![\"Brittany](\"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/march-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/BrittanyAkers_E3.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nBrittany Akers \u201924 has many family ties to Carolina but took an untraditional path to UNC School of Law. That path was filled with happy accidents that also led to the U.S. Coast Guard, where she is putting her law degree into practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy professional life seems to be a string of serendipitous flukes, to be honest,\u201d said Akers. \u201cI wish I was one of those people who knew what I wanted to do at five years old, but that just was not my story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Akers was born in North Carolina and grew up in a household of Carolina Blue. Her parents, Win Barton \u201979 and Quay Barton \u201982, met through mutual friends while students at Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She attended UNC Greensboro with hopes of a career in the medical field before hearing about a tuition assistance program with the U.S. Coast Guard for college students. She applied and transferred to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Fifteen years later, she is still with the Coast Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first, Akers\u2019 Coast Guard roles primarily involved marine safety \u2014 inspecting boats and ships to ensure regulatory compliance to keep passengers and cargo safe, investigating maritime accidents, and providing federal waterways oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Akers was selected into the Coast Guard\u2019s program for active-duty members to attend law school. Carolina Law was an easy choice for Akers, with her Carolina Blue upbringing and parents in nearby Winston-Salem, who could be a support system for her and her two children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing an attorney in the Coast Guard gives me the opportunity to meld my background and experience in the Coast Guard with the analytical skills honed in law school to be able to use my skills in the future, as well,\u201d said Akers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
She is now applying that knowledge as a senior staff attorney and lieutenant commander in Portsmouth, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this role, Akers manages an operational law portfolio and answers questions about legal authorities while the Coast Guard is on specific missions. She also provides command advice on a wide range of issues, including military justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy experience at Carolina Law helped me hone critical thinking skills that are instrumental in my job as an attorney,\u201d said Akers. \u201cThe Carolina Law professors helped me learn more about legal research, how to look at and analyze material, and how to write in a compelling, yet understandable way. Those skills are transferable into what I\u2019m doing now and will remain relevant for roles yet to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brittany Akers ’24 describes her professional life as a string of serendipitous flukes. Those flukes led her to the U.S. Coast Guard, then to Carolina Law, and now to a role as a senior staff attorney and lieutenant commander in Portsmouth, Virginia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991"}],"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=2991"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3367,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions\/3367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}