Brian Golden and Scott Foster Honored with Alumni Awards
Each year, alumni are nominated for the Citizen Lawyer Award and the Taylor Reveley Award which represents leadership, integrity, and service. These awards are presented during a special ceremony in November as part of our Dean's Council and Board Meeting programming.
Citizen Lawyer Award - This is awarded to a William & Mary Law alumnus/a that has graduated more than 10 years ago, and who personifies the citizen lawyer tradition of professional achievement/service, personal integrity, and community leadership.
Taylor Reveley Award - This is awarded to a William & Mary Law alumnus/a that has graduated in the past 10 years, and who personifies the citizen lawyer tradition of professional achievement/service, personal integrity, and community leadership.
2023 Citizen Lawyer Award
Brian Golden '92
Brian Golden was born and raised in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. He graduated from The Boston Latin School, Harvard College, and the College of William & Mary Law School. He received a graduate degree from the US Army War College.
After law school, Brian joined the US Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he served on active duty for more than three years. He remained in the US Army Reserve, recently retiring after 30 years of service as a commissioned officer. Among his assignments, he represented disabled soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, participated in the NATO peace-keeping mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, worked to reform detention operations in Iraq after the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, and served as a legal advisor with the US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. At the Pentagon, he was an International and Operational Law Attorney in the Office of the Army Judge Advocate General, and he concluded his military career as Senior Legal Advisor to the Army General Counsel.
In the administration of Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Brian served for more than eight years as Director of the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), formerly known as the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and managed the largest building boom in Boston’s history In July 2022, Brian traveled to Singapore to accept an international planning award on behalf of the City of Boston. The 2020 Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize honored Boston with a Special Mention based on the city’s holistic work on climate resilience, improving housing affordability and mobility options, and fostering civic participation.
Brian was elected four times to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he served the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston. In the legislature, he focused on expansion of public charter schools as a response to under-performing traditional public school systems. He led a commission that worked to overhaul the mechanism by which the state funded public school buildings, and he played a leadership role in the defeat of a legislative attempt to restore the death penalty.
Brian and his wife, Kristin O’Connor Golden, have five children and live in the Boston area.
2023 Taylor Reveley Award
Scott Foster '14
Scott Foster earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from William & Mary, completing his bachelors in 2010 and earning his J.D. in 2014. In 2010, he became the first college student to be elected to the Williamsburg City Council, where he served as Vice-Mayor from 2016-2018. He was instrumental in the adoption of the 2013 City of Williamsburg Comprehensive Plan, advocating for additional residential density in Williamsburg’s downtown, which led to major reinvestment and development of that area.
Scott currently practices in Gentry Locke’s Richmond office, helping businesses with their land use, real estate, and corporate law needs. He was promoted to partner as of January 1, Scott is a member of the Legislative Affairs and Solar and Renewable Energy teams and handles solar and battery storage land use matters across the Commonwealth. He is passionate about local and state government economic development and land use issues; they’re at the heart of the economy and quality of life for any locality and its surrounding region. To him, it is rewarding to help entrepreneurs, local and state governments and other stakeholders work together to bring about positive change.
Scott was noted on the “Ones to Watch” list by Best Lawyers in America for Corporate Law and Land Use and Zoning Law (2021-2024) as well as named a “Leaders in the Law and Up & Coming” honoree by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (2021).
Scott currently serves on the William and Mary Real Estate Foundation Board of Directors and remains an active member of the community, always seeking to improve the local and state economies. He has an English Setter named June and likes to travel, especially throughout Virginia. Scott has covered most of the Commonwealth and likes to pick routes that pass a hometown barbecue, fried chicken, or seafood restaurants.