Tricia “CK” PURKS Hoffler’80 never stops moving.
To give you an idea of this top lawyer’s pace, in the last two weeks before this chat she’s been to South Africa and Ghana for work, flown to Los Angeles to try a case, and landed back in her home in Atlanta just this morning for a board meeting.
“I was also in Chicago at some point,” she says.
It takes a lot to stop CK in her tracks—which is exactly what happened when she learned that she was this year’s recipient of The Allison Roach Alumna Award.
“It’s humbling. It forced me to just stop for a minute,” says CK, “and reflect on my life, on my journey.”
“My philosophy is to give your best at all times,” she says. “You don’t have to compare yourself to your colleague, to your friend, to anyone. Just do your best.”
In the decades since she became Branksome’s first Black Head Girl, CK went to undergrad at Smith College and law school at Georgetown University. She’s risen to the top of the fiercely competitive legal profession in the United States, winning her clients over US$850 million in total settlements and running her own Atlanta-based firm, all while raising two sons. For many years, she was also counsel to the late U.S. civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson and his organizations.
“My philosophy is to give your best at all times,” she says. “You don’t have to compare yourself to your colleague, to your friend, to anyone. Just do your best.”
She’s also a big believer in the power of having fun, even doing the kind of serious, important work she does. “Humour has always been a part of my fabric,” CK says. “I don’t take myself so seriously.”
Case in point: Earlier in the day, she’d been in court for a case that required her to use her phone to pull up a document. The first to admit she’s not the most tech-savvy—“I always have hard copies, because I don’t trust technology”—she was actually able to perform this feat and joked: “Fred Flintstone has come into the 21st century.”
It says something about how much Branksome Hall means to her that she lists winning the Allison Roach Alumna Award as one of her most meaningful distinctions.
“Winning this award is a memory that will be indelibly printed in the forefront of my mind, that I did something right,” she says. “It means so much coming from the Branksome community.”
Seeing her name on the brick walkway of plaques for honorees when she was back on campus in 2025 “meant so much,” adds CK, who is a Branksome Board member.
Part of this is also because of her deep connection to Miss Roach, who was the principal when she was a boarder there.
“I just remember her coming out of her office, smiling and greeting you. She had this combination of a stern but loving look on her face,” remembers CK. “She was so witty. She would say something that would take me a minute to say, ‘Oh, she’s joking,’ because I revered her so much. I was in such awe.”
Miss Roach and many of her other teachers and staff, including administrative assistant Shirley Duperley, who attended the award ceremony during Reunion, had a tremendous impact on her.
“I wanted to strive for excellence, and they gave me guidance and helped me develop a roadmap,” she says. “It ultimately became my roadmap for life. I was blessed to have people who really believed in me.”
It’s why she wants to inspire young women from the next generation of leaders like her. Her biggest piece of advice? Work hard.
“You’ve got to be the most prepared person in whatever profession you choose,” CK says. “If you want to be successful, you need to be prepared to sacrifice when needed—and understand that no one is ever going to give you anything.”
