Meet Our Team
2019 Staff fishing trip aboard the F/V Outer Limits
Attorneys
Vic Sher
Partner

Vic Sher
Partner
Matt Edling
Partner

Matt Edling
Partner
Recently, Matt served as trial counsel for California’s toxics agency arising out of its largest-ever contaminated site cleanup, which was caused by airborne lead emissions. California Dep’t of Toxic Substances Control, et al. v. NL Indus., Inc., et al., No. 2:20-11293 (C.D. Cal.). As lead counsel working on behalf of water providers on Long Island, Matt helped secure more than $65 million in consent judgments and settlements arising out of contaminated drinking water. Bethpage Water District v. United States, et al., No. 22-cv-2050 (E.D.N.Y.); South Farmingdale Water District v. United States, et al., No. 22-cv-2051 (E.D.N.Y). Matt’s efforts as lead counsel on behalf of California public entities resulted in $630 million in infrastructure improvements to abate transboundary water contamination. City of Imperial Beach, et al. v. International Boundary and Water Commission, et al., No. 18-cv-457 (S.D. Cal.).
Over his career, Matt, frequently in tandem with public counsel, has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for clients. Matt understands the need to balance the public and policy implications involved in environmental litigation, and bring stakeholders together in and out of the courtroom to achieve lasting success. Matt also has extensive experience in significant commercial matters, involving fraud, securities, insurance bad faith, consumer, financial litigation, and contract claims. Matt has been appointed to leadership positions in multi-party and class actions in state and federal courts, as well as primary counsel in multiparty actions throughout the country.
Matt’s successes led to The Recorder naming him as one of the top fifty California attorneys with under ten years of practice (2012), and he has been named among the highest class of attorneys for professional ethics and legal skills, with an AVPreeminent rating by Martindale Hubbell.
Katie Jones
Partner

Katie Jones
Partner
Before joining Sher Edling, Katie was an attorney at the Sierra Club, where she worked on a wide variety of environmental matters, including challenges to new fossil fuel infrastructure and cases to improve government transparency and to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals. Previously, she clerked for Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr.
Katie received her law degree in from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she earned a certificate in environmental law and was awarded the Landis Prize for Water Law. During law school, Katie served as an editor for the California Law Review and Ecology Law Quarterly. Prior to attending law school, Katie worked as a Fulbright Fellow in an indigenous community in Mexico, focusing on learning from traditional environmental knowledge to diversify local agriculture. She is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Stephanie Biehl
Partner

Stephanie Biehl
Partner
Before joining Sher Edling, Stephanie was successful in obtaining multi-million-dollar recoveries through complex cases in the business, consumer, employment, securities, derivative, and class action fields. She and her teams were routinely appointed Lead Counsel and Class Counsel in a variety of state and federal cases.
Stephanie was a judicial extern for Senior District Judge Charles R. Breyer for the Northern District of California, and she graduated cum laude from UC Hastings College of the Law. While at Hastings, she earned her concentration in Civil Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution, was an award-winning member of the nationally-renowned Hastings Trial Team, and was the Executive Notes Editor of the Hastings Business Law Journal.
Prior to law school, Stephanie attended Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) where she received her B.S in Business Administration and her B.A. in Spanish Studies. She graduated summa cum laude, as the valedictorian of her class. Stephanie also had the honor of being the Undergraduate Commencement Speaker and receiving the highest leadership and excellence awards from her academic schools, the Cross Country team, multiple student life groups, the NDNU Board of Trustees, and the City of Belmont.
Tim Sloane
Counsel

Tim Sloane
Counsel
Before joining Sher Edling, Tim was the Executive Director of the nonprofit Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, where he advocated for sustainable natural resource management and habitat protection for commercially valuable marine fish species. Tim’s work bridged the legal and political gap between conservation and consumptive use.
In 2013, he earned his law degree with honors from Golden Gate University, where he was a member of the Environmental Law Journal and GGU’s National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition team. He is a 2006 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
Marty Quiñones
Counsel

Marty Quiñones
Counsel
Before joining Sher Edling, Marty represented consumers, employees, and tort victims in both individual and class actions. Marty tried two cases to jury verdicts verdict 2014 and 2015 against major tobacco companies on behalf of the families of smokers who died from tobacco-related diseases. Both trials resulted in liability verdicts for the plaintiff, and significant monetary recoveries through jury awards or post-verdict settlements.
Marty also successfully represented a transgender civilian employee of the Army pro bono who was wrongfully barred from the public women’s restroom facilities in her workplace (Lusardi v. Dept. of the Army, Appeal No. 1201133395). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s decision in Ms. Lusardi’s favor was the first ruling in any jurisdiction that declares preventing a transgender employee access to gender-appropriate restrooms is sex discrimination in violation of federal law.
In 2013, Marty earned his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where he was a supervising editor for the California Law Review, the marketing editor for the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice, the treasurer of the Berkeley Law Queer Caucus and a chapter board member of Law Students for Reproductive Justice.
Ashley Campbell
Counsel

