Women Lawyers of Alameda County

Officers:

President: Toni Mims-Cochran

Toni Mims-Cochran is in private practice representing parents and children in juvenile dependency trials and appeals, children in family law proceedings, tenants in landlord and tenant litigation, and homeowners in foreclosure defense and wrongful foreclosure actions. Ms. Mims-Cochran is a member of California Women Lawyers, Charles Houston Bar Association, and serves on the board of the Alameda County Bar Association.

Vice President: Tara M. Flanagan

Tara M. Flanagan has a private practice in Alameda County focusing on family law and domestic violence law.

Prior to her work in civil family law and domestic violence, Tara’s legal practice included representing business entities in business and employment law disputes and as a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County. She frequently serves in the legal and medical community as a guest speaker on issues related to LGBT domestic violence, family violence and hate crime violence and legal remedies available to survivors of violence.

In addition to serving on the WLAC Board, Tara currently serves as the WLAC’s affiliate Board Member to California Women Lawyers, and on the Board of Directors for Community United Against Violence (“CUAV”), a San Francisco agency that responds to and advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered domestic violence survivors. She also serves as a member of the Community Grants Panel for the Horizons Foundation in San Francisco and previously served on the California State Bar’s Committee on Sexual Orientation Discrimination. She currently serves as a Judge Pro Tem in Alameda County.

In her spare time, Tara enjoys cycling, following the Tour de France each summer, and her welsh corgi dog.

Secretary: Joy Ricardo-Clay

Joy Ricardo-Clay is Managing Attorney for East Bay Children’s Law Office, a non-profit law firm that represents children and youth in the Alameda County fostercare sysem. She has advocated for the legal rights of children for the past 10 years. Joy holds a BA in Political Economics from UC Berkeley and a Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law. Joy has a love for working with kids and is committed to developing better outcomes for their future. She enjoys a reading mystery novels, spending time with her family, and a really good and hearty laugh!

Treasurer: Mala Sahai

Mala Sahai is an intellectual property and business transactions attorney. Her experience is a product of working for a major international law firm and a pair of Bay Area intellectual property boutiques, and covers a full array of services for both domestic and international companies in a wide range of industries. The recipient of a merit scholarship, she is a graduate of a top 25 law school and is also a registered patent attorney. Mala created and oversees the WLAC mentorship program for first year law students. Away from the office she enjoys alpine skiing, yoga, pottery, and watching soccer.

Judicial Liason: The Hon. Stuart Hing

Judge Stuart Hing was appointed to the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, in July 2008 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before his appointment, he was a deputy district attorney in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office for 23 years. He and his wife, Rhoda Hing, are active in the Community and Education Foundation of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association, Asian American Bar Association, Women Lawyers of Alameda County in which he was the only male board member, Charles Houston Bar Association, St. Vincent de Paul, San Damiano, Centro Legal de la Raza, Alameda County Bar Association, and his own outreach program. He also played lead guitar in a band that opened for Earth, Wind & Fire.

Board Members:

Gail Mitchell

Gail E. Mitchell is a Family Law practitioner in Berkeley with over 25 years experience. She is a Cal Berkeley and Hastings graduate who has served as an arbitrator and mediator, as a small claims judge pro tem, and as a Marin County part-time commissioner hearing, among other matters, the Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) calendar. She currently is the Chair of the Alameda County Bar Association’s Family Law Executive Board as well as the Secretary for WLAC.

Maretta D. Ward

Maretta D. Ward is a Deputy Attorney General with the California State Department of Justice, Attorney General’s Office. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Ms. Ward was in private practice in the San Francisco office of the law firm of Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney where she was a civil defense attorney emphasizing professional malpractice defense and commercial business litigation.

Ms. Ward obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and received her law degree from Santa Clara University.

In addition to her law practice, Ms. Ward teaches Evidence and Civil Procedure at St. Mary’s College, John F. Kennedy and Lincoln Law School.She serves on the Board of Directors for the University of California at Berkeley, Big C Society. Ms. Ward is a member of the Leadership Council for Covenant House in Oakland, California where her duties include fund development for the children’s organization and community strategy for the homeless. She is President and CEO of The W Group, a business consulting organization founded in 2000. She is also member of Encore and Symphonics. Ms. Ward has been recognized by several White House administrations for her professional dedication and community service.She enjoys all competitive sports, particularly college basketball (March Madness), pro and college football, golfing, skiing and race car driving. She speaks Spanish, some French and basic Arabic. In her spare time she likes to read, travel and play bridge.

