Pro Bono Volunteer of the Month-September 2021

Darren Welsh of Darren J. Welsh, Chartered

Darren Welsh was born and raised in Las Vegas. His family came to Vegas in the 1920s and started Palm Mortuary. He received his Bachelor’s from the University of Nevada, Reno and his Juris Doctor from the University of Oregon. He is licensed in Nevada, California, and Arizona. Darren practices real estate law.

Darren identified his mother as is his motivation to do pro bono work. He has made pro bono a part of his practice since he obtained his license in 1992 and always keeps at least one pro bono case open. In addition, Darren is a key volunteer for the Landlord-Tenant Ask-A-Lawyer program. His commitment to pro bono has helped many avoid eviction and stay in their homes.

We asked Darren to share a story about a memorable client. He shared that he has “a few good ones against real estate brokers.” He explained that these cases were especially frustrating because working for real estate brokers is his “bread and butter” and his “client brokers are top notch and do good for the community” but he knows that not all brokers are that way. He said that, “it drives him crazy when [other brokers] don’t behave” so he works to address those issues through pro bono work.

In addition, Darren has taken Children’s Attorneys Project (CAP) cases. Darren recalled that his favorite client is a young boy he represented through CAP. Darren explained the client “was found in diapers, no shoes, no shirt on the corner of Tropicana and Boulder highway when I first met him. He has the entire world stacked against him. He is one of the happiest kids I have met. He has bad behavior problems and he knows it. Nothing that happened to him was his fault, just bad luck.” Darren “assisted in his being adopted into prospective permanent placement(s) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 times…..each time he was rejected during proceedings due to his behavior issues…he is NOW finally adopted with his 6^th placement.” He reflected on emotional CAP cases can be but how great it was to meet with the child and go over his desires and what he wanted to tell the Court. “He was so proud every time he almost got adopted and it finally happened!” He reported that the little boy is now in 5^th grade!

For his commitment to pro bono, we honor Darren Welsh as our September Volunteer of the Month.