
- Nelson P. Miller, Tracey Brame, Dale Iverson, & Goldie Adele, Equality as Talisman: Getting Beyond Bias to Cultural Competence as a Professional Skill, 25 T.M. Cooley L. Rev. 99 (2008).
- Tracey D. Weaver, Constitutional Law : June 1, 1996-May 31, 1997 Annual Survey of Michigan Law, 44 Wayne L. Rev. 613 (1998).
- Julian Abele Cook, Jr. & Tracey Denise Weaver, Closing Their Eyes to the Constitution: the Declining Role of the Supreme Court in the Protection of Civil Rights, 1996 Det. C.L. Mich. St. U. L. Rev. 541.
Books and Chapters in Books
- Tracey W. Brame, ed., Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, edited by Tracey W. Brame, (Inst. of Continuing Legal Educ. 2015).
- Tracey W. Brame, "Avoiding or Minimizing the Consequences of a Criminal Conviction," in Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, edited by Tracey W. Brame, 1-8 (Inst. of Continuing Legal Educ. 2015).
- Tracey W. Brame, "Comprehensive Checklists of Possible Consequences," in Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, edited by Tracey W. Brame, 9-35 (Inst. of Continuing Legal Educ. 2013).
- Nelson Miller & Tracey W. Brame, Cross-Cultural Law Service: A Framework for a Lawyer’s Professional Skill (Crown Management 2015).
- Kim O’Leary, Nelson Miller, Tracey Brame & Dale Iverson, "Cultural Competence as a Professional Skill," in Reflections of a Lawyer’s Soul: The Institutional Experience of Professionalism at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, edited by Amy Timmer & Nelson Miller, 175-206 (William S. Hein 2008).
- Tracey W. Brame, ed., Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, edited by Tracey W. Brame, Inst. of Continuing Legal Educ. 2013).
- Tracey W. Brame, "Avoiding or Minimizing the Consequences of a Criminal Conviction," in Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, edited by Tracey W. Brame, 1-8 (Inst. of Continuing Legal Educ. 2013).
- Tracey W. Brame, ed., Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, edited by Tracey W. Brame, (Inst. of Continuing Legal Educ. 2012).
- Tracey W. Brame, "Avoiding or Minimizing the Consequences of a Criminal Conviction", in Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, edited by Tracey W. Brame, 1-8 (Inst. of Continuing Legal Educ. 2012).
Short Works
- Tracey Weaver Brame, The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law, 86 Mich. B.J., June 2007 at 50 (book review).