So often in the legal field, once money has exchanged hands and agreements have been made, things can feel cold and disconnected. Rare is the lawyer who practices a kind bedside manner, leading to many individuals feeling isolated and cut off during legal proceedings. But when it comes to attorney Lorie Brown, that couldn’t be further from the case. She and her firm at Brown Law Office P.C. approach the legal field from an entirely different direction, as Lorie spent years of her life working as a registered nurse and brings that same sense of affection and care to her legal work.

“I never thought about becoming an attorney, but I went through a divorce and had a great attorney who said “I could do this”. It was the best decision I ever made!” Lorie says. 

Ever since she was a child, Lorie wanted to be a nurse. After graduating from Indiana University in 1982, she officially began her career in the noble nursing profession. As she says, “I felt I could finally truly live my life’s purpose—I could help people heal by giving the best care my training could provide.” 

But as wonderful as nursing was, Lorie couldn’t shake the feeling that she “couldn’t give the care I wanted to because my hands were tied by antiquated rules, nursing culture, and even unit status quo—all things I didn’t anticipate as an eager nursing student.” So, Lorie decided to make a change and went to law school. She studied law at Indiana University, earning her Juris Doctor (JD) degree in 1990. “For the last 33 years, I’ve been working as an attorney. It turns out that I still get to help people, only in a way different from what I expected.” 

As a lawyer, Lorie found the old saying “once a nurse, always a nurse” to ring fundamentally true. “I naturally fell into representing nurses and other health professionals in need, usually with malpractice matters and license defense.” With her history, it was easy for Lorie to empathize and imagine what these nurses were going through while their ability to practice nursing was in question.

Lorie is licensed to practice in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky and has an of counsel in California but goes beyond that by partnering with other attorneys, allowing her to help nurses nationwide get the legal support they need. “As a nurse, doctors told me what to do, and now, as an attorney representing health care professionals, I tell them what to do,” she boldly says. 

In 2012, Lorie Brown founded Empowered Nurses (ENO), an organization designed to help nurses protect their licenses so that they can do their jobs with confidence. As Lorie says, the purpose of ENO is to allow nurses to “focus on serving their patients and regain the joy in the profession they love.” In addition to this, Lorie also served as the president of the American Association of Nurse Attorneys.

Looking forward, Lorie Brown aims to see her firm established as the go-to firm for professional licensing defense. “We are committed to expanding our reach and influence, ensuring that we are recognized not only for being great legal professionals but also for our dedication to client service and ethical standards.”

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