Pro Bono of the Month – October 2023

Dawn Hathaway-Thoman

Dawn is originally from Michigan. However, she has adopted Las Vegas as her home, as she has lived here for over 23 years.  Before she attended law school, she enjoyed working in the corporate world and ended her previous career as Vice President of Manpower Inc. of Southern Nevada, part of a Fortune 500 company.  Dawn shared that the company and her boss were fabulous, but her heart was always drawn to the law.  Her supportive husband encouraged her to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an attorney, and she graduated from the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV in 2014.

Although Dawn never imagined that her law practice would consist of solely her pro bono work, she said she truly loved volunteering for Kids’ Court School while at Boyd Law.  She enjoyed it so much that she continued volunteering even after she fulfilled her community service requirement. She helped about 200 child witnesses get ready to testify during that time, and she saw the impact of many children’s (CAP) attorneys.  Not only did they give children a voice in court and ensure the children’s myriad needs were met, they protected justice, which can only be accomplished with their client’s involvement.  Dawn knew early on she wanted to continue helping children after law school.

When asked why she does pro bono work, Dawn stated that she believes we all have the power to change lives for the better.  When people ask how she can handle advocating for children who have been abused and neglected – their stories are often tragic – she always replies, “How can I not?  She said she can’t change the beginning of their stories, but she can help change the ending.  She said she can’t think of anything more valuable than a child’s life, nor can she imagine being part of having such a privileged profession without giving back.  She remembers being leery of accepting her very first case, but with the support, mentorship and complimentary CLE’s offered by Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, she now finds it difficult to reject whenever her help is needed.

We asked Dawn to share one of her most memorable client and how she helped, Dawn remembers one of her first CAP clients, who was in elementary school.  He’d been removed from his mother’s care, and when she met him, everyone in the system was attempting to reunify them despite her inability to care for him. Her client told her he wanted to live with his dad instead.  At their first hearing, as she stood before the Judge, she placed her arm around her minor client’s shoulder for moral support.  She said that a few minutes later, she removed it to take notes and as soon as she finished, her young client grabbed her arm and put it back on his shoulders.  She remembers her client was overjoyed when the Judge granted their motion to explore his dad as a placement.  They both walked out of the courtroom, and her client began rooting around in his pockets.  He eventually found a penny – all the money he had in the world.  He insisted that Dawn accepted it as payment for helping him.  She framed the penny and it sits in a frame on her desk as a reminder of how much attorney’s advocacy means to children in the foster care system.  Dawn shared that that little boy will soon graduate high school, and Harvard University sent him a letter, asking him to consider applying to their program.  She said she often wonders if his life would be on the same path if he hadn’t received a pro bono CAP attorney.

Dawn’s passion, conviction and eagerness to help those most vulnerable is what makes her such a zealous attorney.  We are extremely grateful to work along with her to provide much needed access to justice to vulnerable children in the foster care system.