Ed Barnes
Director, Income Practice
J.D., New York University School of Law (1977)
B.A., Linguistics, Brown University (1969)
Ed Barnes has been a supervising attorney at EBCLC since 1988, and Director of the Income practice since 1995. In 2010, Ed took a fixed-term appointment as an Administrative Law Judge for the California Department of Social Services. Before coming to EBCLC, Ed worked at DNA Legal Services on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, and at the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County. He has also been a math teacher for the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone. Ed is the author of numerous welfare policy changes; and has handled major litigation concerning public assistance and health care.
Rosa Bay
Staff Attorney & Clinical Instructor, Health Practice
J.D., Boston College Law School (2008)
B.A., Sociology, UC Berkeley (2001)
Rosa joined the Health Practice in 2010 to launch free legal clinics at five middle schools in Oakland as part of the Elev8 program, a national initiative dedicated to improving the health and educational outcomes of middle school youth in underserved communities by providing students and their families with a coordinated array of services and supports at school. Before returning to EBCLC where she interned while in law school, Rosa practiced litigation in San Francisco at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
During law school, Rosa volunteered for the Boston College Immigration Asylum Project and at Greater Boston Legal Services, where she helped develop a series of legal workshops for immigrant survivors of domestic violence as part of the Latina Know Your Rights Project. Rosa was also an active member of the Boston College Latin American Law Student Association and served on its executive board. In 2009 and 2010, she served on the board of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association. Prior to law school, Rosa was a vocational rehabilitation counselor in Oakland for several years.
Martha Brown
Director of Finance and Administration
B.A., East Asian History, Wesleyan University (1975)
Martha Brown brings over nearly thirty years of non-profit management experience to EBCLC. She worked for many years at the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s premiere interactive science museum, and is a co-founder of Fifth Stream Music, a non-profit arts performance and education organization. Her experience includes all aspects of organizational development and operations, including financial and personnel management, project and proposal development, and strategic planning. She holds a MSW degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore with an emphasis in community organizing and started her life in the San Francisco Bay Area as an organizer with Citizens Action League, a statewide grassroots advocacy organization.
Brendan Darrow
Equal Justice Works fellow, Housing Practice
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (2010)
B.A. History; Political Science, University of Pennsylvania (2007)
Brendan Darrow joined EBCLC in the Fall of 2010, as an Equal Justice Works Fellow in the Housing practice. His work is made possible by the generosity of the Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Foundation, and focuses on providing direct legal representation to tenants living in foreclosed properties. The silent victims of the foreclosure crisis, tenants lawfully rent over 50% of the foreclosed properties in California. Bren represents tenants with the objective of preserving affordable housing, preventing blight, and finding mutually beneficial solutions for the tenants and the banks that now own their homes. As a law student, Bren worked in EBCLC’s Housing practice for two years, where he developed a specialty on the intersection of foreclosure issues and tenant’s rights. Bren also collaborates with Centro Legal de la Raza’s housing attorneys at their Spanish language tenant’s rights workshops.
Elisa Della-Piana
Director, Neighborhood Justice Clinic
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (2002)
B.A., History, University of Utah (1999)
Elisa is a 2002 Boalt graduate and former EBCLC intern who has worked on issues of civil rights and homelessness since 2000. After graduation, she clerked for Judge David F. Levi, Eastern District of California; and Judge Betty B. Fletcher, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Elisa then spent four years at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, providing individual representation through the Homeless Rights Project, working on policy issues related to homelessness, and co-counseling on impact litigation, including the successful class action suit Kincaid v. City of Fresno. She joined EBCLC in 2007 to help found the Community Legal Access Services Site (CLASS), now known as the Neighborhood Justice Clinic.
