Janet Trost, Esq. has over 30 years of experience as a practicing attorney, arbitrator and mediator, starting her legal career in New York City, and practicing in Las Vegas for the last 25 years. As a practicing attorney, she has handled thousands of cases in the areas of business and commercial law, real estate, construction, collection and bankruptcy. As a mediator and arbitrator for over 20 years, Ms. Trost has handled in excess of one thousand cases in the areas of business and commercial law, all aspects of commercial and residential real estate law, including homeowner association cases, personal injury, workers compensation, contract disputes, family law issues, probate and trust.

Personal Background:

Ms. Trost was born, raised and educated in New York City, New York. The oldest of four children, she was the first on both sides of her family to attend college, and the only one to attend graduate school. She started working at fourteen as a clerk in a local department store, and has worked in many fields ever since. Taking a break from attending college, Ms. Trost worked at both E. F. Hutton and Merrill Lynch. Subsequent to graduation, she backpacked through Europe for a year. Upon her return, she worked for two years for the Vera Institute of Justice in their Victim-Witness Assistance Project, which was the pilot project for all the victim assistance programs to come nationwide.

Upon arriving in Las Vegas, Ms. Trost was very dismayed to learn that the public transit system was almost non-existent, and had to take taxicabs to court until she learned how to drive. Her driving stories kept the attorneys and staff at Hale Lane and her new friends in stitches for months.
Ms. Trost still has family and friends living in New York, as well as many professional colleagues.

Education:

Ms. Trost attended New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn, New York, made famous as the high school used for the TV series, Welcome Back, Kotter. Ms. Trost attended New York Institute of Technology in New York City, NY, where she was an editor of the college newspaper, and a member of the school Senate, as well as other school activities, while obtaining her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a minor in Industrial Engineering. At graduation, Ms. Trost was honored with the Gertrude Zirinsky Award for outstanding service to the college.

Ms. Trost maintained close ties to her alma mater, and after graduation, served as an administrative assistant to the Dean of the Business School, as well as a liaison between the University and the New York City Police Department, to help implement the college’s program of classes in the precincts.
Ms. Trost obtained her Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City, New York. In order to supplement her scholarships, grants, loans, and employment in the law library, Ms. Trost ran a dog walking and dog boarding business, and worked summers at various law firms.

Legal Career:

Ms. Trost started her legal career in New York City, clerking for one of the first female Supreme Court Judges in Kings County, Brooklyn. Subsequent to that clerkship, she worked as an attorney for a New York City agency that investigated and prosecuted welfare and food stamp fraud. She also taught architectural liability as an Adjunct Professor for her college’s Architecture Department. Ms. Trost worked for a large real estate law firm, representing numerous banks in commercial and residential closings and judicial foreclosures, as well as protecting their interests in bankruptcy court. Prior to relocating to Las Vegas, Ms. Trost was employed by a small boutique firm concentrating on real estate matters and representing debtors in various bankruptcy chapters.
Ms. Trost was enticed to move to Las Vegas in 1990 by an offer to be a bankruptcy associate at Hale Lane, which among other clients, was representing the trustee running the Aladdin Hotel during its chapter 11 bankruptcy. Subsequently, Ms. Trost became corporate counsel to a company that owned many adult businesses as well as significant property holdings, which gave her an opportunity to utilize all her real estate and transactional capabilities. When they were closed down, Ms. Trost was hired by Perry and Spann to provide business and transactional services to their clients.

In 1996, Ms. Trost decided that it was time to start her own practice, concentrating on business, real estate and bankruptcy matters, as well as conducting private and court appointed mediations and arbitrations, and is looking forward to celebrating her 20th year in business.

ADR Experience:

Ms. Trost has served as an Arbitrator for the Eighth Judicial District Court since 1992, and has arbitrated hundreds of civil cases in the areas of personal injury, collection, business law, contracts and real estate.

Ms. Trost was appointed by the Governor in 2001 and again in 2005 to four year terms to serve on the three member board of the Local Government Employee Relations Board, which decided hundreds of public sector labor law cases during her tenure.

Ms. Trost was appointed and continues to serve as a Settlement Judge for the Nevada Supreme Court in 2001, and has since mediated hundreds of cases in every area of civil law, including workers compensation, personal injury, commercial and residential real estate, business and contract disputes, family law, and probate and trust matters.

Ms. Trost served from 2009 through 2014 as one of the initial group of Mediators for the Nevada Supreme Court Foreclosure Mediation Program, mediating dozens of cases.

Ms. Trost was appointed in 2007 to serve a two year term as an Administrative Law Judge for the Nevada Real Estate Division, deciding cases that involved common-interest community issues.

Ms. Trost served as a Labor Arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association from 2007-2012.

Ms. Trost was appointed in 2007 and currently serves as a Short Trial Judge for the Eighth Judicial District Court, and has presided over jury and bench trials involving primarily personal injury cases.

Ms. Trost was appointed in 2008 for a two year term as an Alternate Hearing Officer for the State of Nevada Department of Personnel to hear and decide appeals on employees’ terminations or discipline.

Ms. Trost was appointed in 2013, and reappointed in 2015 to serve as both a Referee/Arbitrator and Mediator for cases involving common-interest community and condominium hotel issues for the Nevada Real Estate Division, Office of the Ombudsman for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels.

Ms. Trost was appointed in 2014 to the U. S. District Court Section 1983 Inmate Mediation Panel as a Mediator for Section 1983 Inmate cases.

Ms. Trost was appointed in 2015 by the U. S. Bankruptcy Court District of Nevada to its Mortgage Modification Mediation Program as a Mediator for Chapter 13 debtors seeking to modify their home loans.

Bar Admissions:

State Bar of New York – 1983
U.S. District Courts of New York – 1983
State Bar of Nevada – 1990
U. S. District Court of Nevada – 1990
9th Circuit Court of Appeals – 1992
U.S. Supreme Court – 1993

Memberships:

Ms. Trost is rated A-V by Martindale Hubbell, the premier attorney peer rating organization in the United States, which is its highest rating, achieved by only a small percentage of attorneys nationally.

Ms. Trost has served as an Arbitrator and Mediator for the State Bar of Nevada Fee Dispute panel since 1997.

Ms. Trost has been an active member of both the Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys as well as the Southern Nevada Association of Bankruptcy Attorneys since 1990.

Ms. Trost is a current member of the ADR Section of the State Bar of Nevada.

Ms. Trost served for four years on the Pro Bono Board of Directors.