abebaw.asefaw@columbialegal.org

alison.bilow@columbialegal.org 

I grew up in Washington State and received my B.A. from the University of Washington in 2010 and my J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2015. I am passionate about working for social and economic change, and I am dedicated to increasing access to justice for low-income individuals and communities. As a law student, I interned and volunteered with legal services programs and clinics in the areas of public benefits, landlord/tenant issues, public housing, and employment discrimination. 

I was drawn to civil legal services work because of these experiences. I have been an attorney and elder law fellow at CLS since 2017. I focus on advocacy for seniors, access to benefits, and housing and homelessness issues. Prior to working at CLS, I worked as an attorney at the Seattle Community Law Center where I represented and provided advice to homeless and low-income clients on Social Security benefits issues.  

mark.bowers@columbialegal.org

elvia.bueno@columbialegal.org
Spanish

I was born in Zapotiltic, Jalisco, Mexico. I was 6 months old when my parents left Mexico and settled in the Yakima Valley to work as farm workers. Years later we were granted amnesty under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, and in my early 20’s I chose to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Watching my parents struggle to give our family a better life in the U.S. instilled in me a strong work ethic and a desire to make things better for my community. After high school, I decided to pursue a degree in teaching and took courses at the local community college. I quickly became discouraged by the lack of support and mentorship and decided to work full time to support myself. For most of my adult life I worked corporate jobs including retail management and banking, and obtained certification as a massage therapist. Working in those professions never provided me with a sense of purpose. In early 2013, I applied for a temporary administrative position with Columbia Legal Services. Having two sisters that worked for CLS, I understood the job responsibilities but did not have a clear grasp of the work being done. I felt the job would provide me with an opportunity to gain a few skills before moving on to something else. Immediately after starting I realized this organization was something special and something I had to be a part of. I feel privileged to work alongside some of the most amazing advocates and am inspired by the brave clients who are willing to risk everything in their pursuit of justice. 

pedro.caballero@columbialegal.org
Spanish

I’m a first-generation college student and the child of seasonal agriculture-working immigrants from Mexico. I graduated from the University of Washington with a dual Degree in Public Health and Political Science with a minor in Data Science. I’m originally from the Yakima Valley, a small town called Granger.

I have an immense passion for supporting low-income communities and families similar to mine. I’ve done years of work with non-profits across the greater Seattle area as a public health practitioner in supporting and advocating for resources. All my years of work I’ve set the foundation to come back to Yakima and support my community. I have an end goal of becoming a Public Health attorney, with a Master of Public Health to serve the Yakima Valley. As an Advocacy and Community Engagement Specialist, I can’t wait to serve Columbia Legal Services while building my passion for the law and a dedication to making a positive impact in the legal field in various forms.

amy.crewdson@columbialegal.org

I was born and grew up in eastern Washington, graduated from Washington State University (Go Cougs!), and the University of Washington Law School (Go Dawgs!).  I worked in legal services internships throughout law school. My first attorney job was with Spokane Legal Services. After a two-year tour of public defense, I came back to legal services in late 1983.

denise.diskin@columbialegal.org

was born and raised in the Bay Area, where I grew up with a love of cold, foggy afternoons and the big waves of the Pacific Ocean.  After living in St. Louis, then Baltimore, I returned to San Francisco for law school, then decided to make Washington my forever home.  I have been an attorney since 2009, and have been privileged and honored to represent many people who took their experience of discrimination and raised their voice against it.  I have litigated in state and federal courts, have argued before the Washington Supreme Court, and successfully defended my client’s victory in Woods v. Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission against a petition to the United States Supreme Court.  I approach litigation as a tool communities can use to leverage their power towards social justice, and I’m honored to be part of the Columbia Legal Services team.

merf.ehman@columbialegal.org

As executive director of Columbia Legal Services (CLS), I’m leading organization-wide efforts to prioritize advocacy that supports community-led social justice movements that transform racialized systems and eradicate racism. Organizationally, CLS and I are focused on creating an adaptive organization that prioritizes anti-racist efforts internally and externally, and learning how to use our legal skills to support and build collective power around initiatives identified by the communities most impacted. I credit the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond for training, supporting, and challenging me and CLS staff on what it means to be an anti-racist organization and for informing the personal, internal work that I need to do as a white person and leader.

