Kate joined the JustChildren Program in Charlottesville in 2008, coming from a two-year stint as the Pro-Bono Fellow with the Richmond Office of Hunton & Williams.  She received her B.A. and law degrees at the University of Virginia.  Kate's initial  focus is juvenile justice issues. 

Dan Epstein, Financial and Administrative Manager

Prior to joining our Charlottesville office, Dan worked as a vice president at Cardagin, and as CEO/co-founder at orderTopia—both Charlottesville-based technology startups. Dan is also one of the founders of Eppie’srestaurant in downtown Charlottesville and helped managed it during its early years. Dan earned his B.S. degree from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.
 

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.

Laurel Reiman Henneman, Foundation Relations Manager

Laurel joined our development team in 2009 to help identify, research, write and administer our portfolio of proposals to foundation, corporate and government sources for annual operating funds, as well as ongoing and planned projects. Previously a transactional attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, Laurel uses her research, analytical and writing skills to foster relationships with funders who share our program's interests and goals. Laurel received her B.A. from Wesleyan University and her law degree from New York University School of Law.

Jeree Harris, Skadden Fellow, JustChildren Program

Katie Jones, Financial and Administrative Manager

Katie joined the Legal Aid team in 2010 as our Financial and Administrative Manager. She has extensive experience in accounting and payroll management and has been invaluable in streamlining these processes here at Legal Aid. She is currently completing a business degree in accounting and management.

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.

Wes Myhre, Donor Relations Manager

Wes became a member of our development team in fall 2011. Prior to joining Legal Aid, Wes spent seven years at the University of Virginia, most recently at the Miller Center of Public Affairs. Prior to that, he worked at Getty Images in Seattle. He received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his M.A. from the University of Virginia.

Tina Nuñez, Administrative Assistant

Tina is the administrative assistant in Charlottesville, where she uses her extensive experience to coordinate our largest office. Prior to joining the Legal Aid Justice Center, Tina worked as the executive secretary for the South America President of the Sara Lee Corporation in Mexico and as the secretary of the Epidemiology and Social Research Center for the Mexican Institute of Psychiatry.

Crystal Shin, JustChildren Program

Crystal joined the JustChildren staff in 2010 as the Lewis F. Powell Fellow.  Crystal provides individual legal representation to children and families in the areas of special education, student discipline, and school enrollment.  Prior to law school, Crystal taught fourth grade for three years through the Teach For America program.  She received her B.A. and her J.D. from the University of Virginia

Erin Trodden, 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 joined the Legal Aid Justice Center in 2006 as an 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

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.

Nicole Dooley, Attorney and Equal Justice America Fellow

Nicole is the Equal Justice America Fellow working with JustChildren in Petersburg. She became interested in children’s issues before law school, when she taught seventh grade in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she worked for children through clinics and summer internships.

Sylvia Jones, Managing Attorney of the Petersburg Office, Civil Advocacy Program

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. 

Richmond Office

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 of the Richmond office, 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.        

Pat Levy-Lavelle, 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. 

Phil Storey, Attorney, Immigrant Advocacy Program

After two summers as an intern and participation in several clinics, Phil joined Legal Aid in 2009 on a Powell Fellowship from the University of Virginia to defend immigrants’ rights in the Commonwealth. Phil earned a B.A. from Brigham Young University, an M.A. from Southern Methodist University, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Northern Virginia (Falls Church) Office

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, 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.

 Ivy Finkenstadt, Managing Attorney of the Falls Church Office, Civil Advocacy and Immigrant Advocacy Programs

Ivy came aboard after ten years of practicing federal complex litigation for the D.C. Prisoners’ Project with the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. Ivy is a graduate of Northern Michigan University and American University’s Washington College of Law. She learned Spanish as an exchange student in Costa Rica and has traveled extensively in Central and South America.

Camilo Quila, Community Organizer, Immigrant Advocacy Program

 

Camilo came to the Legal Aid Justice Center as a Community Organizer following his work with residents of homeless shelters in both Fairfax and Arlington counties. Previously, he worked as a private security guard, and as a Special Police Officer with the Washington National Cathedral.