DIRECTORS/OFFICERS
Daniel J. Bramzon is a volunteer director of BASTA and the organization’s President. Mr. Bramzon began his legal career at the Century City law firm of Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, LLP (currently called Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, LLP). After nearly five years of an aggressive and complex litigation practice under the tutelage of some of Los Angeles’ top trial attorneys, Mr. Bramzon resigned from the law firm and started his own private law practice. Soon thereafter, Mr. Bramzon founded BASTA. Mr. Bramzon is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School (1997-2000) and Stanford University (1994-1997).
Bryan M. Sullivan volunteers as a director for BASTA and as the organization’s Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Sullivan is currently a partner with a large Century City law firm through which he regularly represents high-profile individuals and corporations in a variety of complex cases. Mr. Sullivan received his law degree from Boston College Law School (2000), where he graduated cum laude. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, History and International Relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, where he graduated summa cum laude with honors (1998) and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Alejandro Menchacavolunteers as a director for BASTA and as the organization’s corporate Secretary. He is currently a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of Carlsmith Ball, LLP, a Pacific Rim law firm. Mr. Menchaca is also the founder of the Latino Professional Network, which is southern California’s largest association of Latino professionals (comprised of over 15,000 individuals). Mr. Menchaca is a graduate of Stanford University (1997) and University of Southern California Law School (2001).
ATTORNEYS
Ned Harris is an attorney for BASTA and leads the eviction defense group at BASTA. He began his career at the Century City law firm of Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, LLP (currently called Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, LLP) as a corporate/transactional associate. Mr. Harris is one of California’s most prolific jury trial practitioners in the landlord-tenant area of law and boasts one of southern California’s highest winning percentages in such trials, including victories against the Bank of New York. Mr. Harris has won jury trials without the need to present a defense case and on non-suit. Mr. Harris is a graduate of the University of Southern California Law School and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan.
Jon E. Gelb is an attorney for BASTA and helps to operate BASTA's Lancaster office. Mr. Gelb began his legal clerking with the United States Tax Court and then joined the Century City law firm of Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione, LLP. Mr. Gelb eventually landed at Kaye Scholer, LLP, and later served as an Assistant Professor at Grambling State University. Mr. Gelb has previously been reproved by the State Bar due to a personal bout with substance abuse. Following a brief departure from his career to remedy this personal hurdle and fully recover, Mr. Gelb resumed his professional life by joining BASTA and dedicating his career to helping others during their periods of misfortune. Mr. Gelb earned a Masters of Law from New York University (1994) and graduated in the top of his class from Southwestern School of Law (1993). Mr. Gelb is the most feared tenants’ rights attorney in the Lancaster/Palmdale area and has initiated multiple mass action litigation on behalf of tenants.
Michele A. Woo is an attorney for BASTA. Ms. Woo leads the organization’s limited jurisdiction civil litigation division which helps tenants against their landlords on an individual basis. Ms. Woo also assists in BASTA’s class actions and participated in the case where BASTA obtained its first successful, non-settlement class certification. Ms. Woo graduated from the University of Southern California and Loyola Law School.
John L. Wollman is an attorney for BASTA and part of the organization’s class/mass action division. Mr. Wollman has been practicing law for nearly a decade. He began his career at Cooley Godward, LLP, in Palo Alto, California, transferred to Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, LLP, and, when Mr. Wollman moved to Los Angeles, he practiced at the Century City law firm of Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, LLP (currently called Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, LLP). Mr. Wollman graduated from the University of California at Riverside with highest honors (1992) and from Hastings College of the Law (1998) where he served as Managing Editor of the Hastings Law Journal in 1997-1998.