Ashley Campbell
Counsel
Ashley focuses her practice on complex environmental contamination litigation. She has represented clients before municipal boards, state committees, and state courts, has drafted appeals to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, and briefs to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Before entering private practice, Ashley was a law clerk with the New Hampshire Superior Court for three years working with judges across the state. In that role, she worked on the record-setting New Hampshire MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether, a gasoline additive that contaminated New Hampshire’s water resources) litigation, including its four-month jury trial, dispositive motions, limine motions, and post-verdict motions.
Ashley has been recognized as a Super Lawyer, Super Lawyer Rising Stars, and was honored with the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Pro Bono Honor Roll, and Union Leader’s 40 Under Forty, Class of 2018. Ashley serves on the Board of Girls on the Run NH. When Ashley isn’t working to protect our planet, you can find her getting muddy on some trails, training for an ultra-marathon.
Kristen Law Sagafi
Of Counsel

Kristen Law Sagafi
Of Counsel
In 2002, Kristen joined the San Francisco office of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, where she represented plaintiffs in consumer fraud and defective products cases for more than a decade. During her tenure at Lieff Cabraser, Kristen served as the hiring partner and gained local and national recognition for her results on behalf of her consumer clients. In 2015, Kristen launched the California office of Tycko & Zavareei LLP, a boutique firm representing whistleblowers, employees, and consumers. She served as the managing partner of Tycko & Zavareei’s California office for two years, while also maintaining an active docket of consumer class actions in state and federal court.
Kristen attended University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she served as an executive editor for Ecology Law Quarterly and clerked for the Hopi Appellate Court, located in Keams Canyon, AZ. Kristen has served on the Board of California Women Lawyers and the Bar Association of San Francisco. She is a frequent guest lecturer on topics including class action practice, consumer protection, and law firm management. Kristen teaches a litigation skills course focused on consumer protection at Berkeley Law.
Corrie Yackulic
Of Counsel

Corrie Yackulic
Of Counsel
Michael Burger
Of Counsel

Michael Burger
Of Counsel
Michael is a widely published scholar, and he is author or co-author of numerous high impact papers on climate change litigation, including State Public Nuisance Claims and Climate Change Adaptation, The Law and Science of Climate Change Attribution, and The Status of Climate Change Litigation: A Global Review.
Previously Michael was an associate professor at Roger Williams University School of Law, where he was founder and director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Clinical Externship program. He also served as a litigator in the Environmental Law Division of New York City’s Office of the Corporation Counsel.
Michael is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was an articles editor for the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law; and of Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude.
Quentin Karpilow
Associate

Quentin Karpilow
Associate
Yumehiko Hoshijima
Associate

Yumehiko Hoshijima
Associate
Yume holds a B.A., magna cum laude, in Environmental Studies from Yale College; a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment; and a J.D. from Yale Law School. During graduate school, Yume served as an Articles & Essays Editor of the Yale Law Journal, advised former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as one of his inaugural fellows, led student organizations, taught undergraduates as a Lead Teaching Fellow in Environmental Studies, and represented clients through the Environmental Justice Clinic, Environmental Protection Clinic, and Rule of Law Clinic. He spent his summers at Earthjustice, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Yume is a first-generation American born in Japan and raised in San Diego, California.
Yume is a member of the California bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Larken Yackulic
Associate

Larken Yackulic
Associate
Gretel Lee
Associate

Gretel Lee
Associate
Prior to joining Sher Edling, Gretel was an environmental attorney with the law firm of Flaherty & Hood, P.A. in St. Paul, MN. A passionate advocate, she worked on a host of environmental issues for municipalities and joint powers boards across Minnesota, primarily specializing in clean water and emerging contaminants work at both the state and federal levels.
She graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2017 with a certification in Environmental and Energy Law, where she was awarded the Mondale Engagement Award for her leadership and student advocacy. During law school, she served as an editor for Minnesota Law’s Journal of Law and Inequality and as a Director for the Environmental and Energy Law Clinic.
In 2014, she graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and a minor in social justice from the University of Minnesota. During this time, she worked as a National Park Ranger as an invasive species management and interpretation ranger at the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.
In her spare time, she enjoys hiking with her husband and their dogs, collecting vinyl records, studying presidential history, and cheering on various Minnesota sports teams, especially the Minnesota Twins.
Paul Stephan
Associate

Paul Stephan
Associate
Paul received his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. While in law school, Paul led teams of students to submit comments on proposed environmental regulations as part of the Environmental Law Project. He also served as a Comments Editor for the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and as Co-President of the Penn Law chapter of the American Constitution Society.
Before attending law school, Paul taught first grade and elementary school music in Newark and Orange, New Jersey. He graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2013, with a B.A. in Urban and Public Policy Studies, and minors in Environmental Design, Music Performance, and French.
Naomi Wheeler
Associate

