Janis A. Carney, the founding partner of Carney & Sugai, LLP, began her law career by enrolling at Santa Clara University Law School when her children were nine and twelve years old. After being admitted to the California Bar in 1990 and working for two years as an associate attorney for attorney James R. Rowan, whose practice in San Jose specialized in real property and bankruptcy law, Janis opened her own law offices in the Trinity Building in Los Gatos. Although the offices have been expanded several times, Carney & Sugai continues to operate in the same location today.

In the beginning years, Janis was able to operate the law practice efficiently with the help of a small staff, doing estate planning, probate, and trust and estate administration. As she expanded the legal services provided (for several years now, Janis has been among only a handful of attorneys in Santa Clara County who are doing "elder law"), Janis hired more staff and eventually took on a partner, Leslie Yarnes Sugai, who originally joined the firm in 1998.

Together, Janis and Leslie have a thriving practice serving clients in the areas of estate planning, probate, trust and estate administration, conservatorship, elder law, and Medi-Cal planning. Under the "elder law" heading, the firm advises and represents clients in matters related to incapacity and long-term-care planning, in addition to providing the usual estate and trust planning and administration.

While no longer the small sole-proprietorship practice Janis originally started, Carney & Sugai is still proud to offer clients the same personal attention, assistance, and support they have appreciated from the firm since its inception.