Lighting the Way: Adrienne Konigar Macklin and the Power of Equity
“Don’t let anyone tell you what your opinion should be.”
A seasoned attorney passed this wisdom down to Adrienne Konigar Macklin early in her career. She never forgot it.
In the decades that followed, she built a life around that principle; defending civil rights in courtrooms, setting policy from school board seats, presiding over cases as a judge, and expressing what the law alone couldn’t always say through award-winning mixed media art.
Equity as Engine
On May 16, Claremont Graduate University will welcome the Honorable Adrienne Konigar Macklin as the keynote speaker and Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters recipient for the 99th annual commencement ceremony, themed Lighting the Way: Shaping Our Future Through Transdisciplinary Education, celebrating those who build connections across disciplines to drive meaningful change and advance a more inclusive, forward-thinking world.
Ask Konigar Macklin what has driven her across so many different arenas (from courtrooms, boardrooms, classrooms, and canvas), and her answer is rather direct: equity.
“Equity is more than an idea or politically correct catchphrase for me,” she says. “It has been the driving force that propels me to want to see the playing field leveled in a way that speaks to the ability of people versus the category in which they are placed.”
As Special Counsel at the Law Offices of Adrienne Konigar & Associates, she has served as legal counsel to urban school districts, institutions of higher education, and governmental agencies, navigating the intersection of law, education, and social policy. She has also contributed to targeted educational initiatives in Africa and Haiti, extending her reach well beyond California.
Even her art, which began as a personal outlet, has evolved into something more purposeful.
“My art, although it began as a way to relieve stress, has evolved into symbolic expression,” she says. In her hands, mixed media becomes another form of advocacy, a visual language for ideas that the law alone cannot always capture.
My Brother’s Keeper
Much of Konigar Macklin’s most significant work has centered on students who are often invisible to the systems that are supposed to serve them; unhoused youth, students with disabilities, children impacted by foster care, incarceration, and poverty.
“I grew up in Compton, California, and felt that students in certain environments were not heard, much less seen,” she says. “It is not just the example we set but the voice we give to others who cannot, or who face barriers preventing them from being self-advocates. Education is the great equalizer. We are — I am — my brother’s keeper.”
That belief translated into more than 14 years of service as president of the Pomona Unified School Board, where she shaped education policy for one of California’s largest urban districts. It carried into her work with the Los Angeles County Commission on Families and Children, and her leadership within the legal profession as president of both the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and the California Association of Black Lawyers — efforts that were recognized in 2024 with the Langston Bar Association Lifetime Achievement Award.
Her academic foundation reflects the same cross-disciplinary instinct. A Bachelor of Arts in Social Ecology from UC Irvine, a Juris Doctor from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, and studies at Dartmouth College gave her the tools to move fluidly between law, policy, and education.
Final Counsel
For a graduating class stepping into careers in public service, law, education, policy, and more, Konigar Macklin offers advice forged in experience.
“Don’t let popular opinion override doing what you know is right,” she says. “A far more seasoned attorney once told me, ‘Don’t let anyone tell you what your opinion should be. Don’t let anyone marginalize your ability to make a difference.”
It’s the kind of counsel that comes from a life spent building connections, crossing boundaries, and doing the hard, necessary work of showing up for people the world has overlooked.
On May 16, the Honorable Adrienne Konigar Macklin will light the way once again, handing that torch to the next generation.
CGU’s 99th annual commencement ceremony will be held on May 16, 2026. Learn more at cgu.edu/commencement.