Virtual Date With Brooke Lima Part 2 46
Eleanor Heidecker
Sam grew up in Anchorage and traveled to the East Coast to attend school; first college at Yale, and then Boston College Law School. After graduating law school, he moved back to Alaska to clerk for Judge Catherine Easter and Justice Daniel Winfree, and worked as a Public Defender in Anchorage for two years. He eventually transitioned to private practice at Cashion Gilmore & Lindemuth where he focuses on complex commercial litigation, with particular expertise in appeals, state constitutional law, and election law. Sam started volunteering with ANDVSA after former Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth asked him if he would like to help out with a pro bono case.
Prior to practicing law, Sam interned for the Alaska Department of Law, externed with Judge Timothy M. Burgess of the U.S. District Court in Anchorage, and served as a legislative aide in Juneau for two legislative sessions. Sam also danced throughout his college and law school career, and is a lover of board games.
Will is originally from Anchorage but attended school out of state, first undergrad at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, and then law school at the University of Minnesota. He clerked for a year on the Minnesota Supreme Court before returning to Alaska in the fall of 2022 to work as an associate at Schwabe, Williamson, and Wyatt.
Jessie grew up in Wrangell Alaska, moved to the lower 48 to attend college at the University of Northern Colorado before attending law school at Puget Sound University in Tacoma, Washington. Outside of work, Jessie enjoys photography, hiking and traveling.
Connor, who grew up in Homer, was a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay for more than a decade, including while attending law school at Seattle University. His commercial fishing experience has come in handy in his legal career, as he has enjoyed helping fisheries industry clients navigate a variety of legal matters.
The pair moved up to Alaska in 2021, where they got clerkships in Fairbanks. After a year, they transitioned to living in Anchorage, where Claire now works as an Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Law, and Dylan works as an Associate Attorney at Ashburn & Mason, P.C.. Dylan, who is originally from Sitka, Alaska, knew ANDVSA Legal Program Director Christine Pate growing up, and had ANDVSA on his radar. The day after Dylan and Claire were sworn into the Alaska Bar, the Pro Bono Director of the Alaska Bar suggested they consider volunteering at ANDVSA. They are now working on their first ANDVSA pro bono case together.
Gabe grew up in Los Angeles and went to Brandeis University for college, where he got a double major in Politics and Philosophy. From there, he went to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Law school, where he focused on intellectual property and entertainment law. He worked for various entertainment companies after graduation, from agencies to production companies. While working in LA, he took a trip to Alaska to visit friends, and eventually applied for jobs in Alaska. He got a position at Baxter Bruce & Sullivan in 2014, later becoming a partner and shareholder at the firm..
Anne Marie Tavella has represented two ANDVSA clients since she started volunteering with ANDVSA in 2020. Anne Marie finds the most fulfillment from helping people who may have no one else to help them; she got her start working with survivors when she volunteered at Standing Together Against Rape (STAR) almost 20 years ago. Doing pro bono divorce and protective order cases with ANDVSA is very different from construction and government contracting law, her usual areas of practice at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Luckily, her firm has a long history of encouraging pro bono practice.
Andre grew up in Beaumont, Texas, a town on the border of Texas and Louisiana. He attended Baylor University for undergrad and received his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. He was hired by the North Star Law Group and moved to Alaska in early 2022.
Ben Farkash grew up in Florida and went to college at the University of Chicago where he studied Middle Eastern History. After graduation, he spent a decade doing a variety of things, including woodworking, cabinetry, working on an organic farm, and waiting tables. Eventually, he went to law school at the University of Oregon where he met his partner, Maggie. Ben ended up in Alaska when he got a clerkship with Judge Crosby on the Anchorage Superior Court and his partner got a job with the Native American Rights Fund (NARF).
One particularly memorable moment while volunteering with ANDVSA came when he was called by a magistrate judge and asked to participate in an ex parte protective order hearing on behalf of his client. Ben had never litigated a protective order before, and said it was a nerve wracking but exciting start to his family law work.
