Ms. Cannon commenced her legal career in 1989. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland with distinction and Southwestern School of Law, where she earned an academic scholarship each year she attended. During law school Ms. Cannon received an American Jurisprudence Award and was listed in Who’s Who Among American Law Students.
Ms. Cannon has a strong civil litigation background, including both jury and bench trials in state and federal courts and served as a court appointed arbitrator in three California counties. Ms. Cannon is admitted to practice in California as well as in all of the United States District Courts in California, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Cannon successfully argued to the Ninth Circuit and prevailed on brief in the United States Supreme Court in the important policy discrimination case, Gutowsky v. County of Placer, 108 F.3d 256, cert. den. (9th Cir. 1997).
Ms. Cannon took her federal and state court practice experience to the family arena, certifying as a specialist in family law. This certification has been reserved to less than five percent of attorneys statewide. Ms. Cannon has defended the rights of parents to reunify with their children in the juvenile dependency system and has additionally litigated children’s rights when they conflict with those of their parents.
In 2013 Ms. Cannon worked with a local legislator to propose an amendment to the Family Code requiring judges to consider prescription drug abuse as they do illegal drug abuse and alcoholism in family law cases. She testified before both the state assembly and state senate regarding the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse among parents and its impact on families in California. In September of 2013, after the proposed amendment to Family Code section 3011(d) garnered bi-partisan support, Governor Brown signed it into law. The amendment became law in California on January 1st, 2014.
In 2016 Ms. Cannon started working with the United States Department of State, Division of Children’s Issues, on cases under the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of Child Abduction. She is among the relatively few attorneys in California regularly handling international child abduction and custody disputes which she receives through the U.S. State Department. Ms. Cannon has also successfully handled non-Hague international custody disputes (involving non-Hague signers) and international child abduction cases.
Ms. Cannon has frequently volunteered her time at local domestic violence clinics and always maintains at least one pro bono matter in her ongoing caseload. In addition to her various bar admissions, Ms. Cannon serves as an arbitrator on the OCBA Mandatory Fee Arbitration panel, and is a member of the Orange County Bar Association’s Masters Division and Family Law Sections.