Naomi Wheeler
Associate
Naomi was a member of Sher Edling’s inaugural class of summer associates in 2020. She returns to Sher Edling after clerking for the Honorable Philip S. Gutierrez, Chief Judge of the Central District of California.
In 2021, Naomi received her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she earned certificates in environmental law and energy and clean technology law. During law school, Naomi served as an editor-in-chief and articles editor for Ecology Law Quarterly and represented environmental justice organizations in California’s Central Valley through the Environmental Law Clinic.
Prior to attending law school, Naomi worked in alumni communications for a university in Halifax, Canada while leading various local environmental volunteer groups. Naomi graduated from McGill University with a B.A. in political science and minors in geography and economics.
Naomi is French-American and grew up in Berkeley, California. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and running, visiting farmers’ markets, cooking, and listening to podcasts.
William Liang
Associate

William Liang
Associate
William received his J.D. from Berkeley Law School with certificates in consumer law and social justice. He was a chair of the Consumer Advocacy & Protection Society and an editor of the California Law Review and Ecology Law Quarterly. In law school, William externed at the Sierra Club and Earthjustice and was a summer associate at Sher Edling. He also co-founded En Banc Bluegrass, a law-themed bluegrass band.
William graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, where he majored in Ethics, Politics & Economics with a concentration in food systems justice.
Miranda Holeton
Associate

Miranda Holeton
Associate
Miranda received her J.D. magna cum laude from UC Hastings in 2021 with a concentration in environmental law. While in law school, she served as co-president of the Hastings Environmental Law Association, executive acquisitions editor of the Hastings Environmental Law Journal, and board member of the Hastings Public Interest Law Foundation, a nonprofit which provides scholarships to law students participating in unpaid, public interest internships. Miranda interned at the California Coastal Commission, Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger during law school.
Prior to law school, Miranda was a park ranger at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach, CA. She now serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, the park’s supportive nonprofit which provides educational tours to over 2,000 school children each year. Miranda is also an editor of the nonprofit’s quarterly newsletter, Between the Tides.
Miranda graduated from Pitzer College in 2012 with a double major in Environmental Analysis and International & Intercultural Studies.
Anthony Tohme
Associate

Anthony Tohme
Associate
Anthony holds a B.A. in History and Political Science from Rice University. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, playing soccer, reading about Middle Eastern history, and spending time with his cat.
Professional Staff
Oni Strawn
Paralegal Manager

Oni Strawn
Paralegal Manager
Ona Bacigalupi
Director of Operations

Ona Bacigalupi
Director of Operations
Elizabeth Cheung
Senior Paralegal

Elizabeth Cheung
Senior Paralegal
Alfred Martini
Senior Paralegal

Alfred Martini
Senior Paralegal
Alfred received his Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his Juris Doctorate from Rutgers School of Law. Prior to attending college Alfred served in the United States Marine Corps. In his spare time, he enjoys being lost in contemplation while taking long walks in nature.
Addison Luck
Paralegal

Addison Luck
Paralegal
Gianna Qualls
Paralegal

Gianna Qualls
Paralegal
Bryant Webster
Case Assistant

Bryant Webster
Case Assistant
Joshua Mamalyga
Case Assistant

Joshua Mamalyga
Case Assistant
Julia Dietz
Case Assistant

Julia Dietz
Case Assistant
Minerva Olson
Office Administrator

Minerva Olson
Office Administrator
Kevin Kirchner
Senior Advisor

Kevin Kirchner
Senior Advisor
Over nearly four decades, Kevin has developed, coordinated and implemented hundreds of earned and paid media campaigns on issues that include climate change, clean energy, protecting the Arctic Refuge, old-growth forests, wildlife, water supplies and fisheries, and holding the oil industry accountable for MTBE cleanup.
Kevin launched his own consulting firm in 2009 after more than 11 years at a progressive media firm. In both roles he developed campaign strategies, oversaw message research projects, and wrote, produced, and/or placed television, radio, print, and online advertising, for which he shared in more than 20 national awards.
Prior to that, Kevin spent eight years at Earthjustice where he was Vice President for Policy, Legislation, and Communications for much of his tenure; worked on Capitol Hill, including stints with the House Agriculture and Interior Committees; and served as an environment and energy staffer for New Jersey Governor Tom Kean where he had a hand in developing the nation’s first statewide climate change initiative.
He graduated from the University of Oregon Law School and is an inactive member of the Oregon and Washington, DC bars.
John Lamson
Communications Director

John Lamson
Communications Director
After earning his BA in English from the University of Notre Dame, John got his start at Fenton Communications and served as press secretary and spokesperson on political campaigns in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-90’s. John serves on the board of directors at Advocates for the West.