{"id":2953,"date":"2026-03-31T09:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T13:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/march-2026\/?p=2953"},"modified":"2026-04-15T12:55:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T16:55:21","slug":"building-the-carolina-law-family-brian-meachams-journey-from-uncertain-student-to-alumni-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/building-the-carolina-law-family-brian-meachams-journey-from-uncertain-student-to-alumni-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Building the Carolina Law Family: Brian Meacham’s Journey from Uncertain Student to Alumni Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"group
Brian Meacham ’03, Pat Wilson ’18, Kirk Warner, John Brooker ’03 and Martin Brinkley ’92 gather at the ceremony honoring Brooker with the Kirk Warner Award for Distinguished Service to the Military and Veterans Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-five years ago, Brian Meacham \u201903 sat on a folding chair in the UNC School of Law parking lot, questioning his life choices. Today, as president of the UNC Law Alumni Association, he’s dedicated to ensuring no graduate ever feels disconnected from the Carolina Law family.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“On that similarly muggy August morning, I was, as perhaps some of you are right now, questioning whether I had made the right decision to attend law school,” Meacham told the Class of 2028 at orientation last August. “Thankfully, my initial worries were misplaced, and attending Carolina Law turned out to be exactly the right decision for me.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That decision launched a journey that has come full circle. Now in his second year as LAA president, completing eight years in leadership roles, Meacham has made it his mission to strengthen the connections that transformed his own career.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meacham’s Carolina Law story truly began on his first day at Smith Anderson law firm in Raleigh. His new supervising partner seemed worlds apart: “He went to an Ivy league school undergrad. I went [to UNC]. He played piano and read the Iliad in his spare time. In my spare time, I played golf and read UNC sports message boards,” Meacham recalled in his orientation speech.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But then he mentioned that he also attended Carolina Law, and we immediately connected talking about Lissa Broome’s secured transactions class, Tom Hazen’s business associations course, and how there’s no place we’d rather be on a sunny spring day than right here in Chapel Hill.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That supervising partner was Martin Brinkley \u201992, now the former dean of Carolina Law. “I didn’t know at the time that 22 years later my supervising partner would be dean of this law school and that I’d have the privilege of sharing the stage with him at orientation,” Meacham said. “But I did recognize then just how much it means to be part of the Carolina Law family.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean Brinkley’s early advice proved formative. “Brinkley said find something you really care about and get really involved,” Meacham explained. “When he said that, I said, well, that’s easy for me, it’s Carolina.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about his proudest accomplishment as president, Meacham doesn’t cite programs or fundraising numbers. Instead, he points to people. “It’s the people that have agreed to serve with me,” he said. “The classmates, clients, and people I didn\u2019t know who have all agreed to be a part of this journey and help out the law school. That’s been really meaningful. It shows how much care there is for the law school and what it means to people.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role requires patience and strategic thinking. “The hardest part is that we’re all volunteers, we have lots of ideas, but limited resources,” Meacham acknowledged. “It takes a long time to make any kind of material change to anything. You really have to play the long game and be patient. We need to focus on doing a couple of things well and accept that nothing is going to happen quickly.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight years of alumni leadership has fundamentally changed how Meacham views the law school. “When I was in law school, I was not very involved outside of going to class and trying to do well,” he admitted. “I had a very narrow perspective. Being involved in this role has really made me see the full law school experience and what’s available.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This broader view informs the advice he now shares with students: “You feel busy, but you’re really not that busy relative to the rest of your life. Take advantage of the opportunity. See the different organizations and opportunities to do public interest work, do a clinic, go out and help the community, learn about a special area of the law. Get to know professors. Those are things I didn’t do well as a student.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One lesson from Professor Charles Daye\u2018s class has stayed with him throughout his career: “He always told us that we had to be able to explain legal issues to our 12-year-old cousin. As someone who works with business people, they don’t have a lot of patience for lawyer talk. Professor Daye\u2019s advice was spot on, and has always stuck with me.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Meacham’s leadership, the LAA has evolved significantly. The COVID-19 pandemic, while challenging, sparked new approaches. “COVID was very helpful, really, to kind of focus on what’s important,” he said. He recognized the two prior LAA presidents, Karen Popp \u201985 and Jim Deal \u201974, for elevating the LAA\u2019s awards celebration. “The awards program is a top-notch event, and really what it’s done for us is crystallize that we need to put more attention on our alums, recognizing and celebrating what they’re doing.