Since early 2015, and in her individual capacity, Lauren Simpson has transformed her family’s home gardens into a wildlife-friendly habitat, currently a Certified Wildlife Habitat, Monarch Waystation, Certified Monarch Garden, and Certified Butterfly Garden. She promotes insect conservation and habitat gardening through presentations, events, interviews, and articles, as well as through a website and Instagram and Facebook communities under the appellation “St. Julian’s Crossing Wildlife Habitat”—the name adopted for her family’s Monarch Waystation. Ms. Simpson is a member of local chapters of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT), Native Prairies Association of Texas, and North American Butterfly Association. She has also received Level 1 and Level 2 certifications through the NPSOT Native Landscape Certification Program (NLCP), has attended the “Monarch Conservation Workshop: Train the Trainer” training, and formerly served as both chair and member of the NPSOT subcommittee for the NLCP Advocacy companion class.

Independent of her naturalist activities, Lauren Simpson is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Houston Law Center, teaching Lawyering Skills and Strategies. She is a spring 2016 recipient of the University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award (Instructor/Clinical category); one of three 2018 AALS Teachers of the Year selected by the Law Center; and the 2017, 2018, 2019 (co-recipient), 2021, 2022, and 2023 Student Bar Association Professor of the Year for Law Center faculty teaching in the part-time program. In Spring 2023, the University of Houston conferred a Group Teaching Excellence Award on the faculty in her Lawyering Skills and Strategies group.