At 16, Lowell C. Brown thought being a lawyer meant glamour and prestige. His father, a deaf man who had overcome significant obstacles, offered a different and, to Brown, startling perspective: law was an excellent profession if you truly wanted to help people. That conversation stayed with him throughout his career.
Today, as a health care law partner at ArentFox Schiff, Brown specializes in medical peer review, representing hospitals and physicians in matters of patient safety and professional oversight. But the path to finding his calling was anything but direct, involving early resistance to the very field where he would spend more than four decades.
An Unexpected Career
While in law school, Brown wasn’t interested in health care law, even though he was a summer associate in the firm with the leading health care law practice in California in 1981. He often saw the firm’s partners and associates studying federal regulations, which he considered excruciatingly tedious, so he avoided the health care group that summer.
“Then, after law school, I worked in copyright law, which I found just as uninspiring. I even questioned whether I wanted to continue practicing law at all. During a lunch with contacts from my summer associate firm, I mentioned my overall dissatisfaction. Someone suggested I try health care law. I thought it was a joke and laughed it off, but they were persistent and encouraging. Eventually, I met with their health care group, accepted an offer to join and discovered that health care law was actually a perfect fit. I haven’t looked back since,” Brown says.
The Power of Diplomacy
Over the course of his four-decade career, Brown has become aware of his strengths. His ability to listen empathetically to others is part of his nature, but he has also actively worked to improve this skill. Coupled with his diplomatic personality, it enables him to communicate very effectively with people.
“I’ve come to realize that people like talking to me, want to listen to what I have to say, and, most importantly, they trust me. That trust carries a great responsibility. Once you understand how much people rely on that trust, you feel compelled to honor it and live up to their estimation of you,” he says.
Brown teaches young lawyers not only the technical aspects of being a lawyer, but also how to develop and navigate client relationships.
Serving the Community
Brown has served on various nonprofit boards and is currently a member of the advisory board of the Venice Family Clinic. The clinic provides low-income health care to those who can’t afford care or don’t know where to access it.
“Many of the clinic’s patients are immigrants, and I can contribute by speaking Spanish proficiently. Currently, they face challenges such as immigration enforcement raids, which are a separate but significant issue. Over time, the clinic has expanded its services and earned awards for its contributions to the community,” Brown says.
For his expertise in legal services, Brown was honored with inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who in September 2025. As he looks ahead, he intends to increase his community involvement by participating on boards and volunteering his expertise from four decades of practicing law. He also plans to dedicate more time to training young lawyers, focusing not only on legal skills but also on client service, writing, and professional development.