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New initiatives like virtual book clubs have expanded engagement. “We had so much engagement from people who had never engaged at the School,” Meacham noted. Other experimental programs \u2014 from campus garden volunteering to specialized events \u2014 demonstrate the LAA’s commitment to meeting alumni where they are.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law school itself has transformed. “On the academic side, there’s a wider range of classes and opportunities now than when I was in school, more clinics, more experiential learning classes,” Meacham observed. “The wonderful thing is, so many of the great faculty are still there.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, Meacham sees both opportunities and challenges. Currently, about 20-25 percent of alumni are involved. “There are roughly 3,000 alums out of 11,000 that we don’t have an email address for,” he said. “There are a lot of people out there who feel like they haven’t heard from the law school.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s working to overcome misconceptions, including the belief that state funding covers all needs. “As recently as the 1980s, the state was supporting about 80 percent, and now it’s about 40 percent,” Meacham explained.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, he wants to shift perceptions about what the LAA offers. “There are lots of ways to help the law school that don’t involve money, and there are lots of things for you to do as an alum that don’t involve a charitable contribution,” he emphasized. “We’re trying to create something for you, a positive experience as an alum, even if you didn’t have one as a student.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LAA has even adjusted its messaging to be more inclusive. “We never say \u2018Go Heels\u2019 in anything from the LAA,” Meacham noted. “We’re about the law school, making sure our many alums who did not go to UNC as an undergrad feel welcome and feel like this is their space too, because it is.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout his tenure, Meacham has emphasized that Carolina Law is a family. He points to classmates like John Brooker \u201903, who “after serving our country in the United States Army, came back to Carolina Law to start a nationally renowned Military and Veterans Law Clinic,” and Ashley Campbell \u201903, “who is CEO of Legal Aid of North Carolina, a wonderful organization helping North Carolinians in need.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I see it in big cities and small towns, in private practice and public service, in North Carolina and all over the world,” Meacham told incoming students. “I have no doubt that when you reach a similar stage in your careers, you will be sharing stories about the great work that all of you are doing.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His message to students captures the essence of his leadership philosophy: “As you embark on the inevitable ups and downs of law school, remember that your classmates are now part of your family, and treat them accordingly. A classmate today may in the future be a client looking to hire you, a referral source looking to send you business, or someone you ask to volunteer for a cause important to you.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He adds with characteristic humor: “Law school is the time for building bridges, not burning them. That doesn’t mean don’t try your best. It’s OK to intercept one of your classmates’ passes during a flag football game, just don’t taunt that classmate if you are running it back for a pick-six.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Meacham reflects on his journey, one theme emerges clearly: relationships matter most. “The longer you get from law school, the more you realize the importance of those relationships. How much community matters, those connections. They’re more important than grades. They’re everything,” he said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His vision for the LAA’s future builds on this foundation. “I feel like we’re on the right track. I want us to just keep focusing on what we’re doing, which is bringing people back to the law school, building connections with each other, with students, and with faculty. I’ve always viewed this as a two-way street. While we of course need to recruit our fellow alumni to contribute time and resources, we also need to do things for them.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meacham’s final message to the students at orientation echoes throughout his work: “You’ll see Carolina Law alums throughout your law school careers. We’ll be speaking on panels, serving bagels, conducting mock interviews, judging moot court, and raising money for scholarships. So please don’t hesitate to introduce yourselves and ask questions. We are volunteering our time to help you succeed. We do this because we believe in this law school and the good it can do, and we are so excited you are here.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meacham always ends his\u00a0orientation speech with \u201cWelcome to the family,\u201d\u00a0and he truly means it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Meacham has practiced at Smith Anderson in Raleigh since graduation. He has served in LAA leadership since 2019, including three years as secretary and three as vice president, and is now completing his second year as president. He previously served on LAA committees from 2009 to 2018.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Meacham ’03 once sat in the UNC School of Law parking lot on the first day of orientation, wondering if he’d made a mistake. Now, as president of the UNC Law Alumni Association, he’s built his tenure around one conviction: the relationships you form here matter more than anything else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3467,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions\/3467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}