Dorothy Alther was made the Executive Director of CILS in July 2013. Ms. Alther is the recipient of the national 2010 Pierce Hickerson Award which is granted to distinguished Indian legal services attorneys. She also received the “Outstanding Achievement in California Indian Law” award from the California Indian Lawyers Association in 2014. Dorothy has been an attorney with CILS since 1989 and has practiced Indian law since1985. Ms. Alther was in the Bishop CILS Office until she relocated to the Escondido Office in 2003. In addition to her executive and administrative duties, Ms. Alther maintains an active caseload serving as legal counsel for several Tribes and tribal entities. Her current work focuses on impact litigation on matters of federal Indian law as well as working directly with tribes on building tribal governmental infrastructure. Ms. Alther has assisted tribes with tribal court and law enforcement development, working with tribes on establishing or revising tribal governing documents and building tribal program law. Ms. Alther is also active in ensuring CILS is involved in state and federal issues impacting Tribes and tribal communities. This includes providing comments on behalf of the tribal client to pending state and federal rules or legislation, partnering with others and tribal coalitions to advance legislation or regulation to protect and enhance tribal governments and providing community information and awareness on critical issues impacting California tribes. Ms. Alther has been a trainer on Public Law 280, the Indian Child Welfare Act, Housing law,  Tribal Law Enforcement, Building Tribal Courts, Tribal Law and Order Act, the Violence Against Women Act, and Cultural Resource Protection. Dorothy is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and graduated from the University of South Dakota and earned her J.D. from Northeastern University. Ms. Alther served as Managing Attorney at DNA’s People’s Legal Services in Crownpoint, New Mexico before coming to CILS and has acted as Tribal Attorney for the Suquamish Tribe in Washington.

Debra Avenmarg joins CILS as a Staff Attorney in the Eureka office. She received her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law in 2010 and received a B.S. in Business and B.A. in Economics from Humboldt State University in 2005. Debra joins CILS with years of Child Welfare experience from many different roles and perspectives. In 2005, she volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for three foster youth, which inspired her to go to law school and practice Child Welfare Law. Debra has experience supervising visitation and transporting youth while working for a Foster Family Agency (FFA). She has also been a foster parent. She has advocated in the County role, and she has also represented parents, guardians, children, and Non-minor dependents in Child Welfare proceedings. Debra has worked in Lassen County, Marin County, and Humboldt County.  Debra is excited to now have the opportunity to represent tribes.

Denise Bareilles is the Directing Attorney at the Eureka office. Denise was born and raised in the U.S. Territory of Guam and moved to the states to attend law school at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon. She graduated with a J.D. in 2004. Most of her legal career has been spent in Northern California where she currently resides with her husband and two young children. In her earlier years, she practiced in the areas of general civil litigation, insurance defense, probate, and estate planning. She worked for the Yurok Tribal Court from 2011 to 2017 and gained substantial experience in the areas of tribal court development, intergovernmental negotiations with county and state agencies, development and implementation of direct federal funding to tribal social services agencies under Title IV of the Social Security Act (which included development of the first tribal Title IV-D child support program in California), tribal code development, and the American Indian Probate and Reform Act. She is barred to practice law in the courts of the State of California, the U.S. Territory of Guam, and the Yurok Reservation.

Susan Platt Dalati began her legal career in 1988 as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Honolulu, Hawaii. During some of her time there she worked in the Domestic Violence Unit, Special Prosecution Division. Ms. Dalati has civil and family law experience. She has worked as a Court Liaison Officer for a police department and she has teaching experience. From 2002–2015, she worked at a local social service agency that assists victims/survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. She provided direct legal services, managed a center in north county San Diego for more than three years, and supervised and mentored many advocates, attorneys, interns, support staff, and volunteers. Ms. Dalati has provided trainings on domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking to many agencies and organizations. She helped to develop the High-Risk Team meetings for the north county region of San Diego. These meetings are attended by many local agencies and community partners to rapidly help and assist victims/survivors who are deemed to be at high risk of lethality. She currently co-chairs the North County Domestic Violence Coalition.

Michael Godbe returned to CILS’ Bishop office in 2019 after clerking at the office five years earlier during law school. He currently serves as the Bishop Office’s Directing Attorney, overseeing the Eastern Sierra Legal Assistance Program, the Inyo-Mono Senior Legal Program, and all the Office’s Homelessness Prevention / Eviction Defense work – in addition to the Office’s core federal Indian law work. Prior to joining CILS, he practiced law in Wisconsin, protecting employees from discrimination and wrongful termination, and representing consumers experiencing abusive debt collection and false advertising. He received his J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and his B.A. in History from Vassar College. Attorney Godbe is a member of the National Lawyers Guild, the oldest progressive bar association and the first to integrate its ranks. In 2021, Mike joined the boards of the Eastern Sierra Continuum of Care (https://www.easternsierracoc.org/) and the Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC) (https://www.laaconline.org/). When not working, he enjoys hiking, gardening, spending time with his wife, dog, and two large cats, turning wooden bowls on his lathe, and making laser-cut wooden jewelry.

