Associate / [email protected]
Lori MacLeod believes it’s her intellectual curiosity – the need to discover the causes underlying a problem or a circumstance – that led her to become an attorney.
“As a mother, I answer a lot of “why’s” throughout the day,” Lori explains. “Looking back, it’s the 3-year-old in me that drove me toward law school. It’s that need to continue asking why, to find a logical answer to questions – and sometimes to change people’s responses – that drove me to become a lawyer.”
As an associate attorney at Petti and Briones, Lori focuses on criminal and regulatory defense, American Indian law, and family law, including dissolution, juvenile matters, custody issues and grandparents’ rights. She is admitted to practice in the State Court of Arizona and Federal Court for the District of Arizona.
Lori holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Boston University. She earned her Juris Doctor from the Phoenix School of Law, where she helped found the school’s Mediation Clinic, becoming a trained mediator and winning second place in the American Bar Association’s “Representation in Mediation” regional competition.
In 2010, Lori was selected to attend the Arizona State Bar Leadership Institute. She served as Chair for the State Bar’s Legal Services Committee and was a member of the Law-Related Education Committee for the Arizona Foundation of Legal Services and Education. She also volunteers through the Volunteer Lawyer’s Program to represent indigent clients in dissolution and adoption cases.
Lori joined Petti and Briones in 2012. “The culture at Petti and Briones provides a true sense of family within the firm,” she says. “I really feel like we’re working together toward a common goal – making a positive difference for the people we represent. I like the way our firm emphasizes the human side of what we do, whether it’s how we approach a case or how we value work-life balance.”
Away from the office, Lori enjoys family time, cooking and the rare chance to curl up with a good book. As she puts it, “Having twin toddler boys and a little girl in preschool keep me moving and motivated at all times.”