More than 25 years ago, I was a client in a welfare-to-work program at a local legal aid office, and now lead a legal aid organization working to change the world for the better. My life experience has been informed by other people believing that I could be more, and do more, than the limited options that felt available. People and institutions supported me in moving beyond the challenges of poverty, mental illness, and substance abuse to an unimaginably wonderful life. I want those same organizations, people, and institutions to work toward ending racism so that all people enjoy a full life free from trauma and abuse.  Additionally, I prefer to be as pronoun free as possible.

nelson.fuentes@columbialegal.org
Spanish

antonio.ginatta@columbialegal.org
Spanish

I was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador and moved to the United States when I was seven. I’m a naturalized US citizen – though my mom was born in Boston, she lived most of her life abroad and due to US immigration laws at the time she was prohibited from passing her US citizenship to her children. I took the naturalization oath in my mid-20s. I speak Spanish, though I wish I spoke it and read it more. After Ecuador, I’ve lived mainly between Miami, Washington DC, and the Pacific Northwest. I have a masters degree in criminology and started law school with the goal of being a criminal defense attorney, but after an internship at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (now Americans for Immigrant Justice) I was drawn to civil legal work, particularly with immigrants. I’ve worked for Columbia Legal Services twice, for two governors, for Human Rights Watch, and for AMC Theaters as an usher and concessionist. I have a soft spot for the state of Georgia because I met my wife there. I believe in the mission of Columbia Legal Services: we work to dismantle the structures that perpetuate poverty and injustice.  One of those structures is the US immigration system. I believe that people who’ve lived in the US for 10 years should have their immigration status regularized (for children, 5 years). It’s not a difficult concept, and it’s worth the fight.   

ann.gong@columbialegal.org
Chinese (Mandarin)

I grew up in the Seattle area and most recently returned (for the long haul) in 2015. I received my A.B. in Politics with a certificate in Environmental Studies at Princeton University and my J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School. I went in-house at Amazon, then to a full service legal firm, before joining Columbia Legal Services in 2023. Joining CLS was the culmination of a years-long goal of using my legal skills and knowledge to advocate for systemic change in my community, and I am thrilled to be a part of this team.

tony.gonzalez@columbialegal.org
Spanish

adriana.hernandez@columbialegal.org
Spanish  

I was born in México and I came to the United States when I was only 3 years old. I was the first in my family to graduate from college when I received my Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Oregon. Go Ducks! After college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to help people. My amazing parents ingrained in me the value of helping others so it’s in my nature. I worked for the United Farm Workers for a short time and then for a personal injury law office that largely helped Spanish speakers. My family and I decided to move back to Tri-Cities to be closer to my extended family and during my job search, I was lucky enough to have stumbled across Columbia Legal Services. I began as a Legal Assistant and I am currently our Communications Manager. It’s a perfect fit for me. I get to use my design and organizational skills while working along side and helping so many amazing people! 

maureen.janega@columbialegal.org

I am a paralegal with the Institutions Project, where I’ve worked since 1985. I was inspired to a life-long support for human, civil, and workers’ rights through the example of activists in the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, labor and union activism, and the women’s rights movement, all of which were advancing while I was growing up as in the late 60s and early 70s. The knowledge of the suffering and struggles of our clients who are in institutions or reentering the community motivates me to keep working for justice. The violations of the human rights of people in institutions and the injustices faced by people reentering the community after serving their time need to be revealed and addressed by our laws, courts, and government. I feel privileged to be able to serve the community through the mission of Columbia Legal Services, and I hope to be able to achieve just outcomes for our clients in the years to come.

