CAP Volunteer of the Month – May 2021

Lynn Fulstone

Lynn is a true example that it is never too late in life to change careers or accomplish anything you set your mind to. She made the decision to become an attorney after having a fifteen-year career in health care. She graduated from Villanova Law School in 1993 and practiced administrative and transactional law at Lionel Sawyer & Collins for twenty-one years. She also spent one legislative session as a lobbyist in 2003, during which she met and was inspired by Barbara Buckley.

Lynn joined Fennemore Craig in 2015 and several of her colleagues were Children’s Attorneys Project (CAP) pro bono attorneys. She mentioned that, although she was not a litigator and somewhat intimidated by the courtroom, she signed up for a CAP course with Legal Aid Center to learn the ropes.  She took her first CAP case in 2019 as co-counsel with one of her Fennemore colleagues and has been very active taking CAP cases ever since. Knowing that she had planned to retire from the full-time private practice law at the end of 2019, Lynn worked very closely with her colleagues at Fennemore so she could continue to provide pro bono legal services to the Las Vegas Community after her retirement.

When asked why she does pro bono work, Lynn responded that she wanted to give back to the community after having a long successful career as an attorney here in Las Vegas. As a mother and grandmother, the children and the CAP program have become her passion. She said that she has been able to use her knowledge as an attorney and her skills as a mother and a grandmother to help represent these children and encourage them to open up to her about their thoughts and feelings.

Lynne indicated that she cannot single out any of her young clients and think of only one as memorable. They have all been memorable in their own unique way. There are many little memorable successes like seeing her young clients make honor roll at school, reunifying with their natural mother, or rejoicing when they are adopted into a safe and loving forever home. She mentioned that there are also many setbacks at times when she has to take a deep breath, regroup, and start all over again with new goals and challenges for her young clients. Overall, she feels that she is helping each and every child mostly by just being there for them. One of her young girl clients will often FaceTime her for no reason other than to say hello and chat. This is certainly something that Lynn views as a huge compliment and a great success in trust and communication.

It is an honor to have Lynn in our corner defending and representing children in foster care. She certainly brings a glimmer of hope and happiness to the many lives she has touched through our program representing CAP cases.