Who We Are

Central West Justice Center is made up of a dedicated team of legal advocates, support staff, senior managers, and a volunteer Board of Managers. Working together, we strive to assure fairness for all in the justice system. Click on the links below to learn more about our team.

Board of Managers

  • Michael BadgerBadger Legal Group
  • Jodi MillerBulkley Richardson & Gelinas, LLP

Team

  • Kristen Williams

    Kristen Williams

    Director

    • B.A. (cum laude), Williams College (2010)
    • J.D., Boston College Law School (2013)

    Kristen started at the Central West Justice Center’s parent organization, Community Legal Aid, as an AmeriCorps Attorney practicing housing law. In 2015, she began working for CLA as a disability benefits and unemployment benefits attorney, before becoming the Director of the Central West Justice Center in 2022. Kristen is licensed to practice in Massachusetts and the U.S. District of Massachusetts.

    Director
  • Catherine Ady Bell

    Catherine Ady Bell

    Staff Attorney

    • B.S.W., Rhode Island College
    • M.R.P., Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts Amherst
    • J.D., Western New England University (2014)

    Catherine has been working at the Central West Justice Center’s Springfield office since finishing law school in 2014. She is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

    Staff Attorney
  • Miryam Banuelas

    Miryam Banuelas

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., Political Science. University of Houston (2017)
    • J.D., University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Law School (2022)

    Prior to joining CWJC Miryam worked as an Associate at a business immigration law firm in Boston. During law school she was an intern at the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General and at Greater Boston Legal Services. Miryam also worked in the Immigration Clinic at my law school. During her final year of law school she received the Pro Bono Honor Roll Certificate from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for distinguished service in providing law related Pro Bono Services to those in need.

    Staff Attorney
  • Alexandra Bonazoli

    Alexandra Bonazoli

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., Political Science and History (summa cum laude), University of Massachusetts Amherst (2010)
    • J.D., Northeastern University School of Law (2013)

    Alex joined the Central West Justice Center in 2014 as an attorney with the Justice AmeriCorps program, representing unaccompanied children and teenagers in their immigration court proceedings. Since becoming a Staff Attorney with the CWJC in 2016, Alex continues to assist people seeking humanitarian-based immigration relief, including victims of crimes or domestic violence, asylum seekers, and abandoned or neglected children. Prior to joining CWJC, Alex spent a year at Community Legal Aid as an AmeriCorps Attorney with the Elder and Benefits Law Units. During law school, Alex interned at the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project, the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project. Alex is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts and is proficient in Spanish.

    Staff Attorney
  • Ann CascanettStaff Attorney
  • Lucy Chen

    Lucy Chen

    Immigration Law, AmeriCorps

    • B.A., Anthropology & International Studies, John Hopkins University (2023)

    Prior to joining CWJC, Lucy largely focused on environmental justice work with various kinds of organizations. She interned with the EPA, worked with a community land trust in South Baltimore, and spent time in the sustainability department of a private business. From these experiences, she developed an interest in the intersection between human health, the environment, and social justice.

     

    Immigration Law, AmeriCorps
  • Karen Cole

    Karen Cole

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., French, Grinnell College
    • J.D., New York University School of Law

    Karen joined the Central West Justice Center’s Immigration Law Unit as a Staff Attorney in April 2017. Prior to joining, she was an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at Kids In Need of Defense in Boston, MA, where she represented unaccompanied minors in immigration proceedings. Before that, Karen represented children in child abuse and neglect cases in both Massachusetts and New York State. She was also a Staff Attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Harlem Neighborhood Office in its Housing Law Unit in New York City.

    Additionally, Karen has worked as a program officer at the Robin Hood Foundation in New York City and taught middle and high school French in the Berkshires. While in law school, she was a Root Tilden Scholar and Skadden Fellow. Karen was admitted to the bar association in Massachusetts and New York.

    She speaks French and is proficient in Spanish.

    Staff Attorney
  • Jessica David

    Jessica David

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies, University of New Hampshire (2015)
    • J.D., University of Connecticut School of Law (2020)

    Prior to joining the Central West Justice Center’s Immigration Law Unit as a Staff Attorney, Jessica worked at the Buffalo Immigration Court for two years, first as a judicial law clerk and then as an attorney advisor. During law school, she represented clients in asylum proceedings at the UConn Law Asylum Clinic and graduated with a certificate in human rights.