Sharon Djemal
Staff Attorney & Clinical Instructor, Housing Practice
J.D., Columbia University School of Law (1998)
B.A., Political Science, Macalester College (1991)
Sharon Djemal joined EBCLC’s Housing Practice in 2000. In law school, Sharon participated in numerous public interest activities, and earned Columbia’s highest clinical award, the Jane Marks Murphy Prize for interest and proficiency in clinical advocacy. Prior to her work at EBCLC, Sharon was a Soros Fellow at the Urban Justice Center’s Homelessness Outreach and Prevention Project, providing eviction prevention and community education to public housing tenants in New York City.
Victoria Flores
Contracts Manager
B.A., English Literature, San Francisco State University (2005)
Victoria Flores joined EBCLC in July, 2007 as a Contracts Manager. Prior to coming to EBCLC, Victoria worked for nearly four years in development/contract management for several organizations in the Bay Area. When not at the Law Center, Victoria provides consulting services and technical assistance to non-profits.
Liam Galbreth
Staff Attorney & Clinical Instructor, Health Practice
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (1999)
B.A., Politics, University of California at Santa Cruz (1994)
Liam Galbreth joined EBCLC in 2001 as an attorney in the Income practice and a member of the Family Advocacy Services Team. In 2003 he moved to the Health practice. In 2002 he co-chaired the Alameda County Bar Association Community Projects Committee. While in law school, Liam interned at EBCLC for two semesters.
Sheila Hall
Director, Health Practice
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (1984)
B.A., English, University of California at Berkeley (1978)
Sheila Hall joined EBCLC in 1999 and has served as the Director of the Health practice since 2001. Since 2006 she has been the Legal Director of the East Bay Medical-Legal Partnership, a medical-legal collaboration between EBCLC and Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland. Before coming to EBCLC, Sheila worked at Marin AIDS Project and in private practice in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She has served as a pro bono attorney for the AIDS Legal Referral Panel and the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the San Francisco Bar Association. Sheila served as a member of the Ryan White HIV Health Services Planning Council for the Oakland Eligible Metropolitan Area from 2005–2007. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Family Care Network, an interdisciplinary collaborative focused on meeting the needs of HIV-positive women and children.
Eliza Hersh
Director, Clean Slate
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley (2005)
B.A., Letters, Wesleyan University (1998)
Eliza Hersh is a graduate of Boalt Hall. While in law school Eliza interned at EBCLC, in the Boalt Death Penalty Clinic, and in the offices of the Alameda County and Contra Costa County Public Defenders. She joined EBCLC’s staff following a clerkship with Chief Judge Martha Vázquez, United States District Court, District of New Mexico. Prior to law school Eliza worked as a capital case investigator at the California Appellate Project and the Habeas Corpus Resource Center. She has also worked as a victim liaison in the field of Defense-Initiated Victim Outreach (DIVO), which offers a platform for survivors of capital murder to get their needs met by the criminal process while maintaining the integrity of the defense.
Jesse Hsieh
Staff Attorney & Clinical Instructor, Clean Slate Practice
J.D., UCLA School of Law (2008)
B.A., Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles (2005)
Jesse Hsieh joined EBCLC in 2009. Previously, he worked as a staff attorney at A New Way of Life, a non-profit organization providing reentry legal services in Los Angeles. As a law student, Jesse interned in the Workers’ Rights Advocacy Group at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County. He also trained other law students on clean slate remedies in conjunction with the Prisoner Reentry Legal Clinic, the largest expungement clinic in Los Angeles County. Prior to law school, Jesse was a student in the Early Entrance Program at CSULA, an accelerated educational program specifically designed to permit young, highly gifted students to enroll in college as full-time students.
Luan Huynh
Staff Attorney, Income Support
J.D., UCLA School of Law (2005)
B.A. Political Science and Communications, UCLA (1999)
Luan Huynh recently joined EBCLC as the Shartsis Friese Public Interest Law fellow in the Income practice. While in law school, Luan was a member of the National Latino Law Student Association (NLLSA), the National Lawyers Guild, and the Equal Justice Society. In addition, Luan was comments editor for the Asian Pacific American Law Journal, volunteered at the Sunday Clinic, and clerked for the Working People’s Law Center in downtown Los Angeles.
