Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice

our team

Maria Aguila
Victor Amaya
Carolina Andrade
Juliet Arganaraz
Steve Arredondo
Anabel Cardenas
Erica Carroll
Michael Chung
Tamkyo Gray
Hellen Hong
Margot Jimenez
Gladys La Torre
Suma Mathai
Emeka Orjiakor
Mireya Ragoza
Guadlupe Saavedra
Gary Slossberg
Joel Ulloa

Maria Aguila

Maria Aguila is the Housing Outreach Coordinator. Maria works directly with tenants, landlords, and Los Angeles Housing Department inspectors to encourage the maintenance and repair of residential buildings. She also informs tenants of their rights at LACLJ’s Eastside Housing Rights Clinic. Maria has over 20 years of community outreach experience. Maria is fluent in Spanish.

victor amaya

Victor Amaya is the Housing Outreach Assistant. Victor works directly with tenants, landlords and Los Angeles Housing Department inspectors to encourage participation into the Los Angeles Housing Department’s Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP) to ensure proper maintenance and habitability of residential buildings. He also works at the LACLJ’s Eastside Housing Rights Clinic. Victor graduated from ITCA in El Salvador. After graduation he worked as union organizer for garment workers, to ensure all workers received fair wages and fair compensation. Victor is fluent in Spanish.

Carolina Andrade

Carolina Andrade is a Family Law Attorney who represents and assists clients in matters regarding divorce, paternity, child custody, child support and restraining orders. Carolina has her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from UCLA and received her J.D. from Loyola Law School. Prior to coming to LACLJ, Carolina worked at the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law, where she handled family law cases for low-income individuals. Carolina was born and raised in East Los Angeles and is fluent in Spanish.

Juliet Arganaraz

Juliet Arganaraz is the Director of Administration. Juliet is responsible for managing all employee records, benefits, and payroll. She prepares the reports for the majority of funding sources. She maintains LACLJ’s financial records, accounts payable and receivables, and supervises the support staff. She is fluent in Spanish and is currently pursuing her bachelor's degree.

Steve Arredondo, Esq.

Steve Arredondo is the Supervising Housing attorney. Steve is a graduate of UCLA and received his J.D. from Loyola Law School. Prior to joining the LACLJ, he was an associate at the public interest law firm Traber & Voorhees where he practiced class action wage and hour litigation on behalf of low wage immigrant workers. He also handled discrimination and international human rights cases. He started his legal career as a staff attorney for the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates where he represented low wage immigrant workers in State and Federal court, and before the National Labor Relations Board. A 2001 Equal Justice Works Fellow, Steve regularly speaks on issues of workers' rights, community lawyering, and the practice of public interest law.

Anabel Cardenas

Anabel Cardenas is a legal secretary. Anabel graduated from Bell Gardens High School in 2003. Anabel has been working at LACLJ for over three years and is fluent in Spanish.

Erica Carroll

Erica Carroll is the performing a year of service with LACLJ as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. She attended Providence College in Rhode Island, where she graduated with honors and received Bachelor of Arts degrees in Spanish and History. Erica is a paralegal at LACLJ where she supports the Teen LA attorney and serves clients at the Eastside Housing Rights Clinic. She plans to pursue a law degree in the future. Erica is fluent in Spanish.

Michael Chung

Michael Chung is a staff attorney working on foreclosure cases. Prior to coming to the Center, Michael worked at Neighborhood Legal Services where he handled government benefits and housing cases. Michael has also worked at Legal Aid of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Michael is fluent in Korean. Michael received a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Northwestern University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago.

Autumn Elliott

Autumn Elliott is a staff attorney in the Housing and Public Benefits units. Autumn has a bachelor's degree from Harvard College, a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, and an LL.M. degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. As a Skadden Fellow at Bread for the City, a holistic services center in the District of Columbia, she helped low-income clients with disabilities obtain equal access to housing. She was a law clerk to Judge Warren J. Ferguson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang E. Moseneke of the South Africa Constitutional Court. At the Centre for Applied Legal Studies in Johannesburg, Autumn was involved in impact litigation and public policy advocacy regarding the transformation of South African society. Prior to law school, Autumn taught high school English in Korea under the auspices of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship program.

tamyko gray, esq.

Tamyko Gray is a Family Law Attorney. She is a graduate of Temple Law School (James E. Beasley School of Law), where she received the Beasley Scholarship. Through Temple’s clinical program she represented victims of domestic violence in custody cases and served as a mediator. She facilitated many conferences to develop custody plans for clients going through dissolution proceedings. After law school, she interned at the Children’s Law Center in Washington DC, where she represented children in dependency hearings. Since 2005, she has served as a pro bono attorney with Peace Over Violence, where she represented victims of domestic violence in securing restraining orders against their perpetrators. Tamyko is a family law attorney who supervises the Default Assistance Project (“DAP”) at the downtown Superior Court . Tamyko is admitted to practice law in California, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. and is fluent in Spanish.

