East Palo Alto

On March 29, 2007, the East Palo Alto office held its annual Pro Bono Awards reception to recognize attorneys, paralegals, and staff who made significant contributions to the firm's pro bono efforts in 2006.

East Palo Alto Awards:

• Jim Anderson, Mary Lavigne-Butler, Bill Frimel, and Andrew Valentine were recognized as Partners of the Year. 
  • Jim assisted East Palo Alto’s Ecumenical Hunger Program (EHP) as a board member, volunteer, and pro bono legal adviser; provided real estate leasing and subleasing guidance to NCUDC; and continued to handle real estate projects for City Team Ministries, which provides shelters, recovery programs and youth outreach throughout the US.
  • Mary  provided employment-related advice to several community non-profit organizations, including Planned Parenthood, Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, NCUDC, and the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose, while also serving on the board of directors for Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, the advocacy arm of a local Planned Parenthood affiliate.
  • Bill is a member of the East Palo Alto Pro Bono Committee and provides assistance and guidance to several attorneys on pro bono matters. He was selected as a New Perimeter participant, provides assistance to The Global Fund and Catholic Charities, and serves on the board of directors of the Silicon Valley Campaign for Legal Services, a consortium of non-profit legal services providers.
  • Andrew serves on the East Palo Alto Pro Bono Committee and as Co-Chair of the Board of Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, a non-profit providing housing, immigration, lending and consumer assistance to low-income families throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Andrew provides ongoing support and mentoring to litigation attorneys in connection with pro bono matters.
    
• David Banie and Aaron Wainscoat were named Senior Associates of the Year.
  • David focused on working with victims of residential mortgage brokerage fraud in Valdez v. Downey Savings & Loan and Salas v. Hilltop Financial Mortgage, Inc. as well as serving as the firm representative to the Amicus Committee of the Silicon Valley Campaign for Legal Services.
  • Aaron served, along with David Banie, as litigation team leader in the Valdez v. Downey Savings & Loan, and Salas v. Hilltop Financial Mortgage, Inc. cases, which each involved a real estate broker’s false and misleading financial disclosures to induce low-income limited English proficient homeowners to refinance.
    
• Maggie Crawford, Rajiv Dharnidharka, and Blakely Kiefer were recognized as Junior Associates of the Year.
  • Maggie provided litigation defense to a former cult member who was sued for alleged defamation and invasion of privacy after she spoke out against her former cult leader, in Doe v. Kavanaugh and Roe v. Kavanaugh.
  • Rajiv was a member of both the Valdez and Salas teams asserting claims on behalf of predatory mortgage brokerage victims. Rajiv also served as a volunteer attorney for the Debt Relief Clinic at Sacramento Volunteer Legal Services Program.
  • Blakely dedicated time to three separate pro bono matters in 2006: the Valdez and Salas litigation teams and the CPF v. DDS class-action litigation, asserting the rights of disabled adults to community placement in lieu of institutionalization.
    
• Special Recognition was given to Henry Lesser and Eliza Bechtold.
  • In addition to serving as Pro Bono Coordinator for the East Palo Alto office, Henry  worked with the International Senior Lawyers Project to bring a bono commercial law training program in South Africa to Tanzania. He serves on the New Perimeter team for the Southern Africa Litigation Center project, as general counsel for the Global FoodBanking Network, and as the lead corporate counsel for the Northern California Urban Development Corporation (NCUDC), an organization working to create a local credit union and promote other economic development projects for East Palo Alto and other underserved communities in the Bay Area.
    
  •  Eliza Bechtold represented an elderly couple named as defendants in a frivolous lawsuit concerning a condominium complex; assisted in a predatory mortgage brokerage case involving a refinance loan; and successfully settled an unlawful detainer action in which her clients faced almost certain eviction as tenants.

Read the East Palo Alto Pro Bono Awards Program Booklet.