Peter Braun

My name is Peter Braun; I am beginning my 2L year and am focusing on criminal law with an interest in working in law enforcement. I will be serving on the budget committee this year. I happen to be a second generation Portlander. I actually grew up only about a mile from Lewis and Clark in the same house my dad grew up in. My grandfather was a philosophy and literature professor at Lewis and Clark from the early sixties until the mid eighties. 

I went to undergraduate at the University of Puget Sound where I studied History, with a focus on political institutions of the industrial revolution. I did a research grant on the evolution of the Meiji government in Japan, and my thesis on the creation and function of the London Metropolitan Police force, the first modern urban police force and the model for almost all subsequent police forces. After college I worked for a year and a half a small Portland capital markets and asset management firm which focused on ethical investing. I functioned as a combination office manager and researcher, doing work on companies looking to raise start-up capital. While it had not been my intent to parlay this work into a career it was an interesting experience and helped direct me towards my current interest in trying to save the world. For the last two years I have worked as a Community Safety Officer (campus police) at Reed College, at first full time and switching to part time when I started law school last year. This experience complemented similar work I had done as a student in undergrad. While my interest in criminal law, and specifically law enforcement did not originate with this job, it did help me commit to criminal law as a course of study in law school. 

Here are four facts about myself, one of which happens to be untrue, I will let you guess which is the falsehood: I have been snowed on in July (in the northern hemisphere), I have been shot at, I was a punk in high school and my ancestors fought in the revolutionary war… for the British. My hobbies of the last few years have largely boiled down to work, just for lack of free time. However, when I have time I am an avid reader, a not very gifted target shooter, I enjoy backpacking and I love cooking. My two mottos are: “All that is required for evil to triumph is for the good to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke and “Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I attack.” – General Ferdinand Foch. 

As for my goals at the SBA, I hope to make budgeting as efficient, and transparent as possible. It has been my experience that accountability in any organization begins with how it handles its funds. This is especially true where the budget is derived from contributions made by members. While I am interested to explore the programs and goals of the SBA, my first priority will be to help make sure that funds are available, and that both students and other SBA members have a clear idea of how money is being spent. I am excited for the upcoming year, and I look forward to working with all the members of the SBA.