The Legal Aid Justice Center is a successful and innovative organization because of the talented and dedicated professionals who staff our program.  

To see a photo of our staff gathered at our summer 2008 staff meeting, standing on the porch of the Charles B. Holt Rock House, click here.

Charlottesville Office

 

 

Alex came to Legal Aid in 1994, and has been the force behind the growth of the Legal Aid Justice Center and its innovative approaches to the problems of our neighbors who live in poverty.  Alex is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1999 Virginia State Bar Legal Aid Award, the 2003 National Legal Aid & Defender Association’s Charles Dorsey Award, a 2004 resolution of commendation from the Virginia General Assembly, and was named a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation in 2005.  Alex received his B.A. and his law degrees from Marquette University.

 

 

 

Dori is a native of Spain, grew up in Switzerland, and came to Virginia in 2006. Her command of English, Spanish, French, and Italian makes her a unique asset to our programs, which serve many non-English speaking clients. Dori received her degree in business and languages from the Superior School of Commerce of St. Jean, Switzerland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andy founded the JustChildren Program and the Child Advocacy Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law.  Prior to starting JustChildren in 1998, Andy worked at the Defender Association of Seattle-King County.  He received the 2005 Child Advocate of the Year award from the Young Lawyer’s Division of the American Bar Association, and the 2007 Virginia State Bar Legal Aid Award.  Andy is a graduate of Yale University and Northwestern University School of Law.

 

 

 

Civil Advocacy Program/Elder Law Initiative

 

Kathleen, a Legal Aid lawyer for over a decade, returned in 2006 after ten years in private practice to focus on consumer law and elder law issues within the Civil Advocacy Program.  Kathleen received her B.A. from the Mary Washington College, her J.D. from Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary, and an LL.M. in Mental Health Law from the University of Virginia School of Law.

 

 

 

 

Brenda was a summer intern with the Legal Aid Justice Center during law school and in 2007 came to Legal Aid from Blue Ridge Legal Services.  She is a graduate of Yale University and received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angela is a long-time member of the JustChildren team.  Her work for the program as a law student earned her the Oliver White Hill Award from the Virginia State Bar in 2003.  Angela joined the staff as a Powell Fellow in 2004 after clerking for U.S. District Judge Reginald C. Lindsay.  She is a graduate of The College of William and Mary and University of Virginia School of Law.

 

 

 

 

 

John G. Conover, Staff Attorney, Civil Advocacy Program

 

John’s 26 years of experience as a small business owner informs his practice of consumer and housing law at Legal Aid, where he helps to direct clinical programs at UVa’s School of Law.  John earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia, and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire E. Curry, Staff Attorney, 

Civil Advocacy Program/Elder Law Initiative

 

Claire has over 20 years of experience with Legal Aid, and served for four years as Director of the Community Mediation Center.  She directs our growing Elder Law Initiative, and is a co-founder of the Community Partnership for Improved Long-term Care. Claire is a graduate of Randolph Macon Women’s College and the University of Virginia School of Law.

 

 

 

 

Emily C. Dreyfus, Community Education and Outreach Director,

JustChildren Program

 

Emily joined JustChildren in 2000, bringing 20 years of experience directing programs and implementing many successful community organizing campaigns with local non-profit organizations.  Emily is a graduate of the College of William and Mary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doug Ford, Clinic Director, Pro Bono Immigration Project

 

Doug directs the Pro Bono Immigration Project clinic with UVa Law School.  Doug came to Legal Aid after serving as Senior Research Associate and Deputy Director of Bosnia Projects for Physicians for Human Rights.  He received his A.B. degree from Bowdoin College and his law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Freilich, Legal Director,

Immigrant Advocacy Program

 

Tim started with Legal Aid in 1999 as a Skadden Fellow working with migrant farm workers, and in 2001 opened the Northern Virginia office to work with the region’s day laborers and other low-wage immigrant workers.  Tim earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his law degree at UVa's School of Law, where he received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Public Service. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liz Moore, Outreach Coordinator/Paralegal, Civil Advocacy Program