     

    Staff Attorney
  • Caroline Foley

    Caroline Foley

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., Political Science, Framingham State University (2013)
    • J.D., Western New England School of Law (2021)

    While in law school, Caroline was a member of the Western New England Law Review where she organized a two-day symposium on Immigration Law and Detention. She also wrote two articles on immigration law and domestic violence. She was part of the International Human Rights Clinic where she worked with Earth Refuge to research and write on climate migration. She also volunteered with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigration Protection Project throughout law school to assist in parole applications for detainees at the Southern border.

    Prior to attending law school, Caroline was fully accredited by the Department of Justice to practice immigration law at a nonprofit in Worcester, MA where she coordinated the limited assistance program, helping clients to reunite with family members, to naturalize, and seek relief based on being victims of crimes. She has done extensive work in the Central Massachusetts community to organize and educate immigrants on their rights for the past ten years.

    Caroline is a native Portuguese speaker and fluent in Spanish.

    Staff Attorney
  • Claudia Folgosa

    Claudia Folgosa

    Intake Paralegal

    Claudia started her career in the legal field in 2014 when she joined Community Legal Aid as a Receptionist/Support Staff. In 2017, she joined Central West Justice Center as the Intake Paralegal for the Immigration Unit. Claudia speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and some French. She previously worked as a Portuguese and Spanish Medical Interpreter at the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center and she has been a per diem Portuguese and Spanish Medical Interpreter at UMass Memorial- Marlborough Hospital since October 2014.

    Intake Paralegal
  • Camden Fuller

    Camden Fuller

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., Political Science, George Washington University (2020)
    • J.D., Boston College Law School (2023)

    Camden is a recent graduate of Boston College Law School with a passion for serving the community. Throughout law school, he had the opportunity to work with the Boston College Innocence Clinic, the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee, and most recently, during his 2L summer, the Boston Federal Public Defenders.

    Staff Attorney
  • Johanna Greenberg

    Johanna Greenberg

    Staff Attorney

    Johanna joined the Central West Justice Center in September 2021 as the Boston University N. Neal Pike Disability Rights Fellow in the Immigration Unit. She transitioned to a Staff Attorney in August 2021. While in law school, she participated in the Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Clinic, where she represented survivors of human trafficking. She also interned at Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Maine and Greater Boston Legal Services. Prior to law school, Johanna was a paralegal, first as a farmworker outreach paralegal in New York State and then in the Employment Unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Johanna is fluent in Spanish and is learning Portuguese.

    Staff Attorney
  • Luis Guerrero

    Luis Guerrero

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., Political Science and Economics, Merrimack College (2017)
    • J.D., Boston University School of Law (2020)

    During law school, Luis spent his first summer interning with Project Citizenship, a nonprofit that helps green-card holders apply for citizenship. Luis later interned at the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office in the Homicide Unit. Luis also participated in the Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Clinic during law school, where he represented a client in immigration court. He joined the Central West Justice Center’s Immigration Unit in 2020.

    Staff Attorney
  • Marion Hohn

    Marion Hohn

    Senior Supervising Attorney, Benefits Law Unit

    • B.A., Political Science, The College of New Jersey (1997)
    • J.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2001)

    Marion worked at Western Massachusetts Legal Services (WMLS) for almost 10 years before the program joined with Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts Legal Services to form Community Legal Aid in 2011. While at WMLS, Marion served as a Staff Attorney in the Benefits and Housing units. Marion joined the Central West Justice Center in 2016. At CWJC, she is the Senior Supervising Attorney for the Benefits Unit. Marion is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts and the U.S. District of Massachusetts.

    Senior Supervising Attorney, Benefits Law Unit
  • Sara Horatius

    Sara Horatius

    Racial Justice Fellow, Immigration Law

    Sara Horatius has been awarded a two-year Racial Justice Fellowship by the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC). The Fellowship will support Attorney Horatius’s work throughout Western Massachusetts, where she will expand CWJC’s immigration legal work with the Haitian community. Horatius is based in CWJC’s Springfield office.

    Attorney Horatius received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Temple University in Pennsylvania and law degree from Widener University School of Law in Delaware. After completing law school in 2013, Attorney Horatius returned to Massachusetts and served for one year as an AmeriCorps Legal Advocate at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute in Boston, where she advocated to secure legal status and work authorization for Haitian immigrants. In 2015, Attorney Horatius opened her own law practice in Randolph, where she represented clients with immigration cases seeking the American dream through naturalization. Attorney Horatius has also taught legal courses as an Adjunct Professor at Roxbury Community College, Bunker Hill Community College, and Quincy College. An avid writer, Attorney Horatius earned her M.F.A. in Screenwriting from Boston University in 2021.

