Alumna finds home in courtroom as DA
With 12 jurors about to decide the fate for her case, Diamond Bar High School class of 2002 alumna Noelle Brown draws on her five years of experience as a district attorney as she presents her argument to the court.
As a district attorney in the felony trial unit for Los Angeles County, Brown appears in court on a daily basis dealing with felony cases. She preps cases for trial, holds preliminary hearings, argue motions filed by the defense, handles evidence and conveys offers to settle cases. Brown also checks if the officers, witnesses and victims involved in the case are ready for trial and have been subpoenaed, which is a request for a witness to testify in court.
Throughout Brown’s time at UC Riverside, she was torn between going into law or medicine for graduate school.
“I decided to become a DA because I wanted to spend more time in the courtroom and get jury trial experience. I also wanted to help ensure justice was served and help both victims and defendants in hopes of reducing crime and incarceration rates,” Brown said via email.
Because she enjoyed public speaking and wanted to take advantage of the vast number of specialties in law, Brown began studying for the Law School Admission Test.
“I was a Psychology and Law major in college. I believe the study of psychology helped me better understand the thought process of jurors, victims and defendants. Understanding their thought processes can be beneficial in trial,” Brown said.
She passed the bar exam on her first try and started her first job as a lawyer after studying at Johnson & Johnson, LLP, a boutique law firm in Beverly Hills. However, Brown realized that she wanted to pursue a more hands-on career since her work mostly consisted of research and writing.
“Although the subject matter was interesting, I longed to be writing less. It was while I was working at that firm that I applied to the DA’s office,” Brown said.
While attending Loyola Law School at Loyola Marymount University, Brown spent time clerking for the Court of Appeals, working for the law firm Geragos & Geragos under well-known attorney Mark Geragos and interning for Air Quality Management District in Diamond Bar.
Throughout her legal career, Brown has worked on cases including murder, attempted murder, vehicular manslaughter, armed robbery, animal cruelty, assault with a deadly weapon and distribution of child pornography
Recently, she convicted a man guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, who engaged in a fist fight. The defendant had a concealed weapon and stabbed the victim multiple times. Other cases Brown found impactful during her time as an attorney involved stopping distribution of youth pornography and holding a trial for a hit-and-run incident involving an elderly man who was killed.
With five years of experience as a DA, Brown hopes to work on more murder trials and become a judge in the future.
As a student at DBHS, Brown was very active in show choir, starting off in Diamond Bar Singers and later advancing to Solitaire then Marquis.
“I often analogize the show choir stage to the courtroom during a jury trial because I have to put on a show for both,” Brown said. “The courtroom gives me a similar adrenaline rush as the show choir stage did. Winning a jury trial feels as rewarding as winning a show choir competition.”
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