(Photo courtesy of Jo Darby)
By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
Briaunna Buckner has racked up many impressive achievements in her academic career and, according to records, is the only Black woman in recent history to graduate from the University of Michigan Law School and clerk for two U.S. Court of Appeals judges — the first in 2021 for the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Bernice B. Donald and currently for Robert L. Wilkins in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Donald was the first African American female judge to serve on four of the nation’s courts.
Wilkins was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after serving as a public defender and law partner in one of the nation’s premier firms.
“As a law clerk for two phenomenal judges, I have learned a great deal about the rule of law, honing my research and writing skills, and serving the judiciary with the level of meticulousness it requires,” Buckner said. “But as a woman of color, I am blessed to call both Judge Wilkins and Judge Donald my mentors.
“In addition to stellar credentials, they are incredible human beings and have invested tremendously in my growth as a lawyer.”
Buckner started her academic career at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Detroit, playing basketball under legendary hoops coach William Winfield.
She received a full athletic scholarship to play basketball for the Division 1 program at Jacksonville State University, where she served in freshman government, was elected to serve as a senator and was involved in several religious and community oriented organizations.
During her junior year, Buckner — whose mother was a sergeant for the Detroit Police Department and whose father was a lieutenant in Corrections for the State of Michigan — became interested in a legal career.
“A career in law enforcement seemed like a natural path at the time,” Buckner said. “But the summer of my junior year, I engaged deeper with the law as several trials were being nationally televised. I remember my father making an observation that none of the lawyers he saw on the television were Black women. After a short pause, he said: ‘Briaunna, you should do that; you would be great at that; you should be a lawyer.’
In the fall semester, Buckner enrolled in a constitutional law class taught by professor and Howard Law School alumna Ardie Dial, the sole Black woman on the faculty.
“That semester, I fell in love with the law and was determined to go to law school,” Buckner said.
In 2015, she graduated from Jacksonville State with a degree in criminal justice and a minor in biology — shortly after the university created The Briaunna Buckner Scholarship which awards an undergraduate or graduate student interested in increasing diversity in the legal profession.
Pregnant with twins, Buckner took a few months off to study for the LSAT. Not long after graduation, she gave birth to twin girls, Zaina and Zola; tragically Zaina, passed away after eight days.
“I was overtaken by unimaginable grief. I never anticipated, at age 23, I would lose a child,” Buckner said. “Struggling to see the finish line of this immense pain I was feeling, I decided to take a break from studying to grapple with life’s twists and turns.”
A month later, she was offered a graduate teaching position by a biology professor at JSU; and accepted with the proviso that she could pursue a master’s degree in public administration and public policy.
“I felt an MPA would teach me how to be impactful on a broader scale as I entered into law school,” she said.
Buckner enrolled in a grant writing class to learn how to help secure funding for nonprofit organizations, then interned for a litigation boutique law firm in Birmingham, Ala., to gain exposure and a deeper understanding of the courts and trial work.
She also attended trials to study different oralist styles and techniques and was hired as public affairs coordinator by the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce, to gain a deeper understanding of advocacy.
She achieved this while teaching college level biology courses, driving four hours to Atlanta at least three nights a week for LSAT prep courses, and taking care of her infant daughter.
Launching her law school journey at the University of Mississippi School of Law, Buckner was named 1L of the Year, Bessie Young Scholar, Bradley Arant Diversity Scholar, DRI’s Diversity Scholar, received the Outstanding Student Achievement Award for highest grade in Civil Procedure, won a Trial Advocacy competition, and was named a Business Law Fellow.
After her 1L year, she transferred to the University of Michigan Law School from which she graduated in 2021.
Honored with the Women’s Leadership Award for outstanding contributions, Buckner was involved in several MLaw organizations, including the Mock Trial team and student funded fellowships that served to raise financial assistance for students interested in pursuing a career in public interest.
Buckner was elected to serve on the Student Senate her 2L and 3L years and helped to make a change to the Student Body’s Constitution to add a seat on the Senate for Transfer Students.
Meanwhile, she served as the First African American female to be appointed the University of Michigan’s Supreme Court and was a member of the Michigan Journal of Race & Law.
During her time at Michigan, Buckner had four interesting opportunities to exercise her skills. She worked as a law clerk for a ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee where she gained a behind-the-scenes look into the judicial nominations process.
In Prof. Evan Caminker’s Appellate Advocacy Skills & Practice class, Buckner drafted several briefs and received top tier feedback. At MLaw’s Federal Appellate Litigation Clinic, she advocated for indigenous persons accused of a crime to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Lastly, as an intern for Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, Buckner co-authored an amicus brief urging the Michigan Supreme Court to clarify an ambiguous provision in the state’s Consumer Protection law.
“Each opportunity gave me insights into appellate advocacy and led me to develop a great respect for the courts,” Buckner said. “The mentorships and experiences I received from these top tier attorneys are invaluable—especially as an attorney of color in a field where we are traditionally underrepresented.”
In the meantime, Buckner got involved in the national nonprofit Appellate Project, founded by former civil rights attorney Juvaria Khan. The mission is to empower law students of color to thrive in the appellate field.
Starting as a mentee in the mentorship program, Buckner recently was appointed to the board of directors.
“While I’ve been fortunate enough to be exposed to such amazing opportunities, I’m only getting started,” Buckner says. “When people ask what my career goals are, I truly don’t have an answer because the goal has always been to ‘add to what is already there.’ I don’t know what the legal landscape will look like, nonetheless what society will look like in 10 or so years. My goal is to be what society needs at any given time so I can be effective in helping bring about change.
“Until then, I’ll read as many books as I can, learn from the brilliant lawyers and mentors that I’ve inherited along the way, and look for opportunities to be a blessing to others by using my gifts. In the words of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, ‘I have a seat at the table now, and I’m ready to work.’”
In her leisure time, Buckner volunteers with the Boys & Girls Club; and enjoys playing basketball, listening to podcasts, attending concerts and theater plays, spending time with her family, her daughter Zola, and her fiancé, Fred Durhal III, a former state representative in the Michigan House of Representatives and a current Detroit City Council member for District 7.
She plans to move back home to the Motor City after her clerkship run ends.
“I love the honesty, character, and resilience of Detroiters,” she says. “There is an essence that looms in the streets, signaling to visitors that we love our home and that there is no place greater than Detroit.”
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