For the past 14 years, Carrie Gustafson ’92 has dedicated her career to helping meet the needs of underserved communities in family law disputes while working to support animal welfare and land stewardship. She sees giving to the Law School as having an incalculable multiplier effect and considers it an honor to join with those who give so much more. 

As a student, Gustafson was inspired to help underserved communities by the late Professor Philip Frickey and his work on behalf of American Indians, and by Professor Barry Feld ’69’s dedication to juveniles in the penal system. After graduating, she had the opportunity to travel to Geneva for the U.N. Commission on Human Rights with Professor David Weissbrodt. That experience inspired her teaching and further study of human rights and critical race theory at Columbia University. Her giving was influenced by her association with Law School alumnus Allen Saeks ’56 and the other generous and public-spirited partners with whom she worked as an associate at Leonard, Street & Deinard and at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi. 

Gustafson reflects that “the pandemic has shown—often to a devastating degree—the disparate access in the U.S. to quality housing, schooling, healthcare, and work.” She credits the Law School with providing training for “public-spirited attorneys” dedicated to “holding entities accountable that fail to safeguard their employees’ health, working to keep vulnerable communities housed, and crafting policy to support a more just society.”   

HOMETOWN: Gustafson grew up in Golden Valley, Minnesota, but Oakland, California, has been home since 2002. 

GIVING: William B. Lockhart Club Murphy Society.

WHAT WE WON’T FIND ON HER RESUME: That she finds it “astonishingly therapeutic to spend long weekends with foresters clearing fallen trees from remote Sierra trails using handsaws.” 

ADVICE TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS: “Earning a living as a lawyer is relatively easy, particularly in the digital age. We also have the luxury of practicing our trade well into our 80s. The key is to make a priority of living a balanced life—however one defines that—beginning in law school and throughout one’s career.”