Janice Brown



janice-brown-group-photoPro Bono Volunteer of the Month-May 2019

Janice Brown of the Law Offices of Janice Brown, PLLC

Janice Brown moved to Nevada in 1955. While working as a court clerk for Loretta Bowman, Janice became fascinated with the law. With encouragement from her peers, she decided to attend McGeorge Law School where she received her Juris Doctorate. When Janice passed the Nevada Bar in 1979, she was the 80th woman in Nevada to pass. Most of her career she worked at firms who practiced civil litigation, particularly trial work. She currently has her own practice where she is an arbitrator in the mandatory arbitration program. In addition to her specialized work with arbitration she routinely assists with pro bono work for the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada.

While all of her pro bono work is amazing, her dedication and support for the Children’s Attorneys Project has been amazing. She has represented at least 15 clients, most of them under the age of 8. She was first encouraged to do pro bono work by Josh Aicklen. After taking her first CAP case, Janice quickly learned that the clients were very vulnerable. “Their vocabularies could not encompass the type of abuse experienced at the hands of people they loved.” Janice made it her mission to work with those “in the trenches” to improve her clients chances for success.

When we asked Janice about a memorable client and how she helped them, she shared “I did the witness preparation as though she were any other client. When her voice dropped as she gave me horrific details, I told her to ‘talk to the wall.’ If she did that, she only would have to think about the question once. Everyone would hear her. She ‘talked to the wall’ about some very horrific events. Talking to the wall seemed to ease her mind about conveying hurtful information. Later, when she was interviewed by the deputy district attorney who would be questioning her at the hearing, she needed little assistance in understanding and voicing her answers. Very difficult testimony lost its terror because she could “talk to the wall. She had no fear of saying what needed to be said in a loud voice that reached the wall and certainly pierced my heart.”

Janice would like to share the following advice “My advice to anyone who signs up for a case is to keep insisting that others provide the care and services that the clients need and deserve. Believe in them and test everything that is being done for them (or to them) so that they will have the happy futures they imagine and so richly deserve. You should always ensure that they are provided the tools they need to thrice, whether upon return to a parent/relative’s custody or after adoption.

For her commitment to pro bono, we would like to honor Janice Brown as our May Volunteer of the month.