Hellen Hong, Esq.

Hellen Hong is the Executive Director. Hellen is a graduate of Loyola Law School, where she received a Faculty Academic Honors Scholarship and served as the International and Comparative Law Review Senior Production Editor. She received her Bachelors of Arts in Literature with an emphasis in Third World Studies and Women’s Studies University of California, San Diego. Prior to law school, she served in AmeriCorps in Philadelphia schools. While attending law school, she worked at UCLA as the Associate Director of Government Relations and externed for the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall in the United States Central District Court. Hellen began her legal career at LACLJ as a Housing and Consumer Attorney in 2004. She later worked at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County before returning to LACLJ as its Executive Director. Hellen also served on the Board of Trustees of the Asian Pacific Women’s Center, a transitional domestic violence shelter for five years. She currently sits on the funding board of Liberty Hill’s Environmental Justice Committee.

Margot Jimenez

Margot Jimenez is a Housing Outreach Assistant. Margot works directly with tenants to encourage participation into the Los Angeles Housing Department’s Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP), with landlords to encourage the maintenance and repair of residential buildings and with inspectors from the Los Angeles Housing Department to ensure habitability of residential buildings. Margot is fluent in Spanish. Margot is a graduate of West Los Angeles College receiving her Associates Degree and her Paralegal Certificate. She interned at the Family Law Center in the Stanley Moss Courthouse providing general family law information, referrals and assistance to self represented parties. She is a former volunteer of the Van Nuys Self-Help Center Van Nuys Courthouse providing legal information and form preparation assistance to self represented parties with family law and unlawful detainer issues.

Gladys La Torre, Esq

Gladys La Torre is a Family Law Attorney. Gladys graduated from Western State University College of Law. Gladys was raised in Southeast Los Angeles and has devoted her legal career to serving the low-income communities of Los Angeles. She has over five years experience in the area of domestic violence. Gladys is fluent in Spanish.

Suma Mathai, Esq.

Suma Mathai is LACLJ’s Supervising Family Law Attorney. Suma graduated from the University of Southern California, where she completed a joint Law/Master of Social Work degree. She completed her Masters in Social Work internship at the Violence Intervention Program at County Hospital Los Angeles where she led domestic violence groups and individual counseling sessions with adults, teens and children under the age of ten. Suma has worked with youth since 1993 and was a 2000 Equal Justice Works Fellow. Suma currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Asian Pacific Women’s Center, a transitional domestic violence shelter.

EMEKA ORJIAKOR

Emeka Orjiakor is a Sidley Austin Fellow at the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice (LACLJ). Emeka is a recent graduate of USC Law School and received his undergraduate degree in Law & Society from UC Santa Barbara. In the fall of 2008, Emeka joined Sidley Austin as a Real Estate Associate. At Sidley, Emeka assisted in the representation of lenders in traditional mortgage, mezzanine, construction as well as borrowers and joint venturers for such financing vehicles. In April of 2009, Emeka joined LACLJ as part of a Sidley Austin public interest fellowship program to assist in the Housing Unit. At LACLJ, Emeka will be involved in consumer fraud litigation, eviction defense of indigent clients, and slum litigation.

Mireya Raygoza

Mireya is the Default Assistant Project Intake Assistant. Mireya is currently studying at California State University, Northridge where she is pursuing a degree in Journalism with an emphasis in magazines. Mireya began working with LACLJ in September 2007.

guadalupe saavedra

Guadalupe is the receptionist at our Boyle Heights office. She is a graduate from Sierra Vista High School, and is currently attending Mount San Antonio College where she is studying general educational classes as well as some criminal law. She is currently pursuing her Associates degree, with high hopes and intensions of transferring to a Cal State university. She has a strong background in working within law offices, and assists the clients, fields calls, and supports attorneys on staff at LACLJ.

gary slossberg, esq.

Gary Slossberg is the Teen Advocate and a Family Law Attorney for the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice. He works primarily with clients, ages 13 to 24, representing them in court proceedings and conducting legal rights presentations on the rights of pregnant and parenting teens. Before joining the LACLJ, Gary worked as the Legal Education Coordinator at Peace Over Violence, a violence prevention center focused on serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. He also taught fifth grade for a year at First Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights. Gary currently serves as the Treasurer of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council and as the Treasurer of the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles. Gary received a bachelors degree in Psychology and masters degree in Political Science from the University of Florida, a masters degree in Elementary Education from Loyola Marymount University, and his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was honored with the Gary Bellow Public Service Award.

Joel Ulloa

Joel Ulloa is a Housing Outreach Assistant. Engaging tenants, landlords and inspectors directly, Joel encourages participation and compliance in the Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP) and ensures habitability of living spaces. Joel is fluent in Spanish. He is a recent graduate of the University of Southern California, where he completed dual degrees in Urban Planning and Environmental Studies.