niyura.jasso@columbialegal.org
Spanish

annabell.joya@columbialegal.org
Spanish

I was born and raised in Wenatchee, Washington formally known as the “Apple Capital of the World.”  Growing up in a farmworker community, I was exposed to socioeconomic and racial inequities. Despite these disparities, I am proud to come from a community that is dedicated and hardworking so other communities and nations can enjoy the fruit of their labor. Anytime I take a bite of an apple or pear, I am reminded of these very people who continue to provide me and others with delicious produce. At a young age, I have been passionate and committed in achieving social equity and social justice in our local communities, and this is reflected in my academic, professional, and personal endeavors. Most recently, I received a Master’s in Public Administration from Seattle University with knowledge in both the non-profit and government sector. In 2006, I also earned a Bachelor of Arts of Law and Diversity from Western Washington University and earned a Paralegal Certificate from Highline College. I have been working for Columbia Legal Services for over a decade, and I am honored to work in an organization that strengthens local communities and builds relationships with community members through its unique vision of social and economic justice. It is my intention and desire to grow in this sector, where I am not only working to fight injustice, but where I am also educating my communities on resourceful solutions and social sustainability.  

thomas.kaplan@columbialegal.org

alecia.kleiner@columbialegal.org

bonnie.linville@columbialegal.org
Spanish

I grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. I became interested in becoming a lawyer as a way to affect social change. I attended college at the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 2007 and later attended law school at Tulane University in New Orleans, graduating in 2012. In law school I became passionate about reforming our justice system and developed a particular interest in youth advocacy. In 2014, I relocated to Yakima to advocate for the civil legal rights of youth at risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system. When living in Yakima, I have put down roots while also working to dismantle the barriers faced by immigrant and systems-involved communities. I joined CLS and the Working Families Project in 2018 because I wanted to expand my reach in advocating for justice in my community.

kurt.lundquist@columbialegal.org

martha.marquez@columbialegal.org
Spanish

I am the youngest of four children. My parents immigrated to Washington State from Zacatecas Mexico in the early 70’s. Just like many families, in search of a better life and better opportunities for their children. As a family, my siblings and I all participated in working in various jobs in agriculture ranging from picking apples, pears, cherries and even cucumbers. I knew from a very young age that I did not want to work in an environment that exposed me to harsh weather conditions, long hours and being treated unfairly.

My appreciation of the legal system began with my first legal job in a Labor & Industry law firm over 20 years ago. The aspects of helping, interacting, and getting equal results for people was satisfying. Since then, I have worked with varies law offices and in different fields of law, but my desire has always been to assist the community. Knowing that I can help and that I have made a difference in someone’s life, is very rewarding.

Working for CLS will help me expand my legal knowledge and more importantly it will give me the opportunity to do what I love, which is to help the community. Outside of work I enjoy spending my time with my children, family and my two Shih Tzus.

sarah.nagy@columbialegal.org

I’ve lived in three countries and five states, but I’m happy to call Washington my home. I entered college knowing I wanted to be involved in large-scale, systemic change, but at first I was interested in a global perspective. While studying international affairs at the University of Oklahoma, I came to understand that what I really wanted was to work against the inequalities present in my own country. I attended Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where I worked on behalf of teachers facing racial discrimination in employment, was involved in policy initiatives supporting transgender and gender-diverse students in Illinois, and helped establish a network of services for Native women in the Midwest harmed by human trafficking. In 2017 I moved to Olympia with my fiancée, where I split my time between washing dishes in a local bakery and working housing cases for low-income clients through the Housing Justice Project. In October of 2018 I became a staff attorney in CLS’ Basic Human Needs project, where I work on policy issues and litigation that affect how state and local governments support Washington’s most marginalized populations. I’m excited to be involved in work that has the potential to shift oppressive systems and empower entire communities to self-advocate and thrive.

