Brittany Olwine, Class of 2005 - A tradition of service

By Gary Frank

When Brittany Olwine ’05 graduated from Trinity three years ago, she was certain she would continue her education. She just wasn’t sure what path she would follow.

She felt strongest about law school as an option, but she also considered pursuing a master’s degree in public policy, international relations, or public health.

“It’s a big investment in terms of time and money, so I wanted to make sure it was something I wanted to do,” says Olwine, a dean’s list student who earned faculty honors at Trinity. “I just needed a break from the classroom before jumping right into something for three years.” Olwine’s “break” entailed working as a litigation assistant for the Manhattan-based law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, L.L.P. “I thought that living in New York City and gaining a little bit of perspective outside of the classroom before I went back in would probably be beneficial,” she says.

But the experience that proved to be most crucial in determining the course of her career didn’t come in New York City but an ocean away in Cape Town, South Africa. In late 2007, Olwine left her job and volunteered as a teaching assistant at Home from Home, a foster care facility for children orphaned, abandoned, or marginalized because of HIV/AIDS. For two months, she witnessed the daily struggles and occasional triumphs of children in a country where more than 1.2 million young people have been orphaned by AIDS.

Olwine says her experience in Cape Town, combined with working at Cravath, Swaine & Moore led her to commit to law school. She will enter the College of William and Mary Law School in the fall. She credits Adrienne Fulco, associate professor of legal and policy studies, with encouraging her to pursue a law degree.

“I was fortunate to have had a great academic experience at Trinity, but especially with her,” says Olwine.

That Olwine’s career would be so strongly influenced by her experience in Cape Town should come as no surprise, as she has been an active volunteer for several non-profit groups since she was in fifth grade, when she and a group of fellow students volunteered at a nursing home near her family home in Atlanta.

“We’d go there with a pile of newspaper clippings and discuss the news with the residents,” she recalls. “They loved it.”

Olwine’s interest in serving others stems from her family, which has a strong tradition in public service. Her mother is a patients’ advocate at an Atlanta-based hospital and her maternal grandmother volunteered in various roles to support the war effort during World War II. (Her maternal grandfather, Lawrence Newman, was a war correspondent for the Hearst newspaper chain.)

She continued to devote time to volunteer service while at Trinity, despite the added pressures of competing on the women’s tennis team. Among her several activities was serving for three years as a mentor and tutor to a student at Hartford Magnet Middle School.

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