If it weren't for Hamish Osborne ’86, Bryan Saxton ’09 might have missed the birth of his first child.
It was summer 2009, and Saxton was stressed out. The recent Maryland Carey Law grad feared his job offer from a Baltimore law firm would be rescinded because of the recession, and his wife Laura’s due date landed at the same time as the looming bar exam. Should he turn off his phone and hole up in a hotel during the two-day test? Saxton called his mentor for advice. “Don’t turn off your phone,” he remembers Osborne telling him. “If she goes into labor, you need to be there.”
With his priorities intact, Saxton stayed on the grid, took the bar, and welcomed his daughter a week later when she (finally) arrived. He also began a successful career, talking through each move with Osborne along the way. Today, Saxton is a partner at Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP in Baltimore, practicing commercial real estate business law. He recently established a scholarship at Maryland Carey Law honoring the mentor who Saxton says was, “all about family, all about doing what was right and giving back.”
Giving Back
The special relationship between Saxton and Hamish Osborne started the summer before Saxton’s 1L year when he was offered the inaugural Osborne Scholarship. Osborne and his wife Christy established the scholarship in 2005, with the goal of providing full tuition and fees for outstanding students so they could enroll at Maryland Carey Law full-time instead of holding down a day-job and attending classes in the evening.
The assistance was life-changing for Saxton who came from a low-income military family that, for a time, experienced homelessness. Working full-time while going to law school at night for four years would have been his only option. As an Osborne Scholar, Saxton was free to leave his job in college admissions and earn his JD in three years.
Little did Saxton know that the scholarship would come with much more than financial support. Hamish and Christy Osborne made it their mission to get to know the Osborne Scholars and create a network among the scholarship recipients. Throughout law school, Bryan and Hamish kept up at one-on-one lunches, on phone calls, and at law school events.
After Saxton graduated, he took action on his mentor’s mantra, which always echoed in his head: “Give back, Bryan, give back, give back.”
As the inaugural Osborne Scholar, Saxton committed time to connecting with the scholars who followed him. In concert with the Osborne family, he offered advice and mentorship to the growing group of students who were also given the opportunity to pursue law school full-time rather than working their way through.
In 2016, Hamish Osborne passed away. The loss hit Saxton hard. His grief also inspired him to keep building on Osborne’s call to lift up the law school. Saxton joined the Alumni Board not even one year after graduation, supporting Maryland Carey Law philanthropically and by participating in events aimed at preparing students for their careers. In 2017 he became Alumni Board president.
As Saxton’s career grew, his family was able to give more, not just time but treasure. He joined the Maryland Carey Law School Club (MCLSC), whose members are philanthropic leaders, and served as an MCLSC co-chair. “I have been given a lot,” says Saxton, “so I need to give back to others.”
Following Footsteps
Eighteen years after Saxton’s life was transformed by the Osborne Scholarship, he and Laura decided to move forward with a plan that had been stirring for a long time—following in his mentor’s footsteps by establishing his family’s own scholarship at Maryland
Carey Law—the Saxton Scholarship. And while he attributes his motivation largely to his relationship with Hamish Osborne, Saxton says there’s more to it than that.
Reflecting on his enduring attachment to Maryland Carey Law, Saxton remembers first meeting administrators and other students when he visited prior to matriculating. From that moment, he says, he became part of a friendly and welcoming community that is rare in legal education. He also remembers his experience building skills and relationships with other students on journal, moot court board, and the many other activities he engaged in during law school. Those relationships grew into trusted friendships, and it is to those people he turns, just as they turn to him, in his professional life.
The cooperative and inclusive culture from which Saxton benefits to this day sparks what he calls his “internal obligation” to make the Maryland Carey Law experience accessible for those coming up behind him. Now, with the Saxton Scholarship, he is creating a legacy that will do just that for years to come, much as Hamish Osborne did.
“If I can help somebody even in a small way,” says Saxton, “I want to be able to do that.”