Lauren Brady
Skadden Fellow
B.A., Princeton University; J.D, Stanford Law School
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Lauren joined LSC in September of 2006, and was previously a legal intern in the summer of 2005. She was awarded a Skadden Fellowship to implement a project to address the educational needs of foster youth in the Bay Area through individual representation, outreach and policy advocacy. Lauren has previously worked on education related issues through the Youth & Education Law Project at Stanford Law School, was an advocate and mentor for at-risk and incarcerated youth in the delinquency system, and is a life-long Boston Red Sox fan.

Shella Brenner
Development Director
B.A., State University of New York at Stoney Brook; M.A., City University of New York, Queens College
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Shella joined LSC in October 2007 and oversees resource development from individuals, foundations and the corporate sector and manages communications and marketing efforts. Shella has worked in the non-profit sector in both New York and San Francisco for twenty years. Most recently she has served as the Director of Development for Legal Community Against Violence and, prior to that, for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Shella is a self-acknowledged homebody, classic movie buff, and crazy cat-lady who occasionally leaves her home for biking (flat routes only), traveling, and watching pro-beach volleyball.

Reyna Burgos
DICP Coordinator
B.A., San Francisco State University
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Reyna joined LSC in September 2005. She manages the Detained Immigrant Children's Project. Her main focus is providing direct support for detained Spanish-speaking immigrant youth. Reyna's professional background includes working as a certified mediator, certified domestic violence counselor, and a suicide hotline counselor. As a mediator and counselor, she assisted adults and youth who faced substance abuse, domestic violence, and HIV/AIDS-related issues. Outside of work, she loves spending time with her four-legged child KittyCat, her nephews Giovanne and Issa, and her niece Genevieve.

Andrea Del-Pan
Senior Staff Attorney
B.A., Saint Mary's College of California; J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law
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Prior to joining LSC in July, 2007 Andrea managed the Tacoma office of TeamChild, a legal services agency in Washington State. At TeamChild, Andrea represented at risk and incarcerated youth on their civil legal matters, including school discipline, enrollment and special education issues. She also provided training and outreach to the legal, social service, and parent community on basic education rights of students. Earlier in her career, Andrea represented youth in dependency and delinquency proceedings, and monolingual Spanish speaking parents in custody cases at the Family and Children's Law Center in Marin County. Andrea is also a former NAPIL fellow. Andrea continues to advocate on behalf of children at LSC, representing youth in immigration, legal guardianship and juvenile dependency matters. She is fluent in Spanish. In her free time, Andrea enjoys the outdoors with her partner, Jaime, scuba diving in warm waters, and adding to her Nancy Drew book collection.

Lisette Gonzalez
Staff Attorney
B.A., Pomona College; J.D., University of California, Berkeley
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Lisette joined LSC in 2007. As a staff attorney she represents youth in dependency, probate guardianships, education and immigration matters. Before coming to LSC, Lisette worked as a legal intern with the Family Law Facilitator’s office in San Mateo County. In the past, she has helped represent immigrant day laborers in wage claim cases and was also an advocate for low-income families in landlord/tenant law cases. Before entering her legal career, Lisette taught fifth grade in Gilroy, California. She is fluent in Spanish and likes to spend her free time cooking, reading, running or hiking when it’s nice and pretty outside.

Ron Gutierrez
Clinical Director
B.A., Wesleyan University; M.S.W., Columbia University
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Ron has been practicing social work at LSC since 1996. He received his license as a clinical social worker (LCSW) in 1999. From 1992 to 1994, he served as a foster care caseworker with Episcopal Social Services in New York City. At LSC, Ron supervises the social work staff and interns, as well as the overall coordination of clinical services. Outside of work, Ron is a competitive and accomplished road and mountain bike racer, continuing his on-going training each day during his commute. Ron and his wife, Cherie, are proud parents of their beautiful daughter, Rose. He is fluent in Spanish.

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Helen Jiang
Office Manager
B.A., San Francisco State University
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Helen manages and provides administrative support for the office. In addition, Helen often provides translation support for numerous immigration and other cases. Helen enjoys cooking, knitting and traveling in her spare time, and recently celebrated the birth of her son, Derrick. She is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Vandnez Lam, MSW
Social Worker
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles; M.S.W., San Jose State University
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Considered cool, hip, and fun; never shy and always fearless, Van enjoys the experience of working with teenagers. She provides direct social work services and outreach to young women and girls in the San Francisco Bay Area through LSC's Young Women's Empowerment Project. Van also provides crisis intervention, case management, advocacy, short-term counseling, sex education, and referrals to at-risk youth. She and fellow social worker Bernard Voon (partners-in-crime) cause drama within the office with their interior decorating, feng shui consulting, and party planning. In her free time, Van volunteers with Princess Project, and Doggone Fun Run. Van also loves to do retail therapy and travel. She is fluent in Cantonese.

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Erin O'Donohue
Senior Staff Attorney; Director, Young Women's Empowerment Project; Director, Guardianship Project
B.S., Northwestern University; J.D. Yale Law School
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Erin is a Senior Staff Attorney at LSC, where she represents youth in dependency, guardianship, education, immigration, and restraining order proceedings. Erin specializes in advocacy for adolescent girls involved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. She is the Founding Attorney and Director of LSC's Young Women's Empowerment Project, and also serves as the Director of our Guardianship Project. Erin has spent the last fourteen years working for non-profit organizations that serve low-income youth, women, and families. Outside of work, Erin can often be found hiking, traveling, and cooking elaborate meals for her friends.

