A Legacy of Litigation: Meet Third Generation Birth Injury Lawyer Laura Brown

Laura Brown was born to be a lawyer.

Her father and grandfather both practiced law and were her role models. She grew up watching them as they not only fought for their clients but were respected community leaders in their small town.

Early on, Laura’s grandfather shared this wisdom with her:

Always search for what is true and what is right, and fight for it.

Laura’s personal story and background

Laura grew up in a family where practicing law was part of her daily life. Because her father and grandfather practiced law in a small town, they handled all types of legal matters. They would listen and counsel farmers, ranchers, teachers, doctors, or any other person who sought advice or help.

Laura recalls her dad being on the phone late most nights, talking with people about their problems. She saw wisdom, empathy, and leadership, and those were guiding principles throughout her childhood.

Laura’s dad had passed away by the time she graduated from law school, so her grandfather accompanied her to the Texas Supreme Court when she was sworn in as a lawyer. Her grandfather sat outside the Supreme Court with her and said that one thing he’d learned in his 60 years practicing law was that what we allow to continue will continue.

“As people, lawyers, and citizens, it’s up to everyone to follow the truth and fight for what you believe in,” Laura told Enjuris.

Legal education and early career

Laura attended Baylor University as a pre-med student during her undergraduate years. She then graduated from Baylor Law School in 1992.

She started her legal career defending medical malpractice cases but then realized that her heart was with the victims and she needed to represent families and babies.

Today, Laura’s legal practice focuses on birth injury cases, which are babies who’ve suffered injuries because of medical negligence and preventable medical errors. The Brown Trial Firm is based in Texas, but Laura participates in birth injury cases nationwide. She’s licensed to practice in Texas and Oklahoma.

Laura’s unique philosophy

Laura practices law because she loves to represent real people who need help. She says that at times, she’s been disappointed in certain parts of the legal system but she never considered walking away from the practice of law.

“I understand that to effect change and to continue to move forward, we have to participate in the legal system in a meaningful and productive way.”

The reason Laura practices law the way she does is that she is able to represent real people who were injured through no fault of their own. She can’t imagine herself in any other profession, though she says if she had to choose something other than the law, she’d probably be an emergency responder in some capacity.

Career highlights and achievements

Laura doesn’t specify a single case that was her most important. Every case is important to her because each one impacts someone’s life. Birth injuries can change a family forever — whether someone suffered a severe permanent injury or a family has lost a loved one, it’s devastating and life-changing.

As Laura puts it:

“My job is to find the truth about what happened and to hold the responsible party accountable [if it could have been prevented].”

She can’t undo someone’s injuries, but she can provide help and hope for their future by assuring accountability and financial security.

Laura has won many multi-million dollar settlements for birth injury and medical malpractice lawsuits. Notably, she won a $10.3 million verdict in a Texas birth injury case. The baby’s umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and cut off his oxygen supply. Medical providers didn’t recognize warning signs that the baby was in distress, and their delay in ordering a C-section delivery resulted in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and cerebral palsy.

Laura also litigated a motor vehicle crash that resulted in a father’s death and a mother, son and daughter left with serious injuries. Laura recovered a $16.7 million verdict for the surviving family.

Laura has been named in the Texas Monthly SuperLawyer publication. She is also a member of the American Association for Justice, the Birth Trauma Litigation Group, the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

Laura’s legal practice

Laura’s day-to-day varies greatly depending on whether she’s in her office, at depositions, or in court. But almost every day involves research, case development, meetings, and talking with clients and families.

When we asked her what someone who needs to hire an attorney should know, she gave this advice:

“Experience and results matter. It’s crucial that you find a lawyer with knowledge and experience handling similar cases. A prospective client should also look for a lawyer who will listen to them and understand how the injury affected their life.”

The hardest part of Laura’s job, she says, is seeing people suffering the physical and mental pain that results from their injuries, along with the grief faced by a family member who’s lost a loved one. She feels her clients’ pain, and it stays with her. She says those feelings are important reminders of the value of health, love of family and friends, and time.

Laura invests her time, resources, and legal experience for representing victims of personal injuries. Insurance companies and corporations have access to big defense firms and teams of lawyers, and she believes victims should have the same caliber of representation. Most personal injury lawyers she knows are committed to gaining education, training, and experience when it comes to representing real people who’ve suffered injuries.

For Laura,

“... The most rewarding part of legal practice is meeting and developing relationships and friendships with wonderful people from all walks of life who share their life experiences with me. We are in the trenches together and we form bonds that live beyond the conclusion of the legal matter.”

Outside of work

Laura is married and a mother. Her entire family plays soccer, and they like to run, hike, mountain bike, water ski and snow ski. She also loves kickboxing and Crossfit. Her husband is a commercial pilot and Laura is a private pilot; they’re also teaching their children how to fly.

Does she have a favorite fictional attorney character?

Laura says she always watches A Few Good Men as inspiration before she tries a case. She finds the evolution of Lieutenant Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise) very powerful because he’s smart, quick-witted, and handsome (which she says makes for good entertainment).

Laura admires that Lieutenant Kaffee finds his inner compass to search for what is right and true, and inner strength to fight for it even while risking his career—and that’s what she strives to do every day.