As a student at The Master’s University — and later as a fresh graduate — Emily Brooks (’18) was blessed with a series of unique opportunities, from working on congressional campaigns to attending the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. Now a trusts and estates attorney, she credits a strong foundation at TMU with showing her what it means to live for Christ and Scripture as a lawyer.
Brooks majored in political studies at TMU, with an emphasis in constitutional law. She was interested in the behind-the-scenes aspects of politics, and in her junior year she secured the perfect job to explore that, serving as deputy communications director on a congressional campaign, where she played a key role in media and press relations.
Brooks was highly engaged in her program, taking every political studies course offered by Dr. Gregg Frazer, dean of humanities at TMU.
“In the classroom, both Dr. Frazer and Dr. Stead facilitated great, lively class discussions and debates, and really focused on developing our critical thinking and communication skills,” Brooks said.
Brooks also took classes with Judge George Crawford, which first exposed her to reading legal case law, digesting complex legal information, and communicating legal arguments.
“It was a very practical primer for law school,” Brooks said. “Judge Crawford had this theme, where if you believe the Lord has gifted you in this field, you have a responsibility to pursue it — but with the Bible in one hand and the book of law in the other. He was a really impactful example of being a representative for Christ and for justice in the legal world.”
During her senior year, Brooks took the LSAT and began applying to law schools, soon receiving an offer from the highly competitive Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, one of California’s top law schools. She began her program in the fall of 2019.
Six weeks before graduation, Pepperdine connected her with a trusts and estates firm in downtown Los Angeles, a practice that Brooks had been exposed to previously as a legal secretary.
“It was totally the Lord’s providence,” Brooks said.
She has been a trusts and estates attorney with Gifford, Dearing & Abernathy, LLP since 2022.
From her time at TMU to acceptance at one of the nation’s top law schools, Brooks recognizes the Lord’s guiding hand shaping her education, her career, and how she views life.
“The legal field can be very cutthroat and very aggressive. It’s often about attaining the highest-paying, most powerful position you can, sacrificing so much of who you are to achieve that level of success,” Brooks reflects. “My time at TMU taught me that that’s not what success is. Professional success as a believer is attaining achievement to honor the Lord and to bring Him the glory.”
Learn more about TMU’s political studies program here.
