Lauren is the founder and Executive Director of the Bowditch Institute for Women’s Success, where she combines her unique qualifications and expertise to help law firms and other business organizations create an environment where women can succeed.

She is the author of Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women’s Success in the Law, a book which is highly acclaimed for its thoughtful insights about the management of today’s law firms and the related institutional impediments to the retention and advancement of women in the legal profession.

Lauren’s background includes an extraordinary focus on issues relating to the advancement of women in the profession.  As the former President of the Boston Bar Association, Lauren established the Task-Force on Professional Challenges and Family Needs which produced Facing the Grail – Confronting the Costs of Work/Family Imbalance – a report which received national attention for its in-depth analysis of the cost of attrition in law firms.  Following her BBA presidency, Lauren helped establish its Standing Committee on Work/Family and also served as co-chair. 

From 2005 – 2008, Lauren served as a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, whose mission is to secure full and equal participation of women in the profession and the justice system.  She currently serves as a member of the ABA Board of Governors and as the Board’s liaison to the Commission on Women.  In that capacity, Lauren is also a member of the Research Advisory Board of the Women of Color Research Initiative Committee.  

Lauren is a founding member of the Massachusetts Equality Commission, which was created in 2004 to analyze the link between the relative lack of women in leadership positions in the law, the growing rate of attrition, and the demands of law firm practice.  The Equality Commission worked closely with the MIT Workplace Center to create a survey to track the movement of women and men in Massachusetts law firms between 2001 and 2005, resulting in the path-breaking study, Women Lawyers and Obstacles to Leadership. 

As part of her commitment to the advancement of women in public leadership, she serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus. Lauren is also a founding member of the Council for Women of Boston College, which is dedicated to furthering the role of women as active leaders and participants at Boston College.

In her role as an equity partner at Bowditch & Dewey, LLP, Lauren has managed an active mediation practice and a diverse environmental law practice, emphasizing negotiation, enforcement and compliance issues.  Lauren is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA America's Leading Business Lawyers, and Massachusetts Super Lawyers. 

Among her many honors, Lauren is a recipient of the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly 2009 Women of Justice Award, the 2007 Barbara Gray Humanitarian Award from Voices Against Violence, the Boston College 2004 Alumni Award for Excellence in Law, the Boston College Law School 75^th Anniversary Alumni Medal, and the 2005 Lelia J. Robinson Award from the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts.

Within her community, Lauren is the first woman to have served as chair of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce.  In 1997, the Chamber named her Business Leader of the Year and granted her the Athena Award in 2001.

Lauren is a former chair and current member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental League of Massachusetts and recently concluded ten years on the Board of Trustees of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.   She is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and serves as a Trustee of the Middlesex Savings Bank.

Lauren is frequently requested to appear as a keynote speaker or participant in regional and national programs addressing workplace issues.