    Racial Justice Fellow, Immigration Law
  • Catie Jennetta

    Catie Jennetta

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., International Affairs, The George Washington University (2018)
    • J.D., Columbia Law School (2023)

    Prior to joining CLA, Catie graduated from Columbia Law School with the Class of 2023. During her time at Columbia, she interned with a number of immigration-focused legal nonprofits, including the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, the Legal Aid Society of New York, Sanctuary for Families, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), doing a mix of direct services and impact litigation work. Prior to law school, Catie worked as an immigration paralegal at a small firm in the Washington, DC area, where she specialized in family-based and humanitarian cases. She completed her undergraduate studies at The George Washington University, where she majored in International Affairs.

    Staff Attorney
  • Benjamin Levine

    Benjamin Levine

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., History and Religion, University of Rochester (2010)
    • J.D., Boston College Law School (2015)

    Before working at Central West Justice center, Ben worked as a housing rights attorney at the Legal Aid Society in New York City for six years representing tenants in eviction proceedings and to obtain and restore public benefits. Prior to representing tenants, he worked at Start Small Think Big assisting low income entrepreneurs form legal structures to protect their businesses. And prior to law school, he worked as an educator running civic education programs in Chicago Public Schools with Mikva Challenge.

    In his free time, Ben likes to run, hike, and cook.

    Staff Attorney
  • Nancy López Ramírez

    Nancy López Ramírez

    Intake Paralegal

    • B.A., Latin American & Caribbean Studies and Women & Gender Studies, Union College (2019)

    Prior to joining the Central West Justice Center, Nancy worked at Central Massachusetts YWCA as a Domestic Violence Advocate, where she learned to navigate systems from a trauma-centered perspective. She has also worked at the Volunteer Lawyers Project as a Bilingual Intake Specialist and Bilingual Intake Coordinator.

    Intake Paralegal
  • Maya McCann

    Maya McCann

    Equal Justice Works Fellow

    • B.A., Government, Smith College (2017)
    • J.D., Northeastern University School of Law (2022)

    During law school, Maya worked as a legal intern for the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, and a student attorney for the Central West Justice Center’s Migrant Farmworker Unit, DOVE (Domestic Violence Ended) Inc.’s Housing Unit, and Northeastern University School of Law’s Immigrant Justice Clinic. Maya was also a teaching assistant, research assistant, and a two-year lawyering fellow for the Legal Skills in Social Contexts Program. Prior to attending law school, Maya worked for two years as a paralegal for Heisler, Feldman, & McCormick, P.C., a law firm serving low-income clients with cases involving tenant’s rights, employee rights, employment and housing discrimination, and consumer protection issues. While working as a paralegal, Maya also participated in the Young Women’s Advisory Council of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts and coached high school girls’ soccer. As an undergraduate student, Maya interned for Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Springfield District Court Service Center, Soccer Without Borders, Gardening the Community, and DevelopSpringfield. Maya is a Springfield native deeply invested in her community, trained in domestic violence and trauma response, and is fluent in Spanish.

    Equal Justice Works Fellow
  • Kelly Morgan

    Kelly Morgan

    Senior Supervising Attorney, Immigration Law Unit

    • B.A., Music and French Studies, Wesleyan University
    • J.D., Boston College (2018)

    During law school, Kelly was a student attorney at Boston College’s Immigration Clinic and interned with the CPCS Immigration Impact Unit, the PAIR Project, the Muslim Justice League, the Massachusetts Bail Fund, and the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project. Prior to law school, she taught English to union hospitality workers in Boston, MA and to middle school students in Marseille, France. Kelly joined the Central West Justice Center’s Immigration Law Unit in 2018.

    Senior Supervising Attorney, Immigration Law Unit
  • J. Gabriel Otero

    J. Gabriel Otero

    Intake Paralegal

    • B.S., Legal Studies, Becker College

    Gabriel worked at the Massachusetts Justice Project (MJP) for over 9 years before joining the Central West Justice Center in 2014 as an Intake Paralegal. At MJP, Gabriel advised and provided brief services to clients in civil legal matters, including eviction defense, public and subsidized housing denials and terminations, denials and terminations of public benefits, debt collection, and unemployment compensation denials. Gabriel also coordinated the operations of the Worcester District Court Lawyer for the Day Program.

    Intake Paralegal
  • Laura Putnam

    Laura Putnam

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., American Studies and Spanish, Smith College (2010)
    • J.D., Boston University School of Law (2019)

    Laura joined the Immigration Unit at Central West Justice Center in January 2021. Prior to joining CWJC, she worked as a legal fellow in the Immigration Impact Unit at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the Massachusetts public defender agency, where she represented people who were detained in immigration custody in their deportation proceedings. During law school, Laura spent two years representing noncitizens before the Boston Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as a student attorney in the Boston University School of Law Immigrants Rights and Human Trafficking Clinic. She did internships in immigration practice at the Bronx Defenders and criminal practice at the Colorado Public Defenders. Prior to law school, Laura worked as a case manager helping families experiencing homelessness with children in Denver, CO. As an undergraduate student, Laura wrote a thesis about the history of knitting in Western Massachusetts. Laura speaks Spanish and is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts.

