A Legal Career With an Unusual Beginning
Before Amy Kluesner became a business attorney, founder, and advisor to entrepreneurs across the country, she spent five years as a Dominican Sister in Nashville. It was an uncommon start for a lawyer, but for Kluesner, that chapter became foundational.
Religious life gave Kluesner a deep respect for discipline, service, and purpose. It also shaped the way she listens, leads, and approaches negotiation. Years later, those qualities remain visible in her work as the founder of PREP Legal, where she advises business owners and professionals through some of the most consequential decisions of their careers.
Kluesner’s journey began in Nashville, where she became the first in her family to attend college. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University before graduating from Notre Dame Law School. From there, she built over 15 years of legal experience, focusing on business transactions, legal strategy, acquisitions, and exits.
Building PREP Legal Around Real Business Decisions
Through PREP Legal, Kluesner works with entrepreneurs and business owners nationwide, particularly on business acquisitions and sales. These transactions often carry financial complexity, personal pressure, and questions about identity, legacy, and timing.
Kluesner’s role is to guide clients through the legal and strategic pieces of those decisions while keeping the human stakes in view. A business sale may involve contracts, negotiations, financing structures, and due diligence. It can also represent the end of a founder’s life’s work or the beginning of a new professional chapter.
That combination of technical and personal complexity is where Kluesner’s background becomes especially relevant. Her years as a Dominican Sister gave her a values-centered framework for understanding conflict, motivation, and trust. In negotiation, she brings patience and perspective, qualities that can matter as much as legal precision when business owners are making high-stakes decisions.
Leadership Shaped by Transparency
Kluesner’s work also extends beyond transactional law. She speaks openly about building a demanding career while managing personal challenges, including discovering neurodivergence later in life. Her transparency around ADHD has become part of her broader message to lawyers, entrepreneurs, and professionals who may feel pressure to appear perfectly composed while quietly struggling.
That honesty has made Kluesner a meaningful voice for people dealing with imposter syndrome, career pressure, motherhood, and the realities of high-performance work. Rather than presenting success as a straight line, Kluesner speaks from experience about adaptation, self-knowledge, and the importance of building a career that reflects personal values.
Her perspective has reached wider audiences through podcast appearances, including the Healthcare M&A Podcast, The Catholic Entrepreneur Podcast, and Young Lawyer Rising from the ABA Young Lawyers Division. In those conversations, Kluesner discusses topics such as buying and selling businesses, values-driven careers, spiritual principles in leadership, and thriving with ADHD later in life.
Mentorship With Practical Weight
Kluesner is also passionate about mentoring young lawyers, solo practitioners, entrepreneurs, and women balancing leadership with family life. Her guidance is practical rather than abstract. She understands the demands of law, the pressure of entrepreneurship, and the emotional weight of trying to succeed without losing sight of purpose.
For lawyers facing imposter syndrome, women managing motherhood alongside ambitious careers, or entrepreneurs preparing for major business transitions, Kluesner offers a perspective shaped by both professional rigor and personal reflection.
Her career shows that legal excellence and compassion do not have to compete. In her work with PREP Legal, Kluesner brings both to the table, helping business owners make serious decisions with structure, care, and a clearer sense of what matters most.
