Staff
Please feel free to contact any staff members listed below.
Diana Dorame has been Executive Director/Supervising Attorney of Legal Aid of Napa Valley since March 1, 2006. She joined Legal Aid as Supervising Attorney in July 2005, and served as the principal staff attorney for the Baseline Legal Services Program. Diana was formerly senior attorney with the Napa County Department of Child Support where for 12 years she handled a variety of child support, establishment, modification and enforcement cases. She is the past Chair of the Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of California. Prior to moving to Napa, Diana was in private practice in Los Angeles and Orange counties, handling family law, immigration, civil litigation, personal injury and transactional matters. A graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, Diana was previously an officer and trustee of the Los Angeles Mexican Bar Association and an extern with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Diana is bilingual/bicultural. ddorame@legalaidnapa.org
Kristi Lesnewich has been Staff Attorney for Legal Aid's Senior Legal Services Program since 2003, specializing in all aspects of elder law. She practiced with Legal Assistance for Seniors in Oakland until late 2005. Kristi was a volunteer attorney and intake volunteer for Legal Aid of the North Bay, and received the 2003 Wiley W. Manuel Award for outstanding pro bono service. A graduate of the University of San Francisco Law School, Kristi received a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Laboratory Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She has extensive experience in the health care profession, including volunteer surgery support work for the International Volunteer Surgery Program in Outer Mongolia and the Philippines. klesnewich@legalaidnapa.org
Richard Coshnear joined Legal Aid as Immigration Counsel in September 2007. He provides advice on all aspects of immigration law, including naturalization, legal permanent residency, family petitions, U-visas, petitions under the Violence Against Women Act, special immigrant juvenile status, immigrant fraud protection, deportation defense, employment petitions, asylum, temporary protected status and similar matters. Richard, who speaks Spanish, provided pro bono services to Legal Aid’s Immigrant Legal Services Program since it began in 2005. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Vassar College, a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy from McGill University, and a law degree from Empire College of the Law. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Richard completed Stanford-Foothills Primary Care Associate Program and was a physician’s assistant. He is licensed to practice law in California. rcoshnear@legalaidnapa.org
Virginia Young joined Legal Aid as staff attorney in the Baseline Legal Services Program in March 2006, specializing in issues relating to family law, guardianships and domestic violence. She previously practiced law with Coombs & Dunlap in Napa and the District Attorney's Office in Marin. Virginia obtained her undergraduate degree in Legal Studies and Politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and her law degree from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. While in law school, she interned with Legal Assistance for Seniors in Oakland and the domestic violence unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. She was also co-director of the East Bay Community Law Center's HIV and Homeless Outreach Program. Virginia is currently a director of Community Resources for Children, and has also served two terms as an officer of Napa County Women Lawyers. She is a former board member of Leadership Napa Valley, as well as a graduate of class 16.
vyoung@legalaidnapa.org
Sarahid Rivera Vázquez joined Legal Aid as a Legal Advocate in April 2007. Bilingual and bicultural, Sarahid has been a certified Domestic Violence Counselor since 2004. She previously worked at NEWS (Napa Emergency Women’s Services) where she provided victim advocacy, crisis intervention services for victims of domestic violence and their children. She is experienced in court advocacy, including restraining orders, evidence processing, accompaniment, crime & incident reporting, victim counseling and safety planning with crisis walk-in emergencies, co-located agencies and through a 24- hour hotline. Sarahid co-created a youth dating violence prevention support group and was the facilitator of that group at VOICES. srivera@legalaidnapa.org
María Tapia joined Legal Aid as an Administrative Assistant in October of 2009. María completed her Bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley in May 2009 where she majored in Sociology. She previously worked at the Center for Latino Policy Research on the UC Berkeley campus. She is bilingual and bicultural and was born in Mexico and raised in the Napa Valley. While at Berkeley she volunteered at La Raza Centro Legal and Centro Legal de La Raza in the Bay Area, working with clients in employment, housing and senior law. mtapia@legalaidnapa.org