Leslie Need grew up in Kansas and went to Kansas State University originally planning to be a teacher. On a whim, she decided to take the LSAT and ended up going to law school at the University of Tulsa, where she focused on federal Indian Law. During one of her summers in law school, she heard about a summer program in Anchorage for law students to learn Alaska Native Law. While considering the program, she went on a first date with her now husband in which he too said that he was planning on doing the program in Anchorage. They took the class together, eventually got married, moved to Alaska together, and have been here ever since.
After she graduated from law school, Zoe moved back to Alaska to clerk for the Superior Court. She now does general civil litigation and municipal law at Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot, and says she has been lucky to work at a firm and have a mentor that encourages attorneys to be active in their community.
Kate is currently helping a client with a divorce and custody case. She worked on an ANDVSA appellate case regarding a protective order several years ago, and took her first family law ANDVSA case last year after attending the ANDVSA hosted Introduction to Family Law CLE.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Dorne was a management consultant for two different international accounting firms. She then attended law school and graduated from the University of Wisconsin with honors.
After working at ALSC for a year, Dorne worked for a decade doing private practice. She then became a member of the senior legal staff at the Alaska Court System. There, she oversaw court forms, including the development of domestic violence smart forms, and served as a healthcare advocate for employees and their dependents whose health claims were improperly denied.
Tracy now works for Farley & Graves, P.C., specializing in insurance defense, and she says the firm was incredibly supportive of her pro bono service. In 2020, Tracy took her first case with ANDVSA, a case concerning a protective order and custody. Excitingly, Tracy was able to take the case with her mom, Theresa Hillhouse, who is still working as an attorney in Alaska. Tracy says she is grateful for the training and support she received from ANDVSA.
Katy started volunteering with ANDVSA in October of 2019, when a supervising attorney at her firm, Holland & Hart LLP, asked her to assist him on an ANDVSA case. She eagerly accepted the opportunity to help and jumped into a custody matter for a survivor. ANDVSA has been so grateful for her assistance!
Sigvanna was born near Portland Oregon and attended Dartmouth College. After completing her undergraduate degree, she worked at the Kawerak, Inc. as a Wellness Coordinator. At Kawerak, she worked in the villages and on the ground and realized there was a gap between her community and the western legal system. She wanted to help bridge this gap and decided to go to law school. After graduating from the University of Oregon Law School, she decided to return to Alaska as a staff attorney for the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC).
Mary was born in Rhode Island and attended Northeastern School of Law. Prior to law school, she worked as a Vista volunteer, a national service program dedicated to ending poverty by building the capacity of nonprofit organizations and public agencies. Mary says that the jobs that she held before law school were instrumental in shaping her desire to practice public interest/criminal defense work.
After law school, Mary came to Alaska to clerk for the Alaska Court of Appeals and was eventually hired as a staff attorney for the Court of Appeals. After she left that position, she continued to focus on criminal law, as a defense attorney, working for the Office of Public Advocacy and the Public Defender Agency, before she began working as a federal public defender.
Andrea grew up in Fairbanks and attended Middlebury College and then Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey. She credits her time at Seton Hall Law School as instrumental in shaping her interest in public service and public interest law. One of the most memorable parts of her law school experience involved participating in the Impact Litigation Clinic where she worked on a lawsuit brought against the City of Newark seeking compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).
Andrea clerked with the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico and then with the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. After clerking she worked for the Department of Justice in three different judicial districts (New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska). She currently works for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of General Counsel, where she handles violations of fisheries and protected resources laws.
We are so grateful for the work and care that she has put into her cases. When asked about the most rewarding aspects of being a volunteer, Megan reflected that it comes down to being on the righteous side and seeing the strength of the survivors with whom she gets to work.
Mr. Bailey is retiring soon and intends to continue working in the domestic violence legal field. He will continue in the ABA Family Law section and writing journal articles. However, his first plan is to take an across-country train trip with his wife to visit family, heading from Seattle to Los Angeles and then heading east toward New Orleans.
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