Pro Bono Volunteer of the Month – June 2017

Mary E. Bacon of Spencer Fane, LLP

Mary Bacon is an attorney with Spencer Fane, LLP. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles and her law degree from the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law. She earned an LLM at George Washington University School of Law and returned to her hometown of Las Vegas to begin her legal career. Mary is a member of the Women’s Leadership Council through United Way, and was a member of Leadership Las Vegas’ Class of 2016.

Since Mary began volunteering with Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada in 2014, she has accepted 8 new pro bono cases in a range of areas, including child abuse and neglect, civil/consumer, domestic violence and divorce. Mary is also a regular volunteer with the Landlord/Tenant Ask-A-Lawyer program where she provides free consultations to pro se litigants in need of legal advice.

As an example of one of Mary’s significant pro bono representations, Mary represented a domestic violence victim who suffers from a seizure disorder and who needed assistance with a divorce and support matter. The husband was represented by counsel, and Mary’s client felt bullied throughout the negotiation process when she was unrepresented. Mary accepted this case one week before the scheduled trial. The client suffered verbal abuse throughout her marriage and the parties split due to the ex-husband’s infidelity. Mary worked on the client’s case non-stop for one week, and after several failed settlement offers, Mary showed up ready to try the case. Right before the trial was supposed to start, the parties engaged in a judicially orchestrated settlement. The client received almost three times the amount she had previously considered settling for when unrepresented. After the settlement, the client hugged Mary, and told her that she is now able to start a new life with the settlement she received, and no longer felt dependent upon an abusive ex-husband. Mary said, “This case touched my heart because I have been fortunate enough to be mentored by strong women who are always happy to assist me and point me it the right direction, and I was so happy to be able to help another woman in such a meaningful way on International Women’s Day.”

For her commitment to representing clients, and for the time she has dedicated to the Ask-A-Lawyer program and pro bono cases, we honor Mary Bacon as our June Pro Bono Volunteer of the Month.