[1] After receiving his initial education in Cape Town, Brand attended the University of Leiden from 1815,[1] where he obtained a doctorate in law in 1820 with a dissertation on the relationship that colonies have to the mother country – Dissertatio politico-juridica de jure coloniarum.

[1] He was one of the founders of the Zuid-Afrikaansch Athenaeum (South Africa's first university for Dutch-speaking students) in 1828, and was one of the first advocates in the Supreme Court in 1829.

A founder member of the newspaper De Zuid-Afrikaan, he was also its editor and championed the Dutch language in his editorials.

When representative government was finally introduced, Brand became the first Speaker of the Cape House of Assembly – a position he held for 20 years.

He was also a prominent supporter of the movement for responsible government, and became the first Speaker of the Cape parliament under this new system, when it was instituted by the Molteno Ministry in 1872.