Binta Brown: "Private Answers to Public Challenges", at Rockefeller 003 at 4:30 pm, April 16, 2013

In our capitalist society, the race to ascend the economic ladder is oftentimes all encompassing. In this quest for money and power, however, are we forgetting the more important things in life? In a world where success and happiness are measured in dollar bills, the importance of human capital is being overlooked. 

Binta Brown, a partner practicing corporate law at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, has noticed the growing gap between entrepreneurship and the obligation to help out fellow humans. Her talk, “Private Answers to Public Challenges,” will discuss how people in positions of power have an obligation to promote public service. Humanitarian response is normally left to government policy responses or NGOs, suggesting that humanitarian disasters are the result of political failures. Binta Brown rebuts that market solutions and business models can be harnessed to address these humanitarian crises, and that private institutions have a responsibility for addressing public problems. 

Binta Niambi Brown is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group of the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. She has represented corporate clients in connection with merger and acquisition transactions, public and private debt and equity offerings, and secured debt financings. Fortune magazine listed her on its list of business's 40 under 40 "hottest rising stars," and the World Economic Forum honored her as a Young Global Leader in early 2012. Binta was the only lawyer in private practice in North America honored as a Young Global Leader in 2012, and on the October 2012 Fortune 40 under 40 list. She was an informal national security adviser to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, where she focused in particular on human rights and international institutions. 

Binta is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Truman National Security Fellow. Her pro bono practice has included advocating on behalf of women and girls, assisting with democratic institution-building and rule-of-law reforms, and engaging in other human rights matters throughout the world. She is currently co-leading an initiative recommending rule of law reforms to Myanmar to facilitate capital flows and foreign investment there. Binta graduated cum laude from Barnard College and went on to receive her J.D. from Columbia Law School.