I was born in the Territory of Alaska, grew up in Logan, Utah and graduated from Utah State University with degrees in economics and Spanish in 1978.  During high school I lived for a year in Quito Ecuador, and during college I served a two-year mission in Spain for the LDS Church.  After finishing law school in Washington, D.C. in December of 1980, I returned to Logan and engaged in private practice, mostly litigation, for five years, with mentorship and guidance from my father, David Daines, Sr.  From 1985 to 1997 I practiced in Houston, Texas in a variety of settings, engaged primarily in civil litigation.  I returned to Logan again in 1997 and have continued in private practice, civil litigation, but this time with a focus on serving clients in contested family law cases.