Adrienne J. Lawrence, Esq.

As an award-winning on-air legal commentator and workplace inclusivity advocate, Adrienne Lawrence does more than just talk. The former big law litigator is passionate about connecting with audiences through informative, thought-provoking conversation—particularly on matters impacting marginalized people in the professional world and in legal arenas. Her insight has been featured by NPR, Business Insider, Harvard Business Review, ESPN, The Washington Post, among other major media outlets.

As it concerns workplace equity, Adrienne consults with businesses large and small drawing on more than 10 years of legal experience and an advanced background in the social sciences. As a Vice President for Jennifer Brown Consulting, she conducts illuminating workplace investigations and culture assessments, and she creates custom diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that enhance healthy workplace cultures and produce meaningful change at all levels.

Adrienne recently wrote the multi-award-winning book Staying in the Game: The Playbook for Beating Workplace Sexual Harassment, a first-of-its-kind guide published by Penguin Random House’s imprint TarcherPerigee in March 2020. In addition to being the 2021 Axiom Business Book of the Year, Staying in the Game has been heralded as a “highly readable and informative introduction to managing workplace harassment (Kirkus Reviews).”

When not writing on workplace issues, Adrienne is engaging audiences while speaking at large forums like SXSW and sharing nuanced insight as the legal analyst for The Young Turks, where she also hosts a segment titled “Overruled” that garners millions of views on Facebook and YouTube.

Adrienne’s broadcast career started in sports at ESPN in 2015, where she spent two years as a legal analyst and anchor. She later made headlines upon revealing that she left the network after reporting sexual harassment at the hands of a senior anchor and suffering retaliation when she was told to “get used to it.” In March 2017, Adrienne became the first person in ESPN’s 40-year reign to sue the network for sexual harassment and retaliation; a lawsuit that was settled in December 2019.

Adrienne holds a B.S. in Criminology from CSU Sacramento, where she completed her degree cum laude at the age of 19. In 2005, she earned an M.A. in Criminology from CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice with Dean’s Honors, and went on to earn a J.D. in law from The George Washington University Law School in 2008. Building on her civil service work as a Civil Rights Paralegal Specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, after law school, Adrienne clerked for Chief Judge Eric T. Washington of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, before starting a career litigating in the Washington, DC and Los Angeles offices of several major law firms. After starting her M.A. in specialized journalism at the University of Southern California in 2015, focusing on multimedia reporting, Adrienne completed it post-ESPN in 2020.