Luan was previously a district representative for a California assemblymember and a secretary to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters before attending law school. Luan was born in Vietnam and raised in Fresno, California, but Barcelona, Spain is her favorite city in the whole wide world.
Marc S. Janowitz
Staff Attorney & Clinical Instructor, Housing Practice
J.D., New College of California School of Law (1980)
B.A., University of Maryland (1969)
Marc Janowitz joined EBCLC as a consulting attorney in 2002 after many years of providing pro bono assistance to EBCLC clients, with a focus on affirmative law suits in the Housing practice. In 2005 he became a staff attorney. Marc previously operated the Law Offices of Marc S. Janowitz in San Francisco where he specialized in representing residential and commercial tenants. He has lectured widely in California on landlord-tenant issues for business and professional groups, including the Real Property Section of the State Bar of California.
From 1994-2002 Marc served as an elected Commissioner on the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board. In 2003, he successfully litigated Drouet v. Superior Court before the California Supreme Court establishing the right of tenants to assert retaliation claims in Ellis Act evictions.
Gracie Jones
Intake Specialist, Housing Practice
Gracie Jones joined EBCLC in 2003 as the Receptionist. In 2006, she became the Housing Intake Specialist. Before coming to EBCLC, Gracie worked at the Berkeley Housing Authority and served on the Section 8 Voucher Program team.
Tanya Koshy
Staff Attorney, Clean Slate Practice
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (2010)
B.A., Africana Studies and Political Science, Wellesley College (2005)
Tanya Koshy joined EBCLC in 2011. Previously, she worked at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, where she helped to coordinate its Second Chance Legal Clinic, which assists people with criminal records in removing barriers to employment and housing . As a law student, Tanya interned in the Clean Slate Practice in 2008. She also interned at the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s Federal Coordination and Compliance Section, which investigates law enforcement agencies, and other federal funding recipients, to ensure their compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Prior to law school, Tanya was a paralegal at Neufeld Scheck and Brustin, LLP a civil rights law firm in New York City that focuses on litigation involving wrongful convictions and police brutality.
Laura Lane
Director, Housing Practice
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (1996)
M.A., Comparative Literature, San Francisco State University (1992)
B.A., Classics, Hunter College (1988)
Laura Lane joined EBCLC as a supervising attorney in 1997 and directs the Housing practice. As a law student Laura worked in EBCLC’s Health practice, at the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County, and at the American Civil Liberties Union. A recipient of an echoing green Public Interest Fellowship, in 1996 Laura founded and directed a project providing free legal services to people living with HIV/AIDS in Contra Costa County.
Laura has taught housing law and policy at Boalt Hall School of Law and at Golden Gate University, School of Law. In 2003, she was honored at a reception in San Francisco by Housing Rights, Inc. in recognition of her contributions to fair housing in the East Bay.
Jonathon Marley
Director of Development & Planning
Fellowship, Health Care Administration, Johns Hopkins University (1988)
M.P.H., Health Policy and Management, Harvard University (1987)
A.B., Human Biology, Stanford University (1984)
Jonathon Marley founded EBCLC’s development department in 1994 and has served as Development Director since that time. Before joining EBCLC, he worked with the Over 60 Health Center in Berkeley, directed the Teen Clinic and HIV Program at La Clinica de la Raza in Oakland, and interned at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center.
At Harvard, Jonathon co-founded the Health and Human Rights Group, and later helped to start both the International Campaign to Free Geronimo Pratt and the New Village Community Public Charter School of the East Bay. In 1999 he created the Anti-Bias Curriculum Project, which currently helps Kindergarten – 5th grade students in public schools understand and appreciate differences related to race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, family income, and language. Jonathon serves as a Director on the boards of The Mosaic Project in Oakland and the People’s Life Fund in Berkeley, as well as on the the Advisory Board for the Bay Area Community Land Trust (BACLT). He is a former Commissioner for the City of Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission.
Jon can be reached at .