Benjamin G. Ramm is an attorney for BASTA, a member of the organization's class/mass action division, and he assists in heading BASTA's internship program with the Public Interest Law Foundation. Mr. Ramm practiced as a consumer protection attorney in the State of Washington for three years where he was recognized for his legal service to his community as a recipient of the Kitsap County Law Day Pro Bono award. Before joining BASTA in 2007, Mr. Ramm clerked with the Honorable Melinda Harmon of the Southern District of Texas and litigated consumer class action cases at Girard Gibbs, LLP, in San Francisco. He is a graduate of Stanford University (1996), where he was the lead instructor for the School of Engineering’s public speaking class. Mr. Ramm graduated from the University of Michigan Law School (2002, cum laude), where he was a Bergstrom Child Welfare Law Fellow.
Ross T. Kutash is a part-time attorney for BASTA and serves as the organization’s appellate counsel. Mr. Kutash is also a part of BASTA’s class/mass action division and practices in BASTA’s eviction defense division where he has successfully opposed motions for summary judgment and won jury trials on non-suit. Mr. Kutash began his legal career at the Century City law firm of Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, LLP (currently called Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, LLP) before eventually joining BASTA. Mr. Kutash graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (1996) and UCLA Law School (2001).
John D. Milman is a part-time attorney for BASTA and part of the organization’s class/mass action division. He also practices in BASTA’s eviction defense division handling BASTA’s West Los Angeles and Santa Monica eviction defense cases. Mr. Milman began his legal career at the Century City law firm of Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, LLP (currently called Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, LLP) and currently divides his time between a private, commercial civil litigation practice and BASTA. Mr. Milman is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder and Loyola Law School.
SENIOR STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS
Robert Tauler volunteers for BASTA as the Vice President of Development. Mr. Tauler received his law degree in 2005 from Harvard Law School. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from UC Irvine where he graduated cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Tauler is currently an associate at a large Century City law firm
Sidia Calfa serves as BASTA's Vice-President of Operations.
Rebeca Marcos serves as BASTA's Vice-President of Community Affairs.
Jill Hensley serves as the General Administrator of BASTA’s Lancaster office.
Marc Check serves as BASTA's Information Technology Mananger and Web Developer.
Luis Saucedo volunteers as BASTA's Vice-President of Finance.
BASTA ADVISORY BOARD
Eric Darnell Anderson Mr. Anderson is currently a Deputy District Attorney for Shasta County, California, where he supervises the Domestic Violence Enhanced Response Team in addition to prosecuting other violent felonies. Previously, Mr. Anderson served as an Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County in Massachusetts, where he still maintains an exclusive private practice. Prior to his legal career, Mr. Anderson taught history in Middle School and High School in New York and Los Angeles , including at the exclusive Brentwood School. Mr. Anderson received his law degree from Boston College Law School (2000) and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and International Relations at Pitzer College. Mr. Anderson is an active member of the community serving as President of the Shasta County Black Lawyers Association and is a Board member of the Shasta Coalition for Community Health, Education and Empowerment. He also serves as a Guest Lecturer at Shasta College in Redding, CA. A noted trial lawyer , Mr. Anderson has a career conviction rate at trial of over 94%.
Timothy McOsker: Timothy McOsker is a partner at Mayer Brown and focuses his practice on governmental, regulatory and administrative law, particularly in the areas of land use, project entitlement and environmental compliance and related matters. Prior to joining the firm in 2008, Mr. McOsker was the Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Los Angeles. As the Chief of Staff, he was responsible, on behalf of the Mayor, for the implementation of policy and management of a city with over 35,000 employees, 40 departments and commissions and a budget of over 5 billion dollars. Before serving Mayor Hahn as Chief of Staff, Tim was the Chief Deputy City Attorney for the City of Los Angeles, managing the day-to-day operations of a law practice with more than 400 lawyers and clients as diverse as the Department of Water and Power, the Los Angeles World Airports, the Port of Los Angeles, the City Controller and the Los Angeles City Council.
