Lawyer of the Day II: The Kentucky Derby Clerk

While the NFL Draft is the premier sporting event going on this weekend, we aren’t too far away from the Kentucky Derby. That means planning for all of the events surrounding the Derby is well under way. One of the most exclusive Kentucky Derby parties is being organized by a 26-year-old law clerk.

Chris Barnstable-Brown — whom we mentioned briefly last year, back when he was still in law school — is currently clerking for Judge Boyce F. Martin (6th Cir.), by day. By night (and on lunch breaks), he organizes the Barnstable Brown Gala, which is the place to be in Louisville on race day:

While it’s known as one of Louisville’s most star-studded Derby events (People magazine once listed it among the top parties in the nation), the Barnstable Brown Gala has been going on for 20 years now, long enough for an event to get stale and vulnerable to competition. Over the years, smaller, more accessible parties have sprung up and gained enough stature to pull in a few big names of their own.

Yet there’s no sign that the gala will lose its top dog status anytime soon, in part thanks to Barnstable-Brown. He keeps his mother, gala co-hostess Tricia Barnstable Brown (Chris hyphenates his name, while Tricia does not), hip to the hottest celebrities of the moment and does what it takes to help get these stars to the party.

Mmm … landed gentry.

Running an exclusive Derby party has given Barnstable-Brown a pretty impressive list of contacts:

Over the years, Barnstable-Brown has aided with efforts to lure hip-hop stars like P. Diddy, Jermaine Dupri, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Ludacris. His efforts are helping, bit by bit, to bring a more up-to-date edge to the gala, which has had, at times, relied on decidedly B-list stars to populate its guest list….

A football fanatic, Barnstable-Brown, a wide receiver on the football team during his high school days at St. Xavier, takes on the job of rounding up star athletes, too. NFL superstars like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have also become regulars at the party. Last year, he helped seal the deal on getting football bad boy Terrell Owens, then with the Dallas Cowboys, to the gala.

But can he turn those names into clients? After the jump, the rich keep getting richer.

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You’ll be happy to know that despite being blessed with wealth, Barnstable-Brown hasn’t been hobbled by the circumstances of his birth. Instead, he’s one of the incoming associates that will be able to start on time.

Over the past several years, Barnstable-Brown has had to help with party preparations from afar, balancing his planning duties with classes at Purdue University, where he studied economics and literature, and Boston University, where he went to law school….

In August Barnstable-Brown is heading to New York to start his career as a lawyer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He knows that helping to plan the party while working full-time lawyer will be tough, he’s happy to take on the challenge.

Of course, Chris gets the girls too:

The party does make for an interesting date, though.

“The first year he took me (to the party) was the first time I’d ever been to his house or met his family,” said Barnstable-Brown’s girlfriend, Sarah Krisel. “I was, like ‘Oh my God! Does this happen all the time?’ It was definitely overwhelming.”

And the party is all for charity. The family was able to donate $1 million to diabetes research last year.

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In short, in the race of life, Chris Barnstable-Brown has lapped the field.

Speaking of which, is anybody going to the party this year? If so, I’d be willing to perform almost any activity conceivable to be your “plus 1” love to get a report on the event.

Derby Heir: Barnstable-Brown [Louisville Courier-Journal]