Valentine, the lead attorney at Valentine Law Office, P.C., received her recognition at the Downtown Hilton in Des Moines.

“This year, IAJ proudly honors Janece Valentine for her extraordinary leadership, professionalism and principled defense of Iowa’s judicial selection process during her service as chair of the State Judicial Nominating Commission,” Iowa Association for Justice stated in a press release. “Janece’s tenure came at a pivotal moment. Following the 2019 law change that removed the senior justice as chair and shifted the commission’s balance, she stepped into a role defined by transition and uncertainty and maintained the system’s steadiness, integrity and professionalism.”

The IAJ also noted that Valentine, in succeeding Kathy Law as chair, “maintained the commission’s focus on its core duty: vetting and advancing only the most qualified candidates for Iowa’s appellate courts, setting political considerations aside and safeguarding public confidence in the process.”

Valentine is a past president of IAJ, as well as an officer of the Iowa Foundation for Justice and a member of the Workers’ Compensation Section Core Group.

“She exemplifies the kind of committed civically-engaged attorney that defines our association,” the IAJ release continued. “Janece has been a steadfast ambassador for the plaintiffs’ and claimants’ bar, and a guardian of Iowa’s fair and impartial judiciary.

“Her leadership also produced lasting structural improvements. She initiated reforms that strengthened commissioner independence, ensuring gubernatorial appointees could serve free from undue influence directly from the governor. She also began the process of reviving orientation training for new commissioners at both state and district levels – an essential step in sustaining Iowa’s merit-over-politics tradition.”

She specializes in workers’ compensation, personal injury and legal mediation services.

“I was honored to serve (as Chair of the State Judicial Nominating Commission) and will continue to fight to keep an impartial and independent judiciary in Iowa,” said Valentine, a graduate of Aurelia High School, Drake University and the University of Iowa College of Law.

Valentine Law Office is located inside the Boston Centre at 809 Central Ave., Suite 415, in Fort Dodge. Valentine has been serving people with Iowa claims since 1998.