Pro Bono Net Staff

• Travis August taugust@probono.net
  LawHelp Program Associate
  Travis joined Pro Bono Net in January 2006 as a Program Associate. Travis earned a BFA in Graphic Design from Shepherd College in West Virginia. After graduating in 2000, he worked as a designer for several years in Boston before leaving for San Francisco to pursue a new career in progressive legal work. He was recently elected to the Executive Board of the Bay Area chapter of The National Lawyers Guild, where he is active in the Demonstrations Committee and Anti-Racism Committee.

• Jordan Bergsten (jbergsten@probono.net)
  Americorps*VISTA Member
  Jordan joined Pro Bono Net in July 2007 as an Americorps*VISTA to assist new LiveHelp access to justice initiatives. He is working in the Montana Legal Services Association office in Helena, MT. Jordan earned a B.S. degree in psychology from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO.

• Kate Bladow (kbladow@probono.net)
  NPADO Project Coordinator
  Kate joined Pro Bono Net in August 2006 and coordinates projects related to automated document assembly as the NPADO Project Coordinator. Kate earned a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science from North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. After graduating in 2002, she became an Americorps*VISTA for Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA) in Helena, Montana and worked on Montana LawHelp.org and Montana ProBono.net. After her year of service, she transitioned to MLSA's Technology Project Coordinator and her role expanded to include working on document assembly, video conferencing, and LiveHelp.

• Matthew Burnett (mburnett@probono.net)
  Immigration Advocates Network Coordinator
  Matthew joined Pro Bono Net in August 2005, originally as a Law Help Circuit Rider and now as the Coordinator of the national Immigration Advocates Network. Matthew earned his B.A. cum laude from the University of Washington and his J.D. cum laude from Seattle University School of Law. He has worked representing asylum seekers at the East Bay Sanctuary in Berkeley, California and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle, Washington. He has also worked with the Gender Research and Advocacy Project at the Legal Assistance Centre in Windhoek, Namibia, and served as law clerk to Justice Z.M. Yacoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Prior to law school he worked in online marketing and web production in Seattle and San Francisco.

• Kevin Freyne (kfreyne@probono.net)
  QA Engineer
  Kevin joined Pro Bono Net full-time in November 2007, and now serves as the QA Engineer. Prior to joining Pro Bono Net, he worked for Plural Inc and Dell Professional Services (DPS). Kevin worked on various projects, which ranged from Mortgage Partnership Financial program for a major federal financial institution to testing a proprietary intranet solution of a not-for-profit research organization dedicated to reviewing medical research. Kevin received an A.S. degree in Business Management from the Borough of Manhattan Community College in December 2007.

• Claudia Johnson (cjohnson@probono.net)
  Court Collaboration Circuit Rider
  Claudia joined Pro Bono Net in April 2008. She was most recently part of the management team at Bay Area Legal Aid in Oakland, where she implemented and managed the Legal Advice Line (LAL). LAL is a team of cross trained multilingual advocates providing real time counsel and advice in four areas of law across seven counties. Before joining Bay Legal Claudia was a supervising attorney at the Volunteer Legal Services Program in San Francisco. She supervised the pro bono panel for eviction and consumer defense cases, and intake and placement for eviction, consumer, federal and family law. Claudia started her legal services career in Philadelphia, where she was a Skadden Fellow working on managed care. She is a graduate from the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Graduate School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

• Liz Keith (lkeith@probono.net)
  LawHelp Program Manager
  Liz joined Pro Bono Net in December 2004, working first as a LawHelp Circuit Rider and now as the LawHelp Program Manager. She received a self-tailored master's degree in community informatics from the University of Michigan School of Information, where she was a consultant to community information projects for the Digital Partners Social Enterprise Laboratory and the Alliance for Community Technology in Haiti and Chile. Prior to graduate school, Liz served as Director of Communications and Development at the Maine Women's Policy Center. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

• Adam Licht (alicht@probono.net)
  Director of Product Management
  Adam joined Pro Bono Net in April 2006 as Director of Product Management. He has substantial software product management and development experience within the publishing, legal and financial service industries. Prior to joining Pro Bono Net, he held senior product management positions with RR Donnelley, CCH Legal Information Services, A Wolters Kluwer Company and Net Exchange.com. Adam earned an MBA from The University of Chicago, an MFA in Photography from The University of Arizona and a BFA from SUNY College at Purchase.

• Lisa Mackie (lmackie@probono.net)
  Sales Account Manager
  Lisa joined Pro Bono Net in the fall of 2007 as the Sales Account Manager for Pro Bono Manager. Lisa has an extensive background in sales and marketing of software solutions to the legal industry. She has worked with law firms in both the United States and Canada. Prior to working in the legal vertical Lisa's background was in both telecommunications and geographic information systems.

• Allison McDermott (amcdermott@probono.net)
  Deputy Director
  Allison joined Pro Bono Net full-time in July 2001, and now serves as the Deputy Director. Previously Allison served as the LawHelp Program Manager, developing and supporting the national LawHelp statewide website and Circuit Rider programs. Allison received a Master's degree in Social Administration from Columbia University School of Social Work in May 2001. Prior to that, she worked for four years at InMotion, a domestic violence legal organization in New York City, coordinating technology projects and building the Bronx pro bono program.

• Tory Messina (tmessina@probono.net)
  New York Program Coordinator
  Tory joined Pro Bono Net as the New York Program Coordinator in January 2008. Prior to joining Pro Bono Net, Tory worked as an Associate at Fried Frank, where she took on both death penalty and asylum pro bono matters. Tory graduated with a B.A. in History from Brown University and received her J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School. In addition to working as a lawyer, Tory has worked as a teacher and managed a small business.

• Mark O'Brien (mobrien@probono.net)
  Executive Director
  Mark is the co-founder and Executive Director of Pro Bono Net. Prior to starting Pro Bono Net, Mark was the pro bono coordinator at Davis Polk and Wardwell from 1992 to 1999. During his tenure, both Mark and the firm won numerous awards for contribution to pro bono issues. He has served on various New York State and City bar committees dealing with pro bono and legal services issues, and is a member of the Advisory Committee of the University of Pennsylvania Law School Public Service Program.

• Alice Pucheu (apucheu@probono.net)
  Office Assistant
  Alice joined Pro Bono Net in February 2008 as an Office Assistant. She is currently a student at Hunter College and previously attended Louisiana State University. Prior to joining Pro Bono Net, Alice worked as a professional dancer throughout the U.S. and Europe. Her conservatory training includes the Certificate Program at The Ailey School and the Jazz Program at Jacob's Pillow.

• Beth Ramme (bramme@probono.net)
  Office Manager
  Beth joined Pro Bono Net in August 2001 as Office Manager. Prior to joining Pro Bono Net, she was the Director of Operations and Finance for Gundersen Partners, LLC, where she had worked since 1983. She holds a Bachelor's degree in History from Long Island University and lives in Long Island, New York.

• Brett Suwyn (bSuwyn@probono.net)
  Senior Programmer
  Brett joined Pro Bono Net in August 2005 as a Senior Programmer. Brett has been developing Internet applications for over ten years and is an advocate for the use of formal development practices, decoupled design patterns, and web standards.

• Pam Weisz (pweisz@probono.net)
  Director of Corporate Sponsorship
  Pam joined Pro Bono Net in July 2007 as Director of Corporate Sponsorship. Prior to joining Pro Bono Net, Pam worked in business development and strategic planning roles at media companies including the Associated Press and Showtime Networks. Before going to graduate school she spent several years working as a journalist. Pam has an MBA from Columbia University and a BA from Stanford University.