Simone Browne smiles in a patterned dark blue shirt and silver necklace as she is seen through vertical metal levers of a carillon keyboard

MAESTRO: For 3L Simone Browne, balancing the final year of law school with her many music responsibilities is a labor of love. Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small

3L Simone Browne

For Whom the Bells Toll

Of the many motivations to attend law school, 3L Simone Browne was surely unique in one: “I only applied to schools that either have a carillon or are close enough to a carillon that I could keep playing while studying.”

An instrument of chromatically tuned bells played from a keyboard that uses both hands and feet — usually in a tower — the carillon generates harmonious chords. UC Berkeley’s is housed in the iconic Campanile, the world’s second-tallest freestanding clock and bell tower, which offers tours and free daily recitals.

“There’s a very short list of law schools that have strong international law programming, support for public interest law, and a world-class carillon,” Browne says. “It wasn’t a difficult choice.”

MAESTRO: For 3L Simone Browne, balancing the final year of law school with her many music responsibilities is a labor of love. Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small

The longtime musician fell in love with the instrument at the University of Chicago. Browne auditioned into its competitive carillon studio, where she gave many public carillon tours and performed regularly at campus events.

She did a prestigious internship-in-residence in Virginia, obtained her North American professional carillon certification, and got a fellowship to study at the Royal Carillon School in Belgium. Browne has also played three major concert tours around Europe and the United States and conducted several carillon-related academic projects.

Now, she is UC Berkeley’s interim university carillonist — playing regular recitals while managing and teaching the studio.

“It’s demanding to juggle dual roles as a grad student and an instructor, in different fields with different schedules and expectations,” she says. “The logistics are challenging, especially because the law school operates on a different academic calendar than the rest of campus and my carillon role involves a good deal of administration on top of teaching and playing.”

“There’s a very short list of law schools that have strong international law programming, support for public interest law, and a world-class carillon. It wasn’t a difficult choice.”

Browne held leadership positions at the Berkeley Journal of International Law and the International Human Rights Workshop, and was also a student fellow for the school’s Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law. In that role, she reviewed and edited articles for a symposium on European Union law, researched international judges to support interviews for Professor Katerina Linos’ “Borderlines” podcast, and helped develop a course (Global Dispute Resolution) taught by former International Court of Justice President Judge Joan Donoghue ’81.

“Berkeley Law offers great international law programming, particularly for those interested in human rights,” says Browne, citing the Miller Institute, Human Rights Center, “and a thriving group of international law-focused student organizations.”

A former Fulbrighter who taught English in Ukraine, Browne last year was chosen for the Salzburg Cutler Fellows Program in International Law, which annually brings together about 55 top law students with leading academics, judges, and practitioners in the field. She and three other Berkeley Law student fellows traveled to Washington, D.C., presented international law papers-in-progress, and networked.

Even with her jam-packed schedule, law and music provide harmony.

“I think of it as ‘law brain’ and ‘music brain,’” Browne says. “After using my law brain to puzzle through legal issues, I can switch to music brain and spend a few hours in the carillon tower studying a new piece. Making space for my love of music is something I’ve been doing for a long time.” — Andrew Cohen

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