Brown is the founder of Soxton: an AI-powered law firm serving startups in their budding business journeys. The 30-year-old founded her company in June of last year, and less than six months later, Soxton emerged from stealth with $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Moxxie Ventures. Her business is seizing the moment as AI radically transforms workflows, including that of lawyers, but her initial passion for the career came much earlier in life.
Born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, the entrepreneur first discovered her passion as a sixth-grader watching Legally Blonde and Law and Order SVU. As just a preteen, she knew what she wanted to do with her life: become a prosecutor. So she had her parents drive her to the district attorney’s office with a cover letter and resume on hand; her qualifications included fundraising for her middle school, alongside student government and yearbook club. As they waited in the car, she went inside and applied for an internship. And at just 12 years old, she snagged a gig that taught her the ins and outs of law throughout middle school and high school.
“My job was to file and dust, and I would go to attorney’s offices to see if they had mail that I could deliver for them,” Brown tells Fortune. “The judges would text people in the DA’s office if there was a hearing I should listen to…I grew up in the DA’s office.”
The office’s witness coordinator let her be her personal intern for the following summer between sixth and seventh grade. Brown says she would also watch her hometown’s court and ask questions, going in two days a week. Eventually, that part-time set-up turned into 40-hour-plus weeks of work after school. Those formative years interning at the DA’s office sent her on a journey into Big Law, then multimillion-dollar legal entrepreneurship. It all started with her teenage scrappiness—and occasionally playing hooky.
“If there was a hearing that I cared about from a case I was following, I would skip school to go listen and see what was happening,” Brown continues. “Being taken seriously by folks around that area has made a profound difference in my life.”
Brown’s Legally Blonde dreams come true at Harvard and leads her to Soxton
The 30-year-old entrepreneur didn’t come from a family of lawyers or business owners. But still, Brown says her parents—a teacher and a police officer—always took her ambitions seriously, no matter her age. By the eighth grade, she knew she wanted to go to Harvard Law; and as a “peculiar child,” her family didn’t poke fun at her for being more concerned about preliminary hearings than classic pre-teen pursuits.
Brown went on to attend Vanderbilt University on a full-ride, majoring in human and organizational development. While pursuing her business degree she interned at the Nashville Public Defender’s office, intertwining law with her undergraduate coursework wherever she could. And once she graduated as the college’s valedictorian, her Legally Blonde dream became a reality: Brown got into Harvard Law School.
Not long after enrolling at the prestigious law school, Brown caught the entrepreneurial bug. During her first semester she created a pantsuit brand called Spencer Jane while cross-enrolling at Harvard and MIT’s business schools. She was now blending her passion for law with the world of start-ups; and after wrapping up her law degree, Brown began working at Big Law firm Cooley LLP, a Silicon Valley practice supporting start-ups.
However, it didn’t take long for the entrepreneur to ditch her 9-to-5 for the founder life. She spent two years at Cooley as an associate, witnessing how advanced tech was changing the legal industry, before founding AI-powered law firm Soxton last June. The entrepreneur had some experience with the world of tech; in her middle school days, a trial that involved computer and cell phone forensics inspired an interest in the field. Brown began taking coding classes at a local community college before she was old enough to drive. At the time, Mark Zuckerberg was splashed across the cover of Time as the 2010 person of the year.
“I have always cared about technology and the law,” Brown says. “I had wanted to bridge that gap.”
Less than six months after creating Soxton, the business raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Moxxie Ventures, with participation from Strobe, Coalition, Caterina Fake, and Flex. So far, her AI legal firm has served more than 500 companies and counting, with another 2,500 startups on the wait list.
Brown’s advice for achieving success: ‘People should trust themselves’
At a young age, Brown had already had the self-assurance to follow her gut instincts—and it led her to a DA office internship, Harvard Law degree, Big Law job, and multimillion-dollar company. For those who want to replicate her success, Brown shares some straightforward advice: follow your intuition. The lawyer-turned-entrepreneur says most people have the right instinct to know what’s best for their success.
“People should trust themselves,” Brown says. “There’s a lot of talk and chatter in this world, and I think that if people really just listen to themselves, they usually have a pretty [good] understanding on what it is that they need to do, and what would work best for them.”
Brown adds that others may have a diametrically opposite experience, and find their own achievements by ignoring their instincts. However, her winning formula has fostered an impressive career from middle school through adulthood: “This is what works for me, trusting myself.”