In 2006, Liz celebrated her 20^th anniversary as a paralegal at Legal Aid, where she lends her remarkable people skills to the tasks of contacting clients, assessing their needs, providing representation in administrative hearings, and getting them the full range of help they need.  Liz is a graduate of James Madison University, where she received a B.S. in social work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While officially an employee of the UVa School of Law, Dan is a regular at Legal Aid where he runs the Family Resource Clinic that focuses on public benefits and disability matters.  Dan received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, a master's degree in education from Stanford University, and his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

 

 

 

 

 

Virginia S. Needham, Chief Financial Officer

 

 

As chief financial officer, Virginia is responsible for accounting, finance, management reporting and budgeting, and is involved with program policy development and grant compliance.  Prior to joining Legal Aid in 2003 she held a variety of management positions in the for-profit sector, first as a journalist and later as a financial relations consultant to publicly traded companies.  She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Maryland.

 

 

 

 

 

Catherine Rotolo brings substantial experience in the business world to address the issues of foreclosures and equity theft in Virginia through a privately-funded fellowship.  Ms. Rotolo is a graduate of Fordham University and the William and Mary Law School, and was a summer intern with the Legal Aid Justice Center in 2007. 

 

 

 

Helen Trainor, Director,

Virginia Institutionalized Persons (VIP) Project

 

Helen, who joined the staff of Legal Aid in May 2007, worked for over a decade in the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Miami, Florida, and was a U.S. Supreme Court Judicial Fellow from 2002-2003.  Most recently, she was Director of Outreach and Ministry Development for an Episcopal Church in the District of Columbia.  Helen is a graduate of Smith College and Suffolk University Law School.

 

 

 

 

Erin Trodden, Staff Attorney,

Immigrant Advocacy Program

 

Erin came to Legal Aid from a clerkship with Federal Judge Norman K. Moon. Erin’s experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia, as well as her volunteer work in Honduras and Mexico, give her a unique perspective into our work with immigrant workers.  She received her B.A. and her law degree from the University of Virginia, and is the recipient of a Skadden Fellowship. 

 

 

 

 

 Abigail Turner, Litigation Director

 

Abigail joined the Legal Aid Justice Center in 2006 as a staff attorney with the JustChildren Program, and became litigation director in 2008.  Her 30-year legal career has focused on civil rights and redressing poverty.  She is a graduate of Auburn University and the George Washington University School of Law.

 

 

 

 

Petersburg Office

 

 

Civil Advocacy Program Attorney

 

Steve has more than eleven years of Legal Aid experience as the Executive Director of Southside Virginia Legal Services, which was merged into the Legal Aid Justice Center in 2001.  Steve and his wife are central figures in the revitalization of downtown Petersburg, and own The Brickhouse Run, a local pub. Steve graduated from Bates College and from the Washington & Lee University School of Law.  

 

 

 

 

 Delphine Claiborne, Legal Assistant

 

In 2006, Delphine celebrated her 30^th anniversary at the Petersburg  office of Legal Aid, where she is an integral part of the legal team.  Delphine received her B.S. with honors in business education from Virginia State University.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sylvia joined the Legal Aid Justice Center to address the needs of children and parents in negotiating the educational system in the greater Petersburg area.  She has served as an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.  Sylvia received her B.A. from Eastern Kentucky University and her law degree from the University of Kentucky. 

 

 

 

 

Jill Pierce, Staff Attorney, Civil Advocacy Program

Jill brings over 15 years experience in Virginia legal services offices, including working with Southside Virginia Legal Services prior to its merger with the Legal Aid Justice Center.  She is an honors graduate of Longwood University and received her law degree from the George Mason University School of Law.

 

 

 

 

Andrew Schoeneman, Community Organizer, JustChildren Program

 

Andrew joined our Petersburg and Richmond offices in 2007 to work as part of the JustChildren and Civil Advocacy teams.  He has worked in organizing and non-profit management for over a decade.  Andrew is a graduate of the University of Virginia, and received a masters degree in international and intercultural management from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont.

 

 

 

Indy M. Toliver, Staff Attorney, Civil Advocacy Program

Indy joined our Petersburg staff in 2008 to focus on housing law clients.  She is an honors graduate of Christopher Newport University and received her law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan.

