Trainer Bios
- Anna Beadle
Anna Beadle is an AmeriCorps*VISTA attorney at Children's Law Center of Minnesota. Anna graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2010. During law school, she participated in the Child Advocacy Clinic. Anna is originally from Northern Minnesota.
- Laurence Chamberlain
- Colleen Daly
Colleen Daly is a staff attorney in the consumer unit of the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis. She graduated from Hamline Law School in 2006 and clerked with Chief Justice Russell Anderson at the Minnesota Supreme Court for one year before beginning work at Legal Aid in 2007. Ms. Daly represents homeowners in foreclosure as well as victims of equity stripping and other real estate scams. She has litigated foreclosure cases in both state and federal court and has reviewed hundreds of cases for violations of the Truth in Lending Act, Minnesota's anti-predatory lending laws and Minnesota's foreclosure by advertisement statute. Ms. Daly also assists homeowners in navigating the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in order to obtain loan modifications and avoid foreclosure. Ms. Daly is a member of VLN's Equity Stripping Task Force and Foreclosure Defense Task Force.
- Margaret Erickson
Margaret Erickson has been an attorney in the Worthington office of Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) since 1983. She has worked on the SMRLS hotline for the past eight years. Ms. Erickson's areas of practice have included child custody, domestic violence, unemployment and other public benefits, housing and consumer issues. She serves on the Assembly and Council for the Minnesota State Bar Association and co-chairs the General Policy Committee. Ms. Erickson is active in the MSBA's family law section, and is currently the secretary of the section. In June of 2011 she was appointed by Governor Dayton to the Commission on Judicial Selection. She is a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College and earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota.
- Lisa Fink
Lisa Fink has worked at the Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP) as a staff attorney since 2006. The primary focus of Ms. Fink's work at LSAP has been representing the needs of Legal Aid clients through legislative and administrative advocacy related to Minnesota's public health care programs. She also provides ongoing analysis of state and federal health law and policy issues impacting low-income Minnesotans. Ms. Fink views successful state implementation of the Affordable Care Act as being critical for Legal Aid clients. Prior to graduating with her J.D. from the University of St. Thomas in 2005, she practiced as a certified nurse-midwife for many years in Colorado, New Mexico and Minnesota.
- John Freeman
John Freeman is supervising attorney of the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition State Support office (State Support), which provides training, community legal education, and technology support to legal aid providers across the state. Prior to joining State Support as a staff attorney in 2006, John was a Skadden Fellow and staff attorney at Anishinabe Legal Services where he represented juveniles in special education, discipline, delinquency, and child protection cases. John was a part-time staff attorney with the Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC) in 2008, representing juveniles and adults with developmental disabilities in the areas of special education, medical care, and community integration. John presents frequently on the intersection of nonprofit legal services and technology, and is a 2004 graduate of the City University of New York School of Law.
- Mary Freyberg
Mary Freyberg is the Scott County Law Librarian. She grew up in Rocky River, Ohio. Ms. Freyberg is a graduate of The University of Cincinnati, as are most of her relatives. Her great-great grandparents met there in the 1800's. Her great-great-great grandfather was the Honorable James Marshall Harlan--cousin to Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan. After graduating from UC, she took a few years off (27) before returning to get her Master's degree. Ms. Freyberg received her MLS from the University of North Texas in 2005. Ms. Freyberg started at the Scott County Law Library in 2002. At that time they saw about 6-8 people a day. They now see about 40-50 people a day. Most of them are self-represented and have family law issues. The Scott County Law Library has formed some wonderful partnerships with local attorneys, SMRLS, CMLS, VLN and Linea Legal Latina to offer legal assistance and informational clinics to the Scott County community.
- Bridget Gernander
Bridget C. Gernander is currently serving as both the Legal Services Grant Program Manager and the Acting Clerk of Appellate Courts. Ms. Gernander is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School and received an Equal Justice Works fellowship to work at the Minnesota Justice Foundation from 1999-2011. Since 2001, she has worked for the Judicial Branch in a variety of positions. In her capacity as the Legal Services Grant Program Manager, Ms. Gernander provides staff support to the Minnesota Supreme Court Legal Services Advisory Committee and the Legal Services Planning Committee. She manages over $13 million in grant funds per year and assists on policy issues related to civil legal services and the courts.
