An accomplished lawyer for over 30 years, Ms. Brown has extensive experience representing executives and employees in all areas of employment law, including severance negotiations, employment discrimination claims and retaliatory discharge cases. Ms. Brown represents clients who have been the victims of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin and disability discrimination. She represents women who have been sexually harassed in the workplace, sales representatives who have been wrongfully denied bonuses and commissions, and executives in challenging overbroad and unenforceable non-competition agreements, among many other types of employment matters. Ms. Brown regularly represents clients in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Department of Human Rights and in federal and state courts.
In May 2021, Ms. Brown was interviewed on severances for Built In, an online community for startups and tech companies.
Ms. Brown is extremely experienced in representing C-Suite and senior executives in public and private companies in negotiating and drafting employment agreements. She handles sophisticated equity and compensation issues involving long-term and short-term incentive plans, stock options, and restricted stock unit agreements. Ms. Brown also assists clients in negotiating signing and retention bonuses, non-compete and non-solicit provisions as well as confidentiality and trade secret agreements. She also handles shareholder and partnership agreements.
Ms. Brown is a leader in the Chicago legal community. She is a Past President of the Illinois Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), and previously served as President of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, Chair of the ISBA Bench & Bar Section Council, and Chair of the ISBA Professional Conduct Committee. In addition, Ms. Brown is a strong supporter of other professional women. She served as President of the Professional Women’s Club of Chicago and is a founder of the Exclusive Professional Women’s Networking Group (EPWNG). In 2021, Ms. Brown was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to serve on its Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee.
Ms. Brown has been repeatedly recognized as a top lawyer in Illinois. In September 2022, Ms. Brown was named one of Crain’s Chicago Notable Women in Law, an honor which recognizes women who have made an impact in the types of cases they handle, served as a role model to other women attorneys, and assumed a leadership role in professional organizations and civic/community service initiatives. In May 2022, Ms Brown received the 2022 Vanguard Award from the Chicago Bar Association, which honors individuals and institutions who have made the law and the legal profession more accessible to and reflective of the community at large. In May 2020, Ms. Brown was one of 50 Honorees selected for the Inaugural Women In Law Award, sponsored by The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin & Chicago Lawyer Magazine. The Women In Law Award honors women lawyers for their work to mentor and promote other women in the profession, their success in the legal community and being a shining example of leadership. For the last ten years, Ms. Brown has been named to the list of Top 100 Lawyers In Illinois and for more than a decade, she has been named to the list of Top 50 Women Lawyers in Illinois in all practice areas, in Illinois Super Lawyers Magazine. Only the top 5% of lawyers in Illinois are selected as Super Lawyers, using a multi-step evaluation process involving a statewide survey of lawyers, independent panel research and in-depth evaluation of background and experience by practice area.
Ms. Brown was selected for inclusion in the 2020-2023 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Guide. In addition, Ms. Brown has been selected by her peers for inclusion in the 2010 and all subsequent editions of The Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law. She has been recognized in Leading Lawyers Network Magazine-Women’s Edition as being among the Top Ten Women Lawyers in Illinois among all practice areas; the Top Ten Women Business Lawyers; and the Top Ten Women Litigators. Ms. Brown has received an AV rating under the Martindale-Hubbell® Lawyer Rating System, indicating that she has “reached the height of professional excellence” and “is recognized for the highest level of skill and integrity.”
Further, Ms. Brown has been honored for her contributions to the legal profession. In 2015, Ms. Brown received the Top Women Lawyers In Leadership Award by the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. This award is given to outstanding women lawyers serving in a leadership role, who have excelled within their chosen field and who have gone beyond traditional mentoring to create new pathways for other women. In addition, Ms. Brown was named by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company in 2012 as one of 15 women attorneys in the legal community making a unique impact on the profession.
