Pro Bono Project Volunteer of the Month September 2014

Deborah Elsasser of Thorndal Armstrong Delk Balkenbush & Eisinger

Deborah Elsasser hails from Omaha, Nebraska, and moved to Las Vegas in 1994. Deborah is a shareholder with Thorndal Armstrong, and serves on the Eighth Judicial District Mandatory Arbitration Program Panel. Deborah practices predominantly in civil litigation, and her practice involves business transactions relating to the exchange of money, and injuries suffered by her clients in complex business transactions.  Deborah is involved in pro bono cases, and has assisted the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada with five cases.

Deborah got involved with pro bono cases when Legal Aid came to her firm and gave a presentation on the need for pro bono service. Kevin Diamond at her firm talked to Deborah about the CAP cases he has taken over the years, and how the pro bono work is rewarding and makes him feel good about giving back to the community, so she gave it a try and took a CAP case. Deborah said it is nice to do something that helps kids in our community who are unrepresented in very important family proceedings impacting their welfare.  When Deborah works on pro bono cases, she enjoys shifting the focus from her regular civil litigation practice, and has become involved in pro bono cases regarding the termination of parental rights, sibling visitation orders, and cases involving children aging out of the system, under AB 350, where she works hard to ensure the children over 18 get the benefit of all of programs and assistance to which they are entitled.

Recently, Deborah handled a termination of parental rights trial for one of her pro bono CAP cases.  The case involves a boy in foster care, who loves his biological mother, and it is Deborah’s job to ensure her client’s wishes are heard in court and to represent to the court what the little boy wants, regardless of what others may deem to be in his best interest.

We are honored to name Deborah Elsasser the pro bono attorney of the month.