California State SenateCandidate for District 27

Janice Kamenir-Reznik is an advocate and community leader who has spent her life working to improve the lives of women, children, and working families here at home and around the world.She is the co-founder and Immediate Past President of Jewish World Watch – an interfaith coalition that advocates against genocide, and provides on-the-ground humanitarian support to more than 500,000 survivors of atrocities in Congo and Darfur.

Janice practiced law at the firm she helped build from the ground up into one of the most respected in the San Fernando Valley, employing nearly 50 people. Prior to her legal career, Janice worked to bring freedom to Soviet Jews. Her long history of civic leadership includes service as President of California Women Lawyers, where she worked “across the aisle” with the Republican Administration to appoint more qualified female judges to California’s courts and close the gender gap on the bench.Working alongside women leaders from across the state, Janice helped Sheila Kuehl and Abby Leibman establish the California Women’s Law Center (CWLC) where she later served as President. The CWLC serves as a powerful advocate to protect, secure and advance the comprehensive civil rights of women and girls. The CWLC empowers individuals to use the law that governs their rights and to address the legal issues that perpetuate the growing poverty among women and children.As President of the Los Angeles County Judicial Procedures Commission, Janice worked with Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky to develop the Self Help Legal Access Center – a nationally recognized program that enables low-income and working families navigate a complicated and bureaucratic court system without having to pay for a lawyer. The Center now serves hundreds of thousands of people across L.A. County.

Described by Yaroslavsky as “a dynamic, energetic and visionary leader who will be a great State Senator,” Janice has been honored for her leadership by many, including Los Angeles County, UCLA Hillel, Neighborhood Legal Services, the Encino Chamber of Commerce, Temple Valley Beth Shalom, KCET, the Jewish Home for the Aging, and the American Jewish University.

In 2014, Janice was named Woman of the Year by California State Senator Fran Pavley.Janice moved to Los Angeles from Illinois with her parents before she was a year old and attended Los Angeles public schools. She earned a Bachelor’s and Juris Doctor degree from UCLA, a Master’s degree in Social Work from USC, and a Master’s degree in Non-Profit Management from Hebrew Union College. Janice and her husband Ben have lived in Encino for more than 30 years. They have three adult children.

My political philosophy is best described by my lifelong demonstrated commitment to equality and social justice.  I founded a successful non-profit to fight genocide in Darfur and the Congo; I oversaw the building of the organization into an important voice in the anti-genocide movement, and an important force in bringing direct assistance to survivors of genocide and atrocity.  I helped Sheila Kuehl and Abby Leibman  establish the California Women’s Law Center that works to protect the civil rights of women and girls.   I was the President of California Women Lawyers where I worked to narrow the gender gap on California's courts by successfully advocating for the appointment of qualified women to the bench.  As President of the Los Angeles County Judicial Procedures Commission, with then-Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky I founded the Self Help Legal Access Centers in the LA County courts; from the initial pilot Center in Van Nuys, the project now serves hundreds of thousands of unrepresented litigants in every Judicial District in LA County.  All of these accomplishments are reflective of my philosophical commitment to fairness, justice and access.    These accomplishments also stand for the proposition that my "political philosophy" is not just philosophical in nature but is activist.  Good ideas do not change anything at all unless they are put into effective, sustainable action.  My history of accomplishment best embodies my political philosophy,-- namely: taking constructive, enduring actions which serve to further the twin aims of  bringing more justice into the world especially to vulnerable populations while also empowering those populations.