Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Lauren Brogdon was featured in a Texas Lawbook article where she discussed surviving domestic abuse and how that shaped who she became as a crisis management lawyer.
Below is an excerpt:
In her free time, she also extinguishes a different kind of fire — the destructive flames of domestic violence — by helping survivors in myriad ways. She provides advice to women who come to Houston Volunteer Lawyers legal clinics and her local domestic violence shelter, Houston Area Women’s Center (HAWC); answers hotline calls to Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA); and has even represented domestic violence survivors in court as they navigate divorce proceedings against their abusers and seek full custody of their children. …
“As someone with that experience and someone with a law degree, I’m uniquely situated to help other survivors and other women and children struggling from domestic violence,” Brogdon told The Texas Lawbook.
Brogdon has done pro bono work for domestic violence victims throughout her entire 11-year career, ever since she began volunteering at legal clinics run by HVL (the Houston Bar Association’s pro bono service arm), through which she first got connected with HAWC. She has handled at least 83 pro bono cases in her career, many of which involve domestic violence survivors. …
In her billable work, Brogdon said she believes she’s good at crisis management because “I have dealt with crises my whole life.”
“One of the biggest pieces of feedback when I’m dealing with an ongoing crisis is how calm I seem under pressure,” she said. “I flexed that muscle constantly growing up so I think it has well prepared me to be in this field. Litigation can also be contentious, and when opposing counsel are being nasty or yelling at [me], I think it’s a little easier to take it on the chin because I’ve seen the worst of worst. I’m uniquely situated to let this stuff roll off my back.”
Asked what she wishes the business and legal community knew about survivors of domestic abuse, it’s that she wishes leaders in both areas knew “there are more of us than you realize.”
“It touches everyone,” she said. “Unfortunately, when people think about domestic violence, they think … that it only affects impoverished people or people of color, and people of certain communities. But I grew up in a very wealthy family. I went to private school K-12.”
Read more of Lauren’s amazing story from Texas Lawbook here.
