Brian Pearce
Adjunct Faculty Landlord-Tenant Mediation Clinic- Specializations
Criminal Law & Procedure
Intellectual Property
International Law
- Biography
Brian Pearce is an Assistant US Attorney with the US Department of Justice and JAG in the US Army Reserve. He currently serves as the Legal Advisor to the Defense Forensic Science Center at Fort Gillem, Georgia.
Professor Pearce has 14 years’ experience as a federal prosecutor in San Diego, California (border crimes, appellate) and Atlanta, Georgia (fraud, cyber, corruption and intellectual property). In Atlanta he has served as his office’s International & National Security Coordinator and a CHIP (Computer Hacking/Intellectual Property) Attorney.
His career includes seven years abroad as a diplomat. From 2003-07, he was Resident Legal Adviser for USDOJ and State Department Bureau of Narcotic & Law Enforcement Affairs, performing capacity building work in criminal justice sectors across East Asia. From 2012-15, he was the USDOJ Regional Attaché for Southeast Asia, coordinating formal law enforcement cooperation (extradition, mutual legal assistance and other treaty matter), and USDOJ Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordinator for Asia. He received awards and recognition from the Department of State, FBI Director and DEA for contributions toward bilateral law enforcement relations and facilitating prosecutions of major transnational cases involving corruption, narcotics, sex trafficking and cybercrime cases.
Professor Pearce clerked in Honolulu, Hawaii with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and District of Hawaii. He briefly practiced transactional law in Silicon Valley and corporate litigation Hawaii.
He has taught numerous subjects in law and criminal justice over several years as Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School and Adjunct Professor at Emory Law School, Georgia State School of Law and Kennesaw State University. He has instructed at federal, foreign and multinational law enforcement, prosecutor and judicial academies and trainings around the world.
Professor Pearce grew up in Decatur and was the Star Student of Druid Hills High School, Dekalb County and the 4th U.S. Congressional District. He received a B.A. in Political Science from Amherst College (Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude), a Masters degree in International Relations from Cambridge University as Commager Fellow, and a J.D. and L.L.M. from Stanford Law School. He studied in Germany as a DAAD scholar, in Sweden as a Rotary International scholar, and worked at the European University Institute in Italy.
Professor Pearce served as Chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, on the Prosecution Function Committee of the American Bar Association, and on the Advisory Board to the ABA’s Asia Rule of Law Initiative. He is a member of the Cooper Inn of Court, Decatur chapter of the St. Vincent de Paul charitable society, and the Kittredge Magnet School Foundation.
Now a Lieutenant Colonel, his military career includes tours in Korea, Thailand, and the Middle East. He lives with his wife, two children and three dogs in Decatur, Georgia.