Eliza Patten
Staff Attorney
B.A., Stanford University; J.D. New York Univeristy School of Law
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Eliza joined LSC in July 2007 after a two and a half year hiatus from legal practice during which time she had two children and spent some time teaching Legal Writing at Stanford Law School and UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. After graduating from law school, Eliza worked from 2001-2005, first as a Skadden Fellow and then as a staff attorney, at Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI), in Wilmington, Delaware. At CLASI, an unrestricted legal services agency, Eliza implemented a fellowship project that focused on improving the delivery of child welfare services to children in foster care through representation of parents in dependency proceedings, community education and outreach to clients and service providers, and public policy work at the state level. At LSC, Eliza continues to focus on dependency practice and is enjoying the new experience of representing youth. When not at work, Eliza enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, Sophie and Cyrus.

Carolyn Reyes
Staff Attorney
B.A., Wheaton College, M.A., Pacific School of Religion, M.S.W., San Francisco State University, J.D., UC Hastings College of the Law
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Carolyn joined LSC in January 2005 as a Staff Attorney, and was previously a legal intern in 2003-2004. In addition to representing children and youth in immigration, dependency and school discipline matters, Carolyn coordinates the Model Standards Project, leading workshops and assisting counties in implementing model professional standards for the care of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in out-of-home care. In addition, Carolyn helps to coordinate the Equity Project, a collaborative initiative with the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the National Juvenile Defender Center focused on ensuring fairness and respect for LGBT youth in delinquency courts. Over the past 16 years, she has worked with children, youth and families in several capacities—as social worker, child welfare worker, child and family therapist, school counselor and lawyer. Carolyn lives in Oakland with her partner and two Labs, Zendo and Tenzo. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, backpacking and Afro-Haitian dance. She also really likes the color green.

Emily Rodda
Youth Outreach Coordinator
B.A., Davidson College
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Emily lives out her commitment to social justice by working at LSC as a Jesuit Volunteer. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps offers women and men an opportunity to work full-time for justice and peace. Emily will be staffing the Intake line, running the weekly clinic and providing general assistance for the lawyers throughout the year. Before skipping over to the west coast, Emily lived in Memphis, TN where she cheered for the Tigers, ate copious amounts of BBQ, and played recreational basketball every Saturday afternoon. Emily attended Davidson College in North Carolina. She graduated with High Honors in Spanish, a minor in Chemistry, and a new love for sweet tea. Emily is proficient in Spanish.

Rumeli Snyder
Social Worker
B.A., Hampshire College; M.S.W., San Francisco State University
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Prior to joining the LSC staff in 2006, Rumeli was a clinical case manager at two of La Clinica de la Raza's high school-based health centers in Oakland. She has extensive experience providing short-term counseling, therapy, crisis intervention, psycho-education and case management to a diverse group of teens and their families. Rumeli is working towards her License in Clinical Social Work, and hopes to be licensed in early 2008. She is particularly interested in the issues facing Latino immigrant youth and she is fluent in Spanish. She is a native of Oakland and spends as much time as possible with her two nephews, Selim and Naveed. She likes rock ‘n roll and most other music; hanging with her friends, family, and her cat Budokan; making crafts; playing guitar; traveling; and good food.

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Kirsten Strobel
Development Associate/Pro Bono Coordinator
B.S., University of Maryland
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As development associate, Kirsten assists the Development Director with individual, corporate and foundation fundraising at LSC and assists with its communications and marketing efforts. Additionally, she coordinates LSC's extensive pro bono panel which has a membership of over 200 Bay Area attorneys. She is also a social butterfly who would probably attend the opening of an envelope. When not busy buzzing around town, she serves on the Alumnae Board of Mercy High School in Burlingame, plays tennis and attends as many SF Giants games as possible.

Abigail Trillin
Managing Attorney
B.A., Yale University; J.D., New York University
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As Managing Attorney, Abigail oversees all attorneys and legal interns, and supervises over 2,500 intakes and multiple attorney and service provider trainings each year. Previous to joining LSC in 1996, Abigail worked at numerous charitable organizations with a focus on education, and taught at an inner-city school in Los Angeles. At LSC, Abigail continues to work with children and youth, representing them in school cases, guardianships, dependency and other juvenile law issues. Abigail is one of the nation's first Certified Child Welfare Law Specialists. She is proficient in Spanish. Every moment outside of work, Abigail and her husband enjoy their beautiful daughters, Izzy and Rebecca.

Shannan Wilber
Executive Director
B.A. Michigan State University; J.D. Santa Clara University
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Shannan Wilber has been the Executive Director at Legal Services for Children since April 2001. Prior to her current position, Shannan served as a Staff Attorney at the Youth Law Center for nine years, where she specialized in the legal rights of children in out-of-home care. She was the first Directing Attorney at Legal Advocates for Children and Youth (LACY) from 1990 -1992. Earlier in her career, she worked as an associate at Morrison & Foerster from 1988-1990, and served as a law clerk for Associate Justice Alan Broussard at the California Supreme Court from 1986-1988. In her spare time, Shannan likes to sing, garden and spend time with her children, Jake and Liam.