- Steve Hirsh
Steve Hirsh is the Access to Justice Director at the Minnesota State Bar Association. He is also a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court Legal Services Planning Committee. He began his legal services career at California Indian Legal Services. He also worked in the Farmworker Unit at Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Maine, and at Anishinabe Legal Services in Cass Lake, Minnesota. Among his responsibilities at the MSBA is administration of ProJusticeMN. Mr. Hirsh helped design and facilitate a strategic planning process for ProJusticeMN, and participates in ongoing efforts to improve the site. Contact Steve at shirsh@mnbar.org, 612.278.622.
- Lisa Hollingsworth
Lisa Hollingsworth has been an attorney at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) since 1999. She is currently a housing supervising attorney in the Central Office in St. Paul. She focuses her work on Federally Subsidized Housing, Fair Housing and Home Ownership. Prior to working at SMRLS, she clerked for the Honorable Gary Crippen at the Minnesota Court of Appeals. She is a 1989 graduate of Carleton College and a 1998 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School.
- John Keller
John Keller graduated Cum Laude from Hamline School of Law and received his B.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Minnesota. He served as a law clerk at the Minnesota Court of Appeals and first worked for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) as a law clerk in 1994. He was hired to work as a staff attorney in 1998 through 2003, and specialized in naturalization and deportation defense. Since 2005, he has been ILCM's Executive Director, Supervising Attorney, and Policy Director. He was also an Adjunct Professor at University of Minnesota Immigration Clinic, and Vice Chair of MN State Bar Immigration Chapter. He was appointed by the Minnesota Senate to the Working Group on Ethnic Heritage and New Americans in 2007, and was reappointed in 2009. As a result of ILCM's work after the immigration raid in Worthington, Minnesota, Mr. Keller was named the Minnesota Lawyer Attorney of the Year in 2007, and ILCM received the Minnesota Council of Non-Profits 2007 Advocacy Award.
- Jean Lastine
Jean Lastine has been Executive Director of Central Minnesota Legal Services (CMLS) since 1997. Ms. Lastine is a graduate of William Mitchell College of Law. Prior to her current position, she was managing attorney of the Family Law Unit of the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis for seven years. Ms. Lastine has been active in the Hennepin County Bar Association's Delivery of Legal Services Committee serving in the past as chair and currently as a member. She has also been active in the MSBA's Legal Assistance to the Disadvantaged Committee, and Family Law Section and has served the section in several officer positions including serving as the chair in 1992-1993. She is currently serving her second term as chair of the MSBA's Pro Se Implementation Committee. Ms. Lastine was a trial skills instructor for over 15 years at William Mitchell College of Law.
- James Lee
James Lee has been a staff attorney practicing housing law at the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis since 1994. He currently works in LASM's downtown Minneapolis office. He has also worked as a staff attorney at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, in their St. Paul office. Mr. Lee graduated from the Hamline University School of Law.
- Steve Marchese
Steve Marchese joined the Minnesota State Bar Association as Pro Bono Development Director in November 2009. He had previously served as a member of the MSBA's Legal Assistance to the Disadvantaged (LAD) Committee and was the former Co-Director of the Career & Professional Development Center at the University of Minnesota Law School from 2003 to 2008. As part of his work at the MSBA, Mr. Marchese promotes pro bono work by connecting legal services organizations to interested members of the private bar. He received his law degree in 1993 from New York University and practiced civil litigation with law firms in Minnesota, Michigan and New York. He currently serves on the board of directors of Community Shares Minnesota and was a commissioner on the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission from 2002 to 2005.
- Ralonda Mason
Ralonda Mason has been an attorney at St. Cloud Area Legal Services since 1988, where she represents low-income clients in the areas of public assistance and education law. Her clients live in a 7-county area in central Minnesota and range from the outer metro areas of Sherburne and Wright Counties to the urban area of St. Cloud to the rural areas of Todd, Morrison and Mille Lacs Counties. In addition to representing her clients in judicial and administrative proceedings, Ms. Mason also represents her clients' interests through her involvement in several state and county groups addressing the implementation and resulting effects of health care reform.
- Patrick Noonan
Patrick Noonan has worked as a Technology Program Specialist at the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition State Support Center since November of 2009. Prior to that he worked at FindLaw (a Thomson Reuters business), and also served as an Americorps *VISTA with State Support. He graduated from Luther College in 2005 with a BA in English.