 

 

 

 

Richmond Office

 

Marcel Slag, Managing Attorney, Civil Advocacy Program

 

Marcel Slag has worked at Legal Aid (and its sister program Central Virginia Legal Aid Society) for more than seventeen years.  His practice focuses in the areas of housing and consumer law, and he runs the Housing Unit, a pro bono project that engages dozens of private attorneys each year in representing low-income tenants in the greater Richmond area.  After earning his law degree in the Netherlands, he earned a master’s degree in comparative law at George Washington University.

 

 

Lisa Bennett, Managing Attorney, JustChildren Program

 

Lisa Bennett has advocated on behalf of low-income persons since 1989.  Her current work in the JustChildren program focuses on education and special education rights of juveniles by providing individual representation to court-involved youth in the City of Richmond’s schools, by training parents and other professionals, and by advocating for positive policy and legislative changes.  Lisa obtained her law degree from the University of Richmond.

 

 

 

 Gloria Crook, Legal Assistant

Gloria joined Legal Aid in 2006 as our administrative assistant and intake specialist, a job she had handled at Central Virginia Legal Aid.   Gloria has a background in Richmond’s financial services industry, where she developed efforts to expand services to the region’s Spanish-speaking community.        

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah Geddes, Staff Attorney, JustChildren Program

 

Sarah brings experience and a passion for child advocacy to her position with the JustChildren program in Richmond.  Prior to joining the Legal Aid Justice Center in 2007, Sarah worked for the law firm of Howry, LLP in Washington, D.C. where she did extensive pro bono work.  She is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law, where she participated in the JustChildren Child Advocacy Clinic.

 

 

 

Pat Levy-Lavelle, Staff Attorney, Civil Advocacy Program

 

Since coming to Legal Aid in 2005, Pat’s work has focused primarily on workers’ rights, individual representation of low-income tenants, advocacy on local public housing policy issues, and the rights of homeless citizens of Richmond.  Pat graduated from Carleton College and received his law degree from the University of Virginia. 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhonda Perkins, Staff Attorney, Civil Advocacy Program

 

Rhonda, a Legal Aid clinic veteran, joined the staff in 2007 to lend her bi-lingual talents to serve the growing Hispanic population in Richmond.  She received her B.A. and law degree from the University of Virginia.

 

 

 

 

 

Amy Woolard joined the Richmond office in 2008 to work in the JustChildren Program under a Lewis F. Powell, Jr.  fellowship from the University of Virginia.   Ms. Woolard received her bachelor of arts and law degrees from the University of Virginia, and was an intern in the JustChildren Program during the summer of 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Northern Virginia (Falls Church) Office

 

Managing Attorney--Position Open

 

 

Edgar Aranda-Yanoc, Community Educator/Organizer, Immigrant Advocacy Program

 

Edgar came to the Legal Aid Justice Center in 2007 from a legal internship at the Center for Justice and International Law in Washington D.C.  He is a recent graduate of the LLM Program in International Law at Temple University and was a practicing attorney in Peru. He received his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Law from the University of Ancash in Peru "Santiago Antunez de Mayolo."

 

 

 

 

 Pamela Banner, Administrative Assistant

 

Pamela came to VJC in 2006, bringing her skills and experience from work as an Executive Assistant at the Carlos Rosario School in Washington DC and five years in the office of the General Counsel at the DC Dept. of Corrections. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arnoldo Borja, Community Organizer, Immigrant Advocacy Program

 

Arnoldo brings a multitude of skills to his work with Latino day laborers.  He worked for five years as an outreach coordinator with Neighbors’ Consejo in Washington, and was Professor at the Institute of Agricultural Technology in Guerrero, Mexico, where he also received his degree in Agricultural Engineering. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seok H. “Daniel” Choi, Staff Attorney, Immigrant Advocacy Program

 

 

Dan Choi’s fluency in both Korean and Spanish is key in working with the Latino day laborer population, where he plays a special role as liaison between Spanish-speaking workers and the Korean business community in the Northern Virginia area.  Dan is a graduate of SUNY Binghamton, has his J.D. from New York Law School, and is the recipient of an Equal Justice Works fellowship.

 

 

 

 

Claudia Henriquez, Staff Attorney, Immigrant Advocacy Program

 

Claudia joined LAJC in 2006, coming from Florida Rural Legal Services, where she conducted outreach and represented migrant farmworkers for the past two years.  Claudia is a graduate of the University of South Florida and the Georgetown University Law Center.