People: Reno attorney Margaret M. Crowley earns Impact of the Year Award

RENO, Nev. — The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges recently announced Margaret M. Crowley, Esq. as the Impact of the Year Award recipient during the 6th annual Justice Innovation Awards ceremony at the NCJFCJ’s Virtual 83rd Annual Conference.

According to a July 21 press release, Crowley was recognized for her work and efforts to "innovatively rethink, reimagine and redefine justice for children and families, thus advancing the NCJFCJ’s vision — a society in which every family and child has access to fair, equal, effective and timely justice."

“It is the NCJFCJ’s honor to recognize the outstanding work of Margaret Crowley,” Joey Orduña Hastings, NCJFCJ’s CEO, said in a statement. “Conflict resolution is one of the most critical skills in family law and her work is imperative to the NCJFCJ’s mission. We’re proud to recognize her tireless commitment and high degree of experience in helping resolve conflict through mediation and other problem-solving approaches to serve the Nevada community.”

Crowley currently serves as contract administrator for the Nevada Supreme Court’s Administrative Office of the Courts Juvenile Dependency Mediation Program (JDMP) and has been a part of the program since its inception. She trains the program’s mediators, manages mediation assignments, addresses problem mediators, and conducts regular dialog with mediators to improve program outcomes.

“Margaret is instrumental in the Juvenile Dependency Mediation Program, which currently has a 70 percent agreement rate,” John McCormick, assistant court administrator with the Nevada Supreme Court, said in a statement. “She has provided guidance on program design and helped evolve it into a program that the Nevada Legislature supported with nearly half-a-million dollars during the 2019 session. Margaret has provided innovation in training mediators by developing a training for mediators on recognizing and working with domestic violence dynamics and situations that are often encountered in dependency mediation.

“She is truly an innovator in the area of juvenile dependency mediation.”

Crowley is the principal at Crowley Mediation in Reno and has been licensed to practice law since 1991. For more than 15 years, Crowley served as a Civil Deputy District Attorney for Washoe County. During that time, she practiced in multiple areas, including labor/employment law, contract law, litigation and administrative law, and in multiple settings such as mediations, arbitrations, administrative hearings, and state and federal courts.

Crowley also serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution, which is associated with UNLV’s Boyd School of Law. Crowley holds degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno (B.A. Literature, with distinction) and the University of California, Davis, School of Law (Juris Doctorate).