Staff

Columbia Legal Services’ advocates, staff, and Board of Directors work collaboratively to provide legal assistance to low income clients throughout the state of Washington. CLS is proud that many of the people who make up our program come from the communities we serve. CLS continues to strive to increase diversity in the program, because it is both a source of program strength and a matter of fundamental fairness.

Advocates & Staff

  • Nick Allen is an Equal Justice Fellow attorney working with CLS’s Institutions Project, to address the legal and financial barriers people experience in securing basic needs such as housing and employment as they transition back into the community, after completing their criminal sentences.

  • Cheli Bueno is a legal assistant in the Yakima office. Ms. Bueno has worked for legal services since 2000, briefly temping for CLS and the local pro bono program until 2001, when she started working for TeamChild until returning to CLS in 2008.

  • Carlota Canales is a legal assistant in the Tri-Cities office. Ms. Canales has worked in legal services since 1979 with CLS, Evergreen Legal Services, and the Northwest Justice Project.

  • Carol Chestnut is a legal assistant in the Olympia office. Ms. Chestnut has worked in legal services since 1976 with CLS and Puget Sound Legal Assistance.

  • Fanny Cordero is a legal assistant in the Olympia office. Ms. Cordero has worked in legal services since 1996.

  • Amy Crewdson is the Project Coordinator for the Basic Human Needs Project and works out of the Olympia office. Her client representation, which includes class action litigation as well as administrative and legislative advocacy, has focused primarily on elderly persons and persons with disabilities. Ms. Crewdson has worked in legal services since 1983.

  • Denise Davis-Bobino is an accountant in the Central Support Office. Ms. Davis-Bobino has worked in legal services since 1991 with CLS and Evergreen Legal Services.

  • Ty Duhamel is a staff attorney in the Wenatchee office. Mr. Duhamel represents clients primarily in litigation, representing low income persons in the areas of discrimination and civil rights.

  • Merf Ehman is a staff attorney in the Basic Human Needs and the Institutions projects and works out of the Seattle office. Ms. Ehman's work for clients has focussed on housing, consumer law, and civil rights.
  • Dan Ford is a staff attorney in the Working Families Project Group. Mr. Ford has worked in legal services since 1980.

  • Amy Freeman is a staff attorney in the Seattle office. Her primary focus work for clients is on legal issues associated with aging and disability.

  • Jim Fulton works in IT in the Central Support Office. Mr. Fulton has worked in legal services since 2006.

  • Diana Garcia is a staff attorney in the Tri-Cities office. Ms. Garcia’s client representation has focused primarily on employment law, outreach and community education for farm workers, as well as housing issues involving manufactured housing.

  • Michael Geoghegan is a Berkeley Law Foundation Fellow attorney in the Seattle office focused on community economic development projects, particularly on the formation of low-wage worker cooperatives.

  • Shirley Gregory is accounting staff in the Central Support Office. Ms. Gregory has worked in legal services since 1980. 

  • Lori Jordan Isley is a staff attorney in the Working Families Project and works out of the Yakima office. Ms. Isley’s work for clients has focussed primarily on employment and civil rights.

  • Maureen Janega is a paralegal in the Institutions Project. Ms. Janega’s work for clients focuses on institutional conditions of confinement, treatment of juveniles in the adult criminal justice system, access to justice for indigent defendants, and prisoner reentry.

  • Andrew Kashyap is a staff attorney in the Seattle office. Mr. Kashyap’s work for clients focuses on community economic development. Mr. Kashyap was a former Equal Justice Fellow with the Urban Justice Center and the National Employment Law Project in New York.

  • Mike Katell is the IT Manager and works out of the Central Support Office. Mr. Katell has worked in legal services since 2002.

  • Melissa Lee is the Project Coordinator for the Institutions Project and works out of the Seattle office. Ms. Lee’s practice focuses on institutional conditions of confinement, treatment of juveniles in the adult criminal justice system, access to justice for indigent defendants, and prisoner reentry.

  • Sarah Leyrer is a Project Coordinator for the Working Families Project and works out of the Wenatchee office. Her work has focussed primarily on representing farm workers and other low-wage workers in cases involving employment, discrimination, and housing issues.

  • Yolanda Lopez is a legal assistant in the Yakima office.  Ms. Lopez worked in legal services from 1990-2004, when she became a court-certified interpreter.  She returned to CLS in 2008 and continues some work in court interpretation.

  • Aurora Martin is the Executive Director of Columbia Legal Services and in the Central Support Office. Ms. Martin is a former Equal Justice Fellow with CLS.

  • John Midgley is the Advocacy Director of Columbia Legal Services and works in the Central Support Office. He has been in legal services since 1975 and has worked primarily on cases involving conditions in jails and prisons and on class action litigation.

  • Joe Morrison is staff attorney in the Working Families Project and works out of the Wenatchee office. He focuses primarily on representing farm workers and other low-wage worker in cases involving employment, discrimination, and civil rights.

  • Candelaria Murillo is a staff attorney in the Children and Youth Project and works out of the Tri-Cities office. Mrs. Murillo practices in variouus areas with an emphasis on issues affecting the farm worker community.

  • Bruce Neas is a staff attorney in the Working Families Project and works out of the Olympia office. Mr. Neas has focussed on client issues in the areas of consumer rights, housing and education.

  • Sharon Nyland is an administrative assistant in the Central Support Office. Ms. Nyland has worked in legal services since 1984 with CLS and the Puget Sound Legal Assistance Foundation.

  • Rachael Pashkowski is a legal assistant in the Wenatchee office. Ms. Pashkowski has worked in legal services since 1998.

  • Greg Provenzano is a staff attorney in the Olympia office. Mr. Provenzano’s client representation has a special focus on homelessness and housing.

  • Ivy Rosa is a legal assistant in the Wenatchee office. Ms. Rosa has worked in legal services since 2005.

  • Anastacia Sanchez is a Community Worker in the Working Families Project and works out of the Wenatchee office. She speaks Spanish and Mixteco and her primary focus is working with Mixteco indigenous communities to educate them about their rights and develop community partnerships.

  • Andrea Schmitt is a Project Coordinator for the Working Families Project and works out of the Olympia office.  Her practice has focussed on issues relating to farmworkers and other low-wage workers, in addition to housing and public benefits.
     
  • Erin Shea McCann is an attorney in the Seattle office. Her work focuses on implementation of the foster care reform efforts in the Braam v. Washington settlement agreement and working to improve legal representation for foster youth in dependency and termination proceedings. Ms. McCann is a former Equal Justice Works Fellow with CLS.

  • Liz Stonehill is the Controller for Columbia Legal Services in the Central Support Office. Ms. Stonehill has worked in legal services since 1996.

  • Nick Straley is a staff attorney in the Seattle office. He works in a variety of substantive areas, including housing, education and consumer rights.

  • Gavin Thornton is a staff attorney in the Institutions Project. His practice focuses on institutional conditions of confinement, treatment of juveniles in the adult criminal justice system, access to justice for indigent defendants, and prisoner reentry.

  • Casey Trupin is the Project Coordinator for the Children and Youth Project and works out of the Seattle office. Mr. Trupin’s client representation focuses on at-risk, homeless and foster youth and young adults. Mr. Trupin is a former Equal Justice Works Fellow with CLS.

  • Robin Zukoski is the Legislative Director for CLS and works out of the Olympia office. Her primary focus is client representation in administrative and legislative forums regarding public benefits and access to justice issues.