addie.pappas@columbialegal.org

rachael.pashkowski@columbialegal.org
Spanish 

In 1998, I returned to the Wenatchee Valley after achieving a BA in English from the University of Chicago, and spending the next few years working various administrative support jobs to support myself as a set designer for a small, feminist-focus, start-up theater company. I didn’t know then that I was really looking for CLS and my life’s work in social justice. Although I came here looking for some temporary work to tide me over, I found a connection through this work to my deepest and most fundamental sense that all people are valuable, and that the social and economic systems we construct should be fair and equitable. The constant variety of tasks here, the broad array of research subjects, and the analytical nature of this job dovetail neatly with my liberal arts background, natural curiosity, and lifelong love of learning. All of these aspects of my work, plus the daily opportunity to work in and deepen my understanding of the Spanish language make this my ideal job. I’m so grateful for the first day I walked in the door here. 

malena.pinkham@columbialegal.org

bruno.ponce@columbialegal.org
Spanish

peter.roach@columbialegal.org

ivy.rosa@columbialegal.org 
Spanish 

I joined Columbia Legal Services’ Wenatchee Office as a Legal Assistant in 2005 and went on to become a Paralegal within a few short years. I had the privilege of working with one of the state’s experts in Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant law for over a decade. Now, I am very excited to hone in on my love of technology and collaborate with all staff across CLS while developing this brand-new role of Litigation Support Specialist!

noemi.sanchez@columbialegal.org
Spanish

andrea.schmitt@columbialegal.org
Spanish 

By cosmic accident, I was born and raised in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. A modicum of success at high-school debate caused my doctor dad to extract a promise from me never to become a lawyer. After getting History and Spanish degrees from the University of Montana, I moved to northern Peru, and later to northern Spain, with a plan to go to graduate school in Romance Linguistics. I was abroad for 9/11 and the first years of the war in Iraq, and I watched the world and our country’s place in it rapidly shifting.  I came back with a commitment to use the skills I have to do the most good for folks who don’t have meaningful access to the resources and opportunities implied in the “American Dream.” So I became a lawyer. My interest in working with low-wage immigrant workers was cemented when I did a Laurel Rubin Farm Worker Justice Project internship at CLS in my first summer of law school at UW. After law school, I clerked for a year for Justice Susan Owens of the Washington State Supreme Court, and then I was fortunate to be hired in the Olympia office of CLS.  I have been here since 2008, inspired by the high standards, creative advocacy, and relentlessness of my colleagues and the courage and wisdom of my farmworker clients. 

cheryl.seelhoff@columbialegal.org

I am a third generation Washingtonian, born in Tacoma.  My grandparents were all hardworking immigrants who made good lives for their families despite having attended school only through eighth grade.  I grew up during the civil rights, anti-war and women’s liberation era of the 1960s and became involved in political activism as a student at the University of Washington beginning in 1969.  In the summer of 1970, I traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, which was in turmoil because of race riots the previous year, and there I volunteered with an agency that worked to create jobs for inner city black teenagers.  I was forever changed by this experience.  As the mother and grandmother of mixed-race children and grandchildren, and as a mother-in-law to immigrants, I am dedicated to, and personally, deeply vested in, confronting the systems and structures in our society and culture which prevent my loved ones from enjoying lives free of bigotry, hatred and injustice.   I was a single mother for many years, and during that time, I worked as a court reporter, a writer and editor, and later for a large, corporate Seattle lawfirm.  Once my children were adults, I sought work suited to my passion for social justice and found it at CLS.  I have the deepest respect for all of my colleagues and have found it a revelation and great privilege to work alongside people whose first commitment is to justice and civil and human rights for all people.

emijah.smith@columbialegal.org 

anna.sullivan@columbialegal.org

I was born and raised in the greater Seattle area. I attended Gonzaga University and earned my degree in Business Administration with a Concentration in Human Resources. I have held various positions for social service non-profits and am inspired by the important work CLS is doing for our communities. I have always found myself drawn to non-profit People and Culture work and the commitment to center people first and foremost.

hannah.woerner@columbialegal.org