LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson '75

LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson graduated magna cum laude from John Jay College in 1975, after which she earned both a J.D. and an LL.M. in taxation from the New York University School of Law. She began her legal career in 1978 at the New York Office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, which she left to join the staff of the nonpartisan Congressional staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation in 1982. In the early 1990s she turned her attention to tax legislative and regulatory work and became a founding partner of the highly regarded boutique law firm of Washington Counsel, PC. She became a Principal of Ernst & Young LLP in 2000 when this Big Four Accounting firm acquired Washington Counsel. After a distinguished 35-year career as a tax lawyer, she retired from Ernst & Young in June 2013. LaBrenda now devotes time to her longtime avocation as a genealogist. She qualified for the Certified Genealogist® credential in 2015, and focuses on writing and lecturing in the field. In 2017 LaBrenda was first elected as a trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and currently serves as President of the credentialing body.