Michelle Krieger joins CILS as a staff attorney in the Eureka Office. She first moved to Humboldt County to attend Humboldt State and fell in love with the area. She graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland in 2000 and 2004 moved back to Humboldt County and took a job as a law clerk with the Hoopa Valley Tribal Court. Michelle worked with tribal courts for more than 18 years and was appointed an associate judge with the Hoopa Court in 2010, then a pro tem judge for the Karuk Tribe in 2011. Her experience as a tribal court judge, which includes hearing cases for the Yurok and Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation Tribal Courts, focused her on the needs of the people who use the courts. The heavy toll of domestic violence on tribal families became all too clear over the years of working in Tribal Courts. This led Michelle to shift her focus to victim services work beginning in 2020. Prior to working with tribal courts, Michelle gained experience in consumer law and criminal law. She loves the Humboldt area and enjoys spending time with her first grandchild.

Kia Murdoch joined CILS as a Staff Attorney in 2021. Kia graduated from Willamette University College of Law in 2017 and earned her B.A. degree from the University of Wyoming in 2014. During law school, she clerked with the Oregon Department of Justice in the Child Dependency Section. She also worked for SOAR Immigration Legal Services, a legal aid organization in Portland, Oregon. Kia moved to California in 2017 and worked at a corporate immigration firm prior to passing the California Bar. Kia is an active volunteer in environmental advocacy, particularly regarding the preservation of California’s forests.

Farhad Omidwar is a Staff Attorney at CILS. He is experienced in Real Estate, Tax law, and Estate Planning matters and interpreting and negotiating contracts. He graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Political Science, and received his J.D. from UC Davis School of Law. While in law school, he was a member of the Negotiations team and excelled in the school’s competitions. Before law school, as the director of the National Employment Council, he negotiated and organized one of the largest career fairs in California, the “10,000 best jobs expo”, bringing 10,000 jobs and 5000 job seekers to the Angel Stadium. He has an interest in advocating policy on behalf of the CILS and its clients. Farhad holds a fifth-degree black belt in the Chinese art of Shaolin Kempo, enjoys playing chess, ping pong, and soccer with his two daughters. He currently lives with his family in Northern California.

Jay Petersen is a career legal services Attorney who started practice on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota where he worked as Reginald Heber Smith Community Law Fellow. Over his 20 year career with CILS, he has worked in the Bishop and Oakland offices. In Oakland, he worked as Directing Attorney. His caseloads have covered a wide range of issues that include non-profit representation, Native religious practices, legislative political restoration, un-termination litigation, access to trust land issues, habeas corpus, federal recognition, ICWA, and public benefits. He is active in the volunteer community and has worked on non-profit housing, domestic violence prevention, and recovery program boards. Jay recently earned a master’s degree in political science.

Sheila Quinlan joined CILS in 2021. She clerked for CILS’s Oakland office in 2003 as a law student and sat on the CILS Board of Directors from 2013-2019. In 2003, she graduated with a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law. In 1996, she earned her BA from UC Berkeley in Anthropology and Women’s Studies. Sheila worked for five years as a public defender in Riverside County, handling various cases and representing clients at dozens of jury trials. She spent nine years as an appellate attorney, representing state-appointed criminal defendants in the state courts. She enjoys getting outside to hike, camp, and backpack with her family in her spare time.

Terrie L. Robinson is the CEO of JTPM, LLC, a consulting and investment firm. Ms. Robinson, a fifth-generation Californian, is an attorney who has been licensed to practice in California for thirty years and has recently retired from service with the State of California. During her sixteen years with the State of California, she served as the Legal Ethics and Accountability Attorney for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System; General Counsel for the California Native American Heritage Commission; Senior Board Counsel to the Chair of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board; and staff counsel to the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community College System and the California Earthquake Authority. Ms. Robinson holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Stanford University; a Master’s in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, where she served on the Harvard Law Review. Ms. Robinson resides in Lincoln and enjoys reading, cooking, gardening, writing, and hanging out with her family and friends.

Mark Vezzola joined California Indian Legal Services as a Staff Attorney in 2009. Originally from Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Mark graduated from UMass-Amherst in 2000 and moved to California in 2001 to study Indian law at UCLA where he earned his J.D. and M.A. in American Indian Studies. While in law school, Mark clerked for the Hopi Appellate Court in Keams Canyon, Arizona, the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C., and CILS during the summer of 2004. Upon passing the California bar exam, Mark worked as a litigator with Callahan, McCune & Willis, APLC, in downtown San Diego before returning to CILS. Aside from practicing law, Mark is an adjunct professor of history at San Diego Mesa College and American Indian Studies at Palomar College in San Marcos. He has published several articles and book chapters on the constitutional rights of incarcerated Native Americans to practice their religion as well as the issue of same-sex marriage in Native communities. Mark has served on the Board of Directors of the California Indian Law Association and the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program.