Brown received a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1985, and then attended Tulane Law School, where she received a Juris Doctor in 1988 and a Master of Laws in Energy and Environment in 1998.

[5] From 2007 to 2009, she was a visiting assistant clinical professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

[5] Brown was nominated to fill the seat of Judge Stanwood Duval by President Barack Obama on March 2, 2011.

[6] The United States Senate confirmed her by unanimous consent on October 3, 2011.

[5] She became Chief Judge on May 15, 2018, after Kurt D. Engelhardt was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.