Faculty Profile: Janet Lamanna

In practice for over 16 years, Jana Davis Lamanna is experienced in the areas of divorce, family law, probate law, guardian/conservatorship law, estate planning, medical malpractice defense, employment, and assisted reproductive technology law. As the head of the firm’s fertility law group, Ms. Lamanna consults with prospective intended parents and gestational carriers, drafts surrogacy agreements, embryo, egg and sperm donation agreements, as well as handles the court process to declare the intended parents the legal parents of the child, including obtaining birth certificates and passports for newborns. She works with all persons, including LGBTQ, seeking to form families and also advises clients on safeguarding embryo through estate planning.

A native of New Madrid, Missouri, Ms. Lamanna received a B.A. in English in 1997 from the University of Mississippi, a M.B.A. from Christian Brothers University in 1999, and her Juris Doctorate from Mississippi College School of Law in 2004, completing one year of law school as a visiting student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. While in law school, she was a member of the Mississippi College School of Law Moot Court Board, Women’s Bar Association, and University of Missouri-Kansas City Trial Team.

Ms. Lamanna is licensed to practice in both Tennessee and Missouri. She is a member of the American Bar Association (Family Law Section) Assisted Reproductive Technologies Committee, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (Legal Professional Group); Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS), RESOLVE – Proud Partner, Tennessee Bar Association, and Memphis Bar Association, where she previously served on the Board of Directors and as Chair of the Litigation Section and is currently a member of the Family Law Section and Probate and Estate Section. In 2021, she was selected for admission as a fellow to the American Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys.

She was nominated and elected as a Barrister Member of the Leo Bearman Chapter of the American Inns of Court in 2017. In 2018, she was selected and inducted as a Fellow into the Memphis Bar Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Memphis Bar Association that advocates public awareness of the legal system and encourages and recognizes professionalism among members of the bar.

Her accolades include selection as a “Rising Star” in Family Law in the Mid-South by Super Lawyers and since 2017 has been selected to the list of Best Lawyers in America, which highlights the top six percent of private practicing attorneys in the U.S.  

Outside of the legal field, Ms. Lamanna was named as Top 40 under 40 by the Memphis Business Journal in 2008. She is also a Memphis Leadership Academy Fellows Graduate and was both a protégé and mentor in Nexus. Ms. Lamanna has also served on the Board of Directors for Playhouse on the Square, Dress For Success, the Junior League of Memphis, and Family Services of the MidSouth.