Page 9 - Pat Brown (1)

Brown Law Group. Brown Law Group specializes in employment
law, an area that is by far her favorite aspect of the law. “It’s such
an important part of the law. It impacts businesses of all sizes.
The way I like to think about it is that I do preventative law, helping
J ANICE B ROWN companies to avoid lawsuits. I teach firms and update them in areas
such as how to assure that there is no sexual harassment in the
work place, how to deal with disability, how to follow proper proce-
dure should a termination be needed: By doing so, companies can
save a lot of money avoiding problems before they occur.” Janice
is also a speaker and teacher in these areas, traveling across the
When going through hard times in our life we are often told that all country to lend her expertise to corporations, a part of her job she
things happen for a reason. For Janice Brown, founder of Brown hopes to expand in the future. Her speaking engagements allow her
Law Group this may have been the case. As a young girl Janice to reach back to her original dreams of broadcast journalism.
had aspirations of a career as an on air news personality, but due Janice believes that no matter how much you think you know there
to a serious bicycle injury as a young girl and what turned
out to be temporary facial scars, she assumed this goal
would be out of reach. Instead, she chose law as her new
found profession and today is the senior partner of one of
the most well respected law firms in San Diego.
Growing up in Montana, Janice knew one thing for sure
- she one day would move from Montana. Although she
loved her home town, the friendly people and the small
town feel, Janice knew she wanted to explore other
locations and wanted more of a metropolitan setting to
call home. The frigid winters and humid summers also
added to her desire to relocate. After attending col-
lege in Missoula, Montana, she moved on to Spokane,
Washington, to attend Gonzaga Law School. Janice
completed law school in two years and upon graduation
was offered a position in the Honors Program of the Tax
Division for the Department of Justice in Washington
DC. Her successes there were recognized when she
was given an outstanding attorney award in Washington
DC, quickly making her reputation in the legal commu-
nity. Janice spent four years with the Justice department
and in her last year and a half she was given San Diego San Diego
as her docket; Janice spent a significant amount of time Woman
traveling from Washington DC to San Diego where she
had to appear in court for hearings. “It was actually a
very coveted assignment since every two to three weeks
I found myself in San Diego. The climate and small town 9
feel of San Diego was appealing, and when I was offered
a position with Selzer Caplan, at a considerably higher
salary than I was receiving at the Department of Justice,
the climate lured me and a good job sealed the deal.”
In 1988, Janice made the move to San Diego and has
never looked back. Her experiences at Selzer Caplan
were invaluable, allowing her to see how life worked
outside of a government agency. “At the Justice De-
partment I regularly had eighty cases I was overseeing
at one time. When I moved to Selzer Caplan I had a
handful of cases that I was assigned, and the expectation was that
every single detail would be executed flawlessly. The standard of is always more to learn and continues working on expanding her
excellence that I was taught working at Seltzer has stayed with me knowledge in all areas; not only the law, but also personal develop-
throughout my career.” ment. She has become an expert at networking, even creating her
Janice had found a home at Selzer Caplan and spent 11 years own system, entitled Cloudburst™ which she now teaches to other
working for them. Janice’s entrepreneurial spirit started to rear its lawyers and business owners. Her unique networking plan has sig-
head after a while and she took notice of the other lawyers and nificantly increased her firm’s business and made life manageable
made a serious determination. “I looked at the attorneys that I knew for a busy senior partner.
and realized the ones who were the happiest were the ones with Although there are a lot of bad jokes out there about lawyers, and
their own practices. The least happy ones were those who worked some are undoubtedly earned, Janice prides herself and her prac-
for the people that were happy.” It was this fact that spurred Janice’s tice in maintaining the highest level of professionalism and ethics.
desire to go out on her own. She and one of the other attorneys at Janice adds, “We play clean.”
Selzer Caplan decided to branch out and open their own practice. In her early fifties and navigating through a divorce - which admit-
“This worked well for a while and I learned a lot about running a tedly is a sad event in any woman’s life - Janice has found a place
practice, but the partner I left with was more traditional than me and of happiness; sharing time with her brother and his three children,
it began to feel as if I had not left my original firm. I decided that if growing her successful practice and spending time with her
I truly wanted the practice I dreamed of I needed to venture out on cherished friends. She admits that she no longer feels the “need” to
my own." Shortly thereafter ties were severed and Janice opened be married.