Southeast Louisiana Legal Services is expanding coverage to 12 parishes formerly served by Capital Area Legal Services Corporation (CALSC).  The expansion includes new SLLS offices in Baton Rouge, Houma and Donaldsonville. The Baton Rouge and Houma offices are now open for emergency matters, and SLLS plans to open the Donaldsonville office by January 2012. All offices should be fully staffed by January 2012 to handle SLLS’ full range of civil issues. Look here for a list of all parishes in SLLS’ expanded service area. Look  here  to find out more about what kind of help SLLS offers.

Baton Rouge Office

Sarah Campbell is the new directing attorney of SLLS’ Baton Rouge and Donaldsonville offices.  Sarah moves into this new role from her former position as managing attorney of SLLS’ Covington office. Her 33 years of legal services experience also include work as an executive director, litigation director, and staff attorney. Sarah is a 1976 graduate of the Paul M. Hebert School of Law at Louisiana State University.

Talya Bergeron is the managing attorney of the Family Law Unit of SLLS’ new Baton Rouge office.  A 1999 graduate of Southern University Law Center, Tayla has seven years of experience as an attorney with SLLS, plus three years of experience in private practice.  Talya is the president of the board of directors of the Southeast Spouse Abuse Board and a member of the Access to Justice Committee of the Louisiana State Bar Association.

Laura “Cappie” Slocum is an SLLS CINC staff attorney.  A 2002 law graduate of Southern University Law Center, Laura also holds an undergraduate degree in accounting from Southeastern Louisiana University. She has been a Capital Area CINC attorney for more than 1 year.  Laura’s experience as a lawyer includes work as a CINC attorney with CALSC, several years as a prosecutor West Baton Rouge Parish and private practice with Sharp Dooley LLC in Baton Rouge.

Trava Johnson will join the support staff of SLLS’ new Baton Rouge office. Trava has volunteered as a legal assistant with SLLS’ Hammond office since January 2011. She has experience as a bank teller and as an administrative coordinator for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Raveen Hills will join SLLS in September as a staff attorney in the Baton Rouge office. She received her law degree from Southern University Law Center in 2009. She has worked as a Child in Need of Care (CINC) attorney with Acadiana Legal Service Corporation, and as a law clerk with Louisiana’s 16^th Judicial District.

Pamela Moran will join SLLS as the managing attorney for the general law unit in the Baton Rouge office. Pam received her law degree from Southern University Law Center, and her 27-year career includes service as a Deputy Attorney General, a Public Defender, an Assistant District Attorney, staff attorney for the Louisiana Department of Social Services, as director of the Institute for Legal Studies and various positions in the private sector.

Covington Office

Roxanne Newman is the new managing attorney of SLLS’ Covington office.   An SLLS attorney for 12 years, her experience includes work with SLLS’ Covington, New Orleans and Marrero offices, as well as service as managing attorney of SLLS’ New Orleans Family Justice Project. Roxanne, who received her law degree from Tulane University Law School in 1993, has also served as an Orleans Parish public defender and as an assistant city attorney for the City of New Orleans.

Paula Charles is a new staff attorney with SLLS’ Covington office.  A past president of the Slidell Bar Association, her years of experience include work in private practice, as a public defender in Covington, as a judicial administrator for the Slidell City Court, as a consultant to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, as a judge pro tempore for Slidell City Court, and as law instructor. Paula received her law degree in 1994 from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and her undergraduate degree in business administration from Southeastern Louisiana University. She also holds a training certificate in mediation skills.   

Linda Stadler joins SLLS as a part-time CINC staff attorney dedicated to Slidell cases.  In addition to a decade of experience with CINC cases, Linda’s 16 years of experience include private practice and service as a judicial clerk. Certified in special education, Linda taught troubled adolescents in a residential school. She is a 1994 graduate of Tulane Law School.

Elisabeth Carriere, a former law clerk in SLLS’ Covington office, now joins SLLS as a staff attorney there.   She was the Family Outreach Services manager for Habitat for Humanity, and she researched blighted property and New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) issues as for the Southeast Land Title Agency.  Elisabeth Carriere received her law degree in 2010 Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where she participated in the family law clinic.

Houma Office

Salyria Gumms is the managing attorney of SLLS’ new Houma office.  Salyria received her law degree from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University. Her 28 years of legal services experience include work as executive director, deputy director, managing attorney and staff attorney with Capital Area Legal Services (CALSC).

Donna Cobb joins the attorneys in SLLS’ Child in Need of Care (CINC) program. She brings more than 30 years of experience in the law, including work as a CINC attorney with CALSC’s Houma office, 15 years as an attorney for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, and 15 years in private practice. Donna is a 1979 graduate of the University of Miami School of Law School.

Carla Brown-Manning is an attorney with SLLS’ CINC program. A 2002 graduate of Southern University Law Center, Carla has experience as a CINC attorney with CALSC. She has also represented parents in CINC cases as an Orleans Public Defender and spent six years in private practice. Before becoming a lawyer she served as a program director and assistant program director of a company that operated group homes for disabled people.

Susie Price joins the support staff of SLLS’ new Houma office. She has 10 years of experience as Intake Specialist for CALSC.

Dana Moore joins the support staff of SLLS’ new Houma office. Dana has experience as the administrative assistant of CALSC’s Houma office.  She is also a former case worker for the Terrebonne District Attorney’s Office and she has private sector experience as an administrative assistant.

Kassie Hargis joins SLLS as a staff attorney in its new Houma office.  Currently president of the Terrebonne Parish Bar Association, Kassie also served as president of the Terrebonne Parish Young Lawyers Association. Kassie clerked for Judge John Walker of the 32nd Judicial District Court (Terrebonne Parish), and she has experience in private practice. Kassie Hargis received her law degree in 2006 from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

New and Continuing Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellows:

Maggie Zambolla joins SLLS’ New Orleans office as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow for the 2011-2012 term. She will work as a pro se coordinator. Maggie received her law degree in 2010 from the CUNY School of Law, where she was a Haywood Burns Fellow in Civil and Human Rights and was a founding member of the Race and Privilege Working Group at CUNY School of Law. Maggie received her undergraduate degree from Hampshire College.  Her past experience includes work with the Main Street Legal Services and the Resilience Advocacy Project to develop workshops, manuals and educational materials for low-income youth. 

Robert Owens joins SLLS’ Baton Rouge office as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow for the 2011-2012 term. He will work as a consumer advocate. Robert received his law degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where he was vice president of the Public Interest Law Group. Robert clerked for two summers with SLLS, working with the consumer law unit and the foreclosure prevention project. He has been a special education teacher in St. John the Baptist Parish under the Teach for America program, he has managed 30 foreign exchange coordinators spread among several states for the EF Foundation for Foreign Study, and was the external relations coordinator for Habitat for Humanity.

Patricia Guzman and Margaret Kuklewicz will continue as  Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellows for the 2011-2012 term, focusing on housing and public benefits advocacy.