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About Marialee Neighbours
Impressed with her father’s commitment to the early California labor movement, Marialee Neighbours decided to become an attorney after reading Clarence Darrow for the Defense. A native of California, Marialee is a member of the California State Bar, holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Brigham Young University and a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Utah, College of Law. Additionally, she attended La Universidad de Los Americanos in Mexico City.
After admittance to the California Bar, she served as Senior Counsel to the California Assembly Judiciary Committee. She advised the Committee on legal issues, pending legislation and recommended laws and public policies affecting legal rights.
By appointment of California Governor Edmond G. Brown, Jr., Marialee acted as Chief Legal Advisor of the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Her responsibilities included directing the Department’s legal services program, which litigated consumer protection issues. In that capacity, she acted as Chief of Consumer Services for the state of California. During that time, she managed over 50 employees and was responsible for overseeing several departments, including the legal and research departments. She was instrumental in developing legal policies and strategies in the consumer protection area.
Later, Marialee became Associate Vice-President and Counsel to the Alliance of American Insurers, a national insurance trade association composed of 175 member companies. She directed the Association’s legislative activities in California, developed insurance legislation and other insurance initiatives and proposals, advised the Governor and his staff, legislators, and regulators regarding insurance issues, testified before legislative committees and regulatory agencies on insurance issues, and communicated with professional and consumer groups on insurance and consumer issues.
After years involved with the insurance industry and legislation, Ms. Neighbours decided to study art and develop creative projects. She lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina and later moved to Paris, France. While in Paris, she wrote the song melodies, lyrics and book for a musical drama about human rights and produced songs from the musical. She then moved back to South Dakota to be near her parents. It is at this time that she began her work with Abourezk Law Firm as a full time researcher and writer. Her focus continues to be the law of insurance, particularly the area of unfair claims practices in bad faith litigation.
Marialee has been actively involved in her community. She has worked as a volunteer with seniors and starred in a musical revue at the historic Matthews Opera House in Spearfish, South Dakota. While in law school, she served in the Vista Law Students’ Program. In California, she served in the San Mateo County Private Defender Program (a California Bar panel defending indigent criminal clients), volunteered at the Children’s Hospital at Stanford (the Child Life Program), chaired the Peninsula Crisis Intervention Center (a drug abuse program), worked for passage of a California initiative to help the homeless and completed a training program to assist battered women and their children.
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