    Staff Attorney
  • Claudia Quintero

    Claudia Quintero

    Staff Attorney

    • BA., Communication Studies, California State University, Los Angeles (2010)
    • M.S., Communication (Rhetoric), The University of Utah (2013)
    • J.D., (cum laude) Western New England University School of Law (2017)

    Claudia joined Central West Justice Center in 2017, after graduating law school. She leads the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Project for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Fairness for Farmworkers Coalition. She was honored with the 40 under 40 award in 2021, awarded the Adams Pro Bono Publico Award by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and  was previously recognized as Student of the Year by the Massachusetts National Lawyers Guild in 2017. Attorney Quintero was recently appointed to the Labor and Workforce Development Working Group with the City of Springfield, was a founding board member of the Pioneer Valley Workers Center, on the board of the Rosenberg Fund for Children, New England Public Media, and the coordinating committee of the ACLU of MA Immigrant Protection project. She has previously mentored college and law students through the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity, and UMass Women in Leadership (UWiL) Program.  In 2019, she was chosen as a scholar for the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and in 2020 she was selected as the Chair of the Minorities in the Profession Committee for the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. She is an active member of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, the Hampden County Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association. While in law school she interned with Public Counsel in Los Angeles in their Immigrants’ Rights Project, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Office of Legal Counsel in Washington, DC., and the City of Springfield in their Labor Relations Department. Attorney Quintero also teaches Law and Social Change at Western New England University School of Law, and is a native Spanish speaker.

    Staff Attorney
  • Tania M. Rodríguez Reyes

    Tania M. Rodríguez Reyes

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., Political Science, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (2008)
    • J.D., University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (2011)

    Tania worked as an attorney in Puerto Rico before relocating to Massachusetts in 2014. Before joining the Central West Justice Center as an Immigration Staff Attorney in 2022, she worked at Gandara Center, where she was promoted from Intensive Care Coordinator to Senior Care Coordinator in 2017. Tania was admitted to the Puerto Rico Bar in 2012, Puerto Rico Federal Bar in 2014, and Massachusetts Bar in 2021.

    Staff Attorney
  • Océane Loren Maéva Roux

    Océane Loren Maéva Roux

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., Political Science, St. Mary's University (2020)
    • J.D., Suffolk University Law School (2023)

    Prior to joining the Immigration Law Unit at the Central West Justice Center, Océane spent the last two years working as a Law Clerk in small immigration law firms in Boston. Throughout her time in law school, she served as a student attorney in Suffolk Law’s Accelerator Clinic, advocating for tenants in eviction and housing discrimination cases. Additionally, Océane took on the role of Continuity Editor for the Journal of Health and Biomedical Law, where she had the opportunity to explore the intersection of health and immigration law.

    Staff Attorney
  • Rhiannon Snide

    Rhiannon Snide

    Staff Attorney

    • B.A., Journalism, University of Massachusetts Amherst (2018)
    • J.D., Albany Law School (2021)

    Rhiannon is a graduate of Albany Law School. During law school Rhiannon worked for the New York State Office for New Americans where she engaged in policy research and advocacy work. Prior to joining CWJC in 2024, Rhiannon worked as an immigration attorney at Catholic Charities Worcester County where she represented individuals seeking humanitarian and family-based immigration relief and organized a number of legal clinics and “know your rights” campaigns.

    Staff Attorney
  • Ellen VanScoyoc

    Ellen VanScoyoc

    Senior Supervising Attorney, Immigration Law Unit

    • B.A., History (magna cum laude), Brown University (2001)
    • J.D., (cum laude) New York University (2006)

    Ellen worked at Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts for over three years before the program joined with Western Massachusetts Legal Services to form Community Legal Aid in 2011. Ellen joined the Central West Justice Center in 2014. She is a Senior Supervising Attorney for the Immigration Law Unit and advocates and represents immigrant survivors of domestic violence and asylum seekers in immigration cases. Prior to joining LACCM, Ellen worked for Greater Boston Legal Services as an attorney in their Housing Unit and represented asylum seekers as a pro bono attorney with the Political Asylum/ Immigration Representation project in Boston, MA. Ellen is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts. She is proficient in Spanish and is learning Portuguese.

    Senior Supervising Attorney, Immigration Law Unit