Jaimee Arnone Modica
Staff Attorney & Clinical Instructor, Housing Practice
J.D., King Hall School of Law, University of California at Davis (2003)
B.A., University of California at Berkeley (1999)
Jaimee joined EBCLC in 2003 as an Equal Justice Works fellow in the Housing practice. The fellowship was generously supported by the law firm of Bingham McCutchen and focused on substandard housing in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville. In 2005, Jaimee became a staff attorney. During law school, Jaimee interned at EBCLC for several semesters, and at La Raza Centro Legal and the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees, Local 2.
Ana Maria Murillo
Deputy Director of Development
B.A., Latin American Studies Major, Education Minor, University of California Santa Cruz (1998)
Ana joined EBCLC in August of 2009, as the Deputy Director of Development, focusing particularly on cultivating relationships with major donors and law firms. She comes to EBCLC with eight years of fundraising and strategic relationship-building for community-based organizations, including serving as Executive Director for the U’wa Defense Project from 2001 to 2006, and most recently as Development Director for HOMEY (Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth) and Manager of Individual Giving at The Hesperian Foundation. Ana is of Indigenous Colombian ancestry and has worked for twelve years with Native communities in the U.S. and Latin America, primarily in Indigenous-led community development, cultural survival and women’s rights. Ana was born in Colombia and raised in the Mission District of San Francisco. Ana broke into the world of grassroots fundraising in 2001 as a fundraising intern through Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT), raising funds for La Pena Cultural Center, where she later served on the Board for four years. Ana currently serves on the board of Amazon Watch and also volunteers as Co-Director for the Mujer U’wa Initiative; a giving circle supporting Indigenous U’wa women in the jungles of Colombia to build female leadership, resist destructive petroleum extraction and contribute to peace building amid a war zone in their sacred land.
Ana can be reached at .
Osha Neumann
Consulting Attorney
J.D., New College of California School of Law (1987)
M.A., History, Yale (1962)
B.A., History, Swarthmore (1961)
Osha Neumann joined EBCLC as a Consulting Attorney in 2003. He has been in private practice in Berkeley since 1987, representing political protestors, victims of police misconduct and homeless people in cases regarding their civil rights. He is the chairperson of Community Defense Inc., a non-profit that promotes legal education for poor and marginalized communities. He is also an accomplished muralist responsible or many murals still to be seen in Berkeley.
Serina Rankins
Intake Specialist & Paralegal, Clean Slate Practice
AA, Paralegal Studies, Merritt College (2007)
Serina Rankins joined EBCLC in July 2007. She was born and raised in Oakland, CA. Serina has over 11 years of administrative experience, having worked at various non-profits and corporations in the Bay Area. She is a member of the National Notary Association.
Ayana Roberson
Office Manager
Ayana Roberson has been at EBCLC since March 1998. Ayana manages the dual role of Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator at EBCLC. She has years of administrative experience and has attended many computer related trainings. She previously worked at EBCLC in the early 1990s, before attending Clark Atlanta University. Ayana also has worked for the Center for Health Leadership where she interacted with public health officials from all over the country. Ayana served in the United States Army Reserves for seven years as a Medical Specialist.
Megan Ryan
Staff Attorney & Clinical Instructor, Neighborhood Justice Clinic
J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law
M.A., Development Studies, Brown University (2000)
B.A., International Relations, Brown University (2000)
Megan joined EBCLC in 2009 as a law firm fellow in the Neighborhood Justice Clinic. In 2010, Megan became a staff attorney. While in law school, Megan interned for Judge Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, La Raza Centro Legal and the Alameda District Attorney’s Office of Environmental and Consumer Protection. Megan was previously the Director of Operations for Partners for Democratic Change, an international alternative dispute resolution organization, where she had the opportunity to conduct trainings in advocacy, negotiation and mediation throughout the United States, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Tamura Saxton
Administrative Assistant
Tamura joined EBCLC in August of 2007. She was born and raised in Oakland, CA. Tamura holds a degree in Fashion Merchandising. After working in the buying office of a catalogue company she decided to enter the legal field. Before coming to EBCLC, Tamura worked as a legal assistant in a worker’s compensation law firm and a real estate law firm. Currently, Tamura is a student in the Los Angeles Mission College paralegal program.