- Irene Opsahl
- David Rephan
David Rephan is a partner at Chestnut Cambronne. In his 18 years of practicing law, he has focused primarily in the areas of elder law, disability law (including special needs trust law), government benefits law, and veterans law. He has successfully litigated class actions and individual actions on behalf of government benefits recipients. Mr. Rephan has also participated in successful legislative initiatives to increase the rights of persons appealing to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, as well as other rights of government benefits recipients.
Mr. Rephan is a native of Charleston, South Carolina, and has lived in the Twin Cities for over 15 years. He received his B.A. from Yeshiva University in New York City, and his J.D. from Touro Law School in Central Islip, New York.
He is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and the Minnesota State Bar Association Probate and Trust Law and Elder Law sections. He has also taught at numerous legal and community education seminars.
- Barnett (Bud) Rosenfield
Barnett (Bud) Rosenfield is a Supervising Attorney with the Minnesota Disability Law Center in Minneapolis where he has practiced for over thirteen years. He works with persons with disabilities (primarily persons with developmental disabilities) to help them obtain home and community-based health and social services under Medicaid and other state programs. Mr. Rosenfield also works at the policy level to promote better access to services and to expand and improve service programs for persons with disabilities. He has worked on disability rights issues involving access, reasonable accommodation, and discrimination under the ADA, MHRA, and Section 504.
- Kari Rudd
Kari Rudd is a 2009 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, and a 2005 graduate of Hamline University's College of Liberal Arts. As an Americorps VISTA she works to build the capacity of the Foreclosure Relief Law Project to serve more homeowners throughout Minnesota. Before coming to HPP, Ms. Rudd worked as a law clerk at Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis in the areas of Housing and Consumer Protection. She also served as a student attorney and a student director in the University of Minnesota Law School's Consumer Protection Clinic.
- Lymari Santana
Lymari Santanta has been practicing law since 1994, focusing entirely on family law litigation and appeals since 2000. She assists clients with a variety of family law issues, including child support, spousal maintenance, child custody, business/asset valuation, marital and non-marital asset division, and post-dissolution (divorce) modification. Ms. Santana has successfully represented high-net worth clients, settled and litigated a wide variety of family law cases, with varying levels of complexity. She co-founded Mack & Santana Law Offices, P.C. in 2004, and the firm has been "of counsel" to Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen, P.A. since 2005. Ms. Santana is also a qualified mediator under Rule 114. She co-authored the child support chapter, addressing the major changes in Minnesota child support law in 2007, in the Family Law Financial Deskbook, first edition, published by Minnesota CLE in 2008, and she frequently lectures on family law topics. Ms. Santana speaks and reads Spanish as well as English. She is a past president of the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association and she is a member of the Minnesota and Michigan State Bar Associations, and the National Hispanic Bar Association. She has been listed in Super Lawyers® since 2007, and has been on the Top 100 Women Super Lawyers list in 2007 and 2009. She is also a five-year veteran of the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, serving on active duty with the 82nd Airborne Division.
- Patricia Siebert
Patricia Siebert has worked for MMLA for 25 years. Several of those years were spent doing Medical Assistance and income maintenance for the Minneapolis Legal Aid Society, but most of her tenure has been with the Minnesota Disability Law Center, where she specializes in representing adults and children with mental illness disabilities. She does a range of individual cases and policy work for MDLC.
- Gwen Updegraff
- Heather Rastorfer Vlieger
Heather Rastorfer Vlieger, a 1999 graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, joined LRAP MN as Executive Director in 2003. Ms. Vlieger has extensive experience in nonprofit management and fundraising, having previously worked at the Minnesota Justice Foundation. In her time with LRAP, Ms. Vlieger has worked with more than 150 LRAP recipients, and has advised several states on creating statewide loan repayment assistance programs.
- Dyan Williams
- Julie Zimmer
Julie Zimmer is the Managing Partner of Zimmer Law Group, LLC which exclusively practices in immigration law. She is a 1993 graduate of Hamline Law School where she currently teaches Immigration Law as an adjunct professor. Ms. Zimmer is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the recipient of the 2003 Advocate for Justice Award from Centro Legal. Ms. Zimmer is active in her community. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. She previously has sat on the Boards of Casa de Esperanza, Centro Legal, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Abbott Northwestern's Healthier Communities Task Force. Ms. Zimmer is admitted to practice in the 8th and 3rd Circuit Courts of Appeal and is a frequent national and state speaker on immigration law topics.
