Professor Heidi is a skilled lawyer who has also overcome her own fears of public speaking, social anxiety, and shyness. In her talks, she offers valuable insights and practical tips for untangling these common challenges in the context of public speaking. Drawing on her own experiences, she shares candidly about the struggles she faced and the strategies that helped her overcome them. Through her inspiring stories and compassionate approach, Professor Heidi hopes to empower others to conquer their fears and find confidence in their own public speaking abilities.
Biography
Professor Brown joined Brooklyn Law School as Director of the Legal Writing Program in 2016. A prolific scholar and author on the art and science of legal writing, she has published four books on predictive and persuasive legal writing and federal litigation, as well as numerous scholarly articles for law journals. She has written three books about well-being and thriving in the legal profession:
* The Introverted Lawyer: A Seven-Step Journey Toward Authentically Empowered Advocacy
* Untangling Fear in Lawyering: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy
* The Flourishing Lawyer: A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Performance and Well-Being
Inspired by her own experience untangling fear of public speaking during her litigation career, she is passionate about helping law students and lawyers “find their authentic lawyer voices” and overcome anxiety about Socratic legal discourse and performance-based lawyering tasks.
Prior to joining the Law School, Brown served as Associate Professor of Law at New York Law School, where she taught in the school’s Legal Practice program. Before that, she was an Associate Professor of Legal Research and Writing at the Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law in Orange, California.
Heidi Brown has more than two decades of experience in law practice, studies Italian and has taught legal writing at the University of Trento in Trento, Italy and at Tuscia University in Viterbo, Italy. She received her bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs and French language/literature from the University of Virginia, and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. In 2021, she received a Master in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Heidi Bown will be joining New York Law School as the Associate Dean for Upper-Level Legal Writing this summer. It is worth noting that she was awarded the 2023 Association of American Law Schools' Section on Balance and Well-being for her outstanding contributions towards well-being in legal education through her books.