Tirien Steinbach
Executive Director
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (1999)
B.A., Art History, University of California at Santa Cruz (1994)
In March 2007, Tirien Steinbach became the third executive director of EBCLC. Tirien joined EBCLC in 2001 in the Income practice where she incubated Clean Slate practice, which she directed. In 2006 Tirien served as EBCLC’s Director of Clinical & Program. Tirien is currently a Lecturer at Boalt Hall School of Law (UC Berkeley), and co-teaches "Community Law Practice at EBCLC," the companion seminar for Boalt students enrolled in EBCLC’s clinical program.
In law school, Tirien was active in the public interest and student of color communities, where she served as co-president of the Berkeley Law Foundation Student Steering Committee and Vice President of Recruitment for Law Students of African Descent. Upon graduating from Boalt, Tirien is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including an Equal Justice Works fellowship sponsored by the California Appellate Project, a Berkeley Law Foundation grant for her work at EBCLC, and the inaugural Thelton E. Henderson Social Justice Prize.
Linda Tam
Director, Immigration Practice
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (2000)
B.A., Psychology, Yale University (1996)
Linda Tam joined EBCLC in 2003 to develop an immigration specialty within the Health practice for people living with HIV/AIDS. She is a graduate of Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall) where she served on the Asian Law Journal, was recruitment co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and worked in the International Human Rights Law Clinic. Following law school, Ms. Tam clerked at the Executive Office for Immigration Review. She is a contributor on immigration law to “AIDS and the Law,” the leading treatise on HIV legal issues. She was awarded the 2009 Legal Services Award by the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club. She speaks Spanish in addition to some French and Mandarin.
Owen Thompson
Program Coordinator, Neighborhood Justice Clinic
B.A., History and Latin American & Iberian Studies, Bard College (2006)
Owen joined EBCLC in 2009 as Program Coordinator of NJC. Prior to EBCLC, he worked with migrant farm workers in Upstate New York as an outreach worker and paralegal. In this role he assisted farm workers in employment law and human trafficking cases; he also trained hundreds of advocates and law enforcement officers in recognizing and assisting victims of human trafficking. While at Bard College, Owen led the Migrant Labor Project, a student group dedicated to building the school’s ties to migrant workers in New York’s Hudson Valley. He also has several years of experience as a tutor of English learners, as well as prisoners earning G.E.D.’s and Associate Degrees as part of the Bard Prison Initiative. Owen is fluent in Spanish.
Yvonne Troya
Staff Attorney & Clinical Supervisor, Health Practice
J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (2006)
B.A., Latin American Studies & Biology, Bowdoin College (1996)
Yvonne Troya joined EBCLC as a staff attorney in the Health Law Practice in 2007. Prior to law school, Yvonne served as a paralegal in the Asylum Program of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco for five years. There she worked with indigent immigrants from over 30 different countries. During law school, Yvonne interned with the Employment Law Project of La Raza Centro Legal and worked as a summer associate at the law firm of Drinker, Biddle & Reath. She also spent a semester working at the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) in Geneva, Switzerland in addition to interning with the International Human Rights Law Clinic at Boalt.
Carolina Zanni
Administrative Assistant
Carolina was born and raised in Santiago, Chile and came to the United States in 1994. Carolina attended Contra Costa College, and after completing ESL classes, she graduated in 2001 with two Certificates of Achievement in Computer Systems Operations and Network Technologies.
Carolina worked as an administrative assistant for an Oakland based law firm, providing services in personal injury cases, such as car accidents, wrongful death, medical malpractice, class action suits, and toxic torts. With Spanish being her first language, Carolina also helped Spanish speaking clients with translations and legal documents.
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