LaJoyce L. Porter

LaJoyce L. Porter is a sole practitioner in Oakland, CA. Her practice areas consists of workers' compensation, civil litigation and all aspects of education law, including but not limited to suspension, expulsions, 504 and ADA issues, bullying and private school litigation. She previously represented insurers, third party administrators and self-insured employers in workers' compensation cases throughout the Bay Area. She now represents parents of children with learning disabilities and sues school districts to obtain a Free Appropriate Public Education for special needs children. She also represents parents in all types of school litigation.

Ms. Porter is also a member of the Black Women Lawyers of Northern California and the Charles Houston Bar Association.

Ms. Porter graduated from University of San Francisco with a B.A. in Communications in 1992. She obtained her Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law in Washington, DC. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her two daughters and her dog, Blue.

Anne Tamiko Omura

Anne Tamiko Omura graduated from Boalt Law School, UC Berkeley, in 1996. Immediately after graduating and taking the bar exam, she joined the Campaign to Defeat Prop 209, the anti-affirmative action initiative. When the campaign ended in November of 1996, she was hired as the Managing Attorney of the Eviction Defense Center, a nonprofit law corporation in Oakland that defends low-income tenants facing eviction and homelessness. Ms. Omura has been the Executive Director of the Eviction Defense Center for the past 10 years. The Eviction Defense Center serves over 1,200 clients a year, with a focus on homelessness prevention for families with young children, elderly tenants, and catastrophically ill/disabled tenants.

For the past year and a half, Ms. Omura has also served as the Pro Bono court appointed trustee for the California Hotel, a low-income housing project for elderly and disabled tenants who were formerly homeless. Ms. Omura has also served on: The Housing Rights, Inc. Board of Directors; Causa Justa/Just Cause Oakland Board of Directors; The Alameda County Bar Association Judicial Appointments Evaluation Committee; Ignacio de la Fuente’s Decent Housing Task Force; The Bridging the Racial Divide Oakland Committee; the Berkeley Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens’ League [JACL] Board of Directors and Vice President of Civil Rights; and as the Civil Rights Chair of the Northern District Chapter of the JACL. Ms. Omura is passionate about serving the low-income community, promoting diversity and equality in the legal profession, fighting to legalize gay marriage, her awesome and incredibly supportive husband, her amazing and spirited 5 year old daughter and her newborn twins.

Kevin Ikuma

Kevin Ikuma is currently a criminal defense attorney working in private practice for Traback, Dubois, and Ikuma in Pleasanton, California. From 1996 to 2006, Kevin was a criminal prosecutor for the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. In addition to serving as a board member for Women Lawyers of Alameda County, he also serves as a board member for the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA). His other professional memberships include the Alameda County Bar Association and the Asian American Bar Association. Kevin earned his J.D. from King Hall School of Law at UC Davis in 1996.

Odilla Sidime

Odilla Sidime is an attorney with the East Bay Children’s Law Offices where she represents minors in juvenile dependency litigation. Her career reflects a commitment to alternative dispute resolution, youth issues and education as exhibited through her work as a litigator, educator, mediator and consultant. She has worked with and on behalf of diverse groups of youth of all ages, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. She has over twelve years of legal practice experience in the areas of mass civil litigation, family law and dependency. Odilla was selected for the prestigious post-graduate CORO Fellowship in public affairs that involved completing field assignments, organizational evaluations and program implementation throughout the public and private sector; in addition to research, strategic planning and writings regarding San Francisco’s Living Wage Ordinance.

Veronica Campos

Veronica Campos is a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County. She holds a BA in Psychology from UC San Diego and Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law. Veronica is a member of California Women Lawyers and East Bay La Raza Lawyer's Association. She also serves as a mentor through the Youth Law Academy at Centro Legal de la Raza.

Ilse Scott

Ilse C. Scott is a litigation attorney with Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley LLP, located in downtown Oakland. Her practice focuses on all aspects of commercial litigation, and particularly complex business litigation and trial practice, including real property disputes, environmental litigation, business torts, and contract disputes. Ilse is also experienced in prosecuting and defending intellectual property complaints involving trade secrets, copyrights, and patent infringement, including representation before the International Trade Commission.

Ilse received her J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.