Ms. Lakin divided her undergraduate years between Duke University and University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, where she graduated in 1995 with a specialization in Marketing and was President of Phi Beta Lambda Co-Ed Business Fraternity. In 1998, she received her Juris Doctor from University of San Diego School of Law, where she received Best Oral Advocate and Honors distinctions in Lawyering Skills and where she was selected to be a member of the National Mock Trial Team.

Ms. Lakin previously worked in Los Angeles as a business litigation/plaintiff's attorney and in San Diego for the medical malpractice defense firm of Medel & Rawers. She is admitted to practice in the State of California, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and in the U.S. District Court for the Central, Southern, Northern, and Eastern Districts of California. She is a member of San Diego County Bar Association, San Diego Defense Lawyers, San Diego Association for Healthcare Risk Management and was an associate in the American Inns of Court - Welsh Chapter. She assists Deuprey & Associates, LLP with its representation of physicians in medical malpractice cases and defense work in business and general liability matters.