"Nettie" attended Heidelberg College and the State Normal School at Bloomington, Indiana before studying law at the office of Warren P. Noble.

Lutes went in front of a panel of judges in 1873 to make her argument that she should be admitted to the bar, and was successful.

[2] Nettie married Nelson B. Lutes, a fellow lawyer she had met while studying the law in 1874.

In 1880 Lutes ceased practicing with her sister and joined her husband's firm because he was losing his hearing and needed her assistance.

A biography described their method of conducting trials like this: "Mrs. Lutes sits facing Mr. Lutes, and if a jury trial, also facing the jury, and repeats, by the motion of the organs of speech, without sound or whisper, every word that is spoken by the witnesses, judge, and opposing counsel, on the instant the words leave the mouth of the speaker..."[3] Nettie did more than just translate for her husband, they were regarded as full partners and highly successful in their practice.