Professor Alan D. Minuskin: Professor Minuskin is an Associate Clinical Professor of Law at Boston College Law School. He has been a full-time clinical teacher for 18 years and has worked as a staff attorney in organizations providing legal services to the poor, including Central Middlesex Legal Services and the Cambridgeport Problem Center. He was also a partner in a small, public-interest law firm which received funding from the federal Legal Services Corporation to provide free services in civil matters to indigent clients. Professor Minuskin is active in a variety of professional organizations whose purpose is the expansion and reformation of programs designed to provide wider access to legal services and justice for economically disadvantaged people. At Boston College Law School, Professor Minuskin has developed and teaches an innovative course in Pretrial Litigation in which students litigate a complex civil case in a semester-long simulation of a law suit. The roles of parties and witnesses are played by accomplished actors, and the students are supervised by experienced lawyers and judges, most of whom are alumni of Boston College Law School. Professor Minuskin also formed, and is a member of, a litigation-training faculty which provides training in professional skills and values to first and second year associates at the Boston law firm of Bingham Dana.
Elizabeth O’Hare: Ms. O’Hare is currently Senior Manager of Investor Relations for Edwards Lifesciences, an international medical device company located in Irvine, California. She has over five years experience in investor relations and corporate finance and is an active member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI). Ms. O’Hare received her Master of International Management degree in 1998 from Thunderbird – The American Graduate School of International Management with an emphasis in finance. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Foreign Language at Drake University and is fluent in Spanish. In addition to her position at Edwards Lifesciences, for the past eleven years, she has volunteered as a medical interpreter in the Dominican Republic. Ms. O’Hare has also resided in Spain and Mexico, and has traveled extensively throughout Latin American and Europe.
Frank Schuchat Frank Schuchat is a founding member of the law firm of Schuchat, Herzog & Brenman, LLC www.shblegal.com in Denver, Colorado. He advises clients on international business transactions, including laws and regulations governing imports and exports, foreign corrupt practices and foreign investment. He also represents clients in matters before Federal agencies and in dispute resolution including arbitrations, and in state and Federal courts. Mr. Schuchat is a member of the bars of Colorado and the District of Columbia. Mr. Schuchat was chair of the International Law Section of the Colorado Bar from 2006-2008 and he serves on the Board of Governors of the Colorado Bar Association. He received his law degree from Georgetown University and a B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Mr. Schuchat is the Honorary Consul for Belgium for Colorado In addition, Mr. Schuchat regularly performs stand-up comedy at clubs in the Denver-Boulder area and for professional and charity events. He also lectures at law schools on “How to Find Happiness as a Lawyer, or at the Least Get a Job.”
Dr. Anthony Wei: Dr. Wei is currently an orthopedic surgery fellow at the Kerlan Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles, California where he specializes in the managment of sports injuries and serves as an assistant team doctor to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Dr. Wei also serves as the team doctor for Loyola Marymount University. Dr. Wei is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, where he majored in biology and art history, and the University of Chicago School of Medicine. Following medical school, Dr. Wei completed an orthopaedic residency program at Loyola University Chicago, where he served as a Chief Resident. Following his residency, Dr. Wei completed a fellowship at Washington Univerisity in St. Louis with noted shoulder and elbow surgeon, Ken Yamaguchi. Upon his completion of the Kerlan Jobe fellowship, Dr. Wei intends to join Rebound, an orthopaedic and neurosurgery clinic serving southwest Washington and the Portland metropolitan area, where he will specialize in the management of shoulder and elbow disorders. Dr. Wei is actively involved in orthopaedic research and has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, textbook chapters, and scientific abstracts.
Marisa Westervelt: Ms. Westervelt is a senior associate at Katten Muchin Rosenman, whose practice includes a range of business litigation matters, with particular concentration on securities litigation. Ms. Westervelt earned her A.B. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1998, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was named a Student Marshal for the Class of 1998, the highest academic honor awarded by the University. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2001, where she was an active member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and served on its Board of Directors from 2000-2001. Ms. Westervelt has represented indigent clients and non-profit corporations on a pro bono basis. She is a member of the Katten Muchin Rosenman's Los Angeles office's Pro Bono Committee.
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