Janis grew up in western New York. She is proud of her Yankee roots but easily passes as a southerner since she's lived here longer than anywhere else. She graduated from Hiram College, a small liberal arts college in Ohio, over 20 year ago (wow! that's a long time!) with a major in Biology and a minor in Writing. After finding her way to Atlanta through a college roommate, she began working at AIG, and attending paralegal school at night at the National Center for Paralegal Training. In 1989, Janis started to work as a litigation paralegal for the Atlanta personal injury attorneys at the firm of Michael Warshauer, who at the time had just started his own firm. She's never left, or maybe we can't get rid of her!

Janis continued to work primarily as a paralegal along with wearing a few other hats until the birth of her first daughter, Samantha, in May 2002. Janis returned to work part time as the firm administrator and bookkeeper. Her second daughter, Shelby, arrived in April 2005, adding another component to the mayhem of a working mom with a pug, a French bulldog, a fish, a crested gecko and her husband Mike, an avid athlete and Atlanta Thrashers season ticket holder. In her free time, Janis enjoys gardening, Sudoku, reading and decorating. Janis is also a board member of MIC, a civic organization in her town, and an active member of the school body at Samantha's school. She regularly dreams of taking a weekend nap, sleeping in, or having an uninterrupted 8 hour stretch of sleep at night, as well as the time to get back into fighting shape, becoming a master gardener, and finishing a few projects around the house that coincidentally were started before Samantha was born.