Len Tillem
Len Tillem has been a practicing attorney since being admitted to the State Bar of California in 1972. On the Len Tillem Program, heard on KGO AM-810, each weekday from 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM and Sundays, 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM, Len answers general legal questions, provides legal advice, and solves legal problems, live and on the air. Len's career in radio began on January 2, 1990 on KVON in Napa, California, ten years to the day prior to the debut of his regular weekend program on KGO. Tillem broadcasts The Len Tillem Program from a custom-built studio within his law offices in Sonoma, California.
Len Tillem's law practice, Len Tillem and Associates, concentrates on Elder Law. Elder Law is a specialized field of law focusing on the unique needs of the elderly. Elder Law includes such topics as Estate Planning and Estate Tax Avoidance, Wills and Probate, Trusts and Trust Administration, Long Term Care Planning including Medi-Cal Planning, and Elder Abuse. Len is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. Len also served as a delegate to the 1993 White House Conference on Aging.
In addition to his radio program and law practice, Len and attorney Rosamonde McNichol, also of Len Tillem and associates, write a newspaper column focusing on senior legal issues. The column is published in four Bay Area newspapers, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the Napa Valley Register, the Vacaville Reporter and the Sonoma Index-Tribune, and two newspapers in Lake County, the Lake County Record Bee and the Clearlake Observer. The column also appears in the monthly PrimeLife supplement of the San Francisco Chronicle, published the first Sunday of each month.
Tillem is a native of New York City, having migrated to Sonoma County in the early 1970's. He earned a Bachelor's of Arts degree at Brooklyn College, and his law degree at New York University. A resident of Sonoma, California, Tillem is married and has two children.
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Long Term Care: Arden L. Kwan Arden L. Kwan is a graduate of Cornell College. Her concentration was in the areas of Psychology and Sociology, with particular interest in our society's care of the elderly. She was awarded her Masters of Social Work, in 1989 from UC Berkeley with an emphasis in Gerontology. Ms. Kwan has an extensive background, knowledge and experience in the area of long term care. She has worked directly with the elderly as a home health aide, a hospice volunteer and as a social worker for On Look Senior Health Services. She has also worked at California Advocates for Nursing Home Care where she did consumer and legislative advocacy, coordinated the lawyer referral services, originated the Legal Network News program and participated in legal trainings for attorneys in the area of Asset Preservation and Long Term Medi-Cal. Ms. Kwan has worked as the Long Term Care Specialist for Len Tillem and Associates since 1995. She works directly with clients and their families assisting them in identifying their long term care needs, developing and implementing a plan to preserve assets from long term care costs. She also assists clients with filling out and managing Medi-Cal applications, going to administrative fair hearings and acting as a liaison between the client and the state and federal agencies. Estate Planning/Trust Administration: |
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David A. Brown Born in Vallejo, California, David A. Brown graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. He then served as an officer in the United States Navy on the guided missile destroyer USS Hoel (DDG-13), and then with U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Four (NMCB FOUR) when it was deployed to Saudi Arabia during the First Gulf War of 1990-1991 and in the Republic of the Philippines after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in late 1991. In 1993, Lieutenant Brown left the Navy and started a second career in the law. He graduated with honors from Empire College School of Law in June 2000 and was admitted as an attorney to the California State Bar in November 2000. Mr. Brown's practice focuses on general estate planning, complex document planning issues, and elder law public benefits planning. He also produces the Len Tillem Radio Program on San Francisco's KGO AM-810. |
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Charlie J. Maguire Charles J. Maguire, Jr. is a 1973 graduate of Gettysburg College with a B.A. in Psychology. He worked in the fields of probation and parole, counseling, warehousing, food service, and construction before graduating from San Francisco Law School in 1981. He practiced law in general litigation as a partner in the law firm of Strickland, Haapala, Altura, Harnett, Maguire & Thompson from 1981 through 2000 representing individuals and companies in arbitrations, mediations, and trials in personal injury, defamation, construction, environmental, and industrial related cases. In 2001 he joined the law firm of Len Tillem and Associates to fulfill a long-time interest in Estate Planning, Estate Litigation and Estate Mediation. Mr. Maguire is also interested in family mediation of estate plans before implemented and after death where there is a controversy or contest. Mr. Maguire maintains his prior interest in construction with his membership in the Construction Specification Institute as well as his current interest in estate planning issues with the Sonoma County Bar Associates Probate and Mediation Sections and the American Bar Association of Real Property, Trust and Probate and ADR Sections. Probate/Trust Administration: Rosie McNichol Rosie McNichol grew up in the Philadelphia area. She attended college at Duke University in North Carolina where she studied comparative religions and east asian history. She later attended law school at U.C. Davis afterwhich she clerked for Justice Charles Springer of the Nevada Supreme Court. She has worked with Len Tillem since 1996. |
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Betsy Riley Betsy Riley comes to us with over thirty years experience in many areas of the law, the last fifteen of which have been primarily in probate, trust administration, conservatorships, and estate planning. Betsy completed the Napa Valley College Paralegal Studies Program in 1997, Phi Theta Kappa, where she tutored other students in legal research and writing. Betsy received a legal secretarial certificate in Pennsylvania in 1976 and has also attended City College of San Francisco and Santa Rosa Junior College. Vanessa Yassine Vanessa Yassine joined Len Tillem & Associates in 2002 and works as a Paralegal in the Trust Administration and Probate Department. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California at Riverside, in 1984 and completed the Sonoma State University Attorney Paralegal program in Fall 2001. Vanessa served as Secretary of Redwood Empire Legal Assistants from 2002 to 2005. |
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Civil Litigation: Audrey J Gerard Raised in a small town in the Sierra foothills, Audrey J. Gerard majored in Environmental Studies at Sonoma State University . After a brief foray into the world of politics, Ms. Gerard returned to Sonoma State's paralegal program in the early 1990's. After working as a litigation paralegal for several years, she attended Empire College School of Law, graduating as the Valedictorian of the Class of 2000. Ms. Gerard handles litigation cases, including elder abuse, personal injury, and estate related claims. Civil Litigation Paralegal: Denise G. Olazar Denise Olazar is a San Francisco native. She has fourteen years experience as a former police dispatcher, police officer, and field training officer for the Pacifica Police Department with specialized training in accident and DUI investigation. Denise served as Vice-President on the board of the California Chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors, President of the Southern California Chapter, and Advisory Board member of the California Peace Officers Memorial Foundation from 1992 through 2004. Denise joined Len's civil litigation department as a paralegal for Attorney Audrey Gerard, while attending Sonoma State University. She graduated in 2005 with a B.A. in Criminal Justice. Ms. Olazar's law enforcement experience is very beneficial, especially when working with clients who have been victims of personal injuries involving traffic collisions and walking our clients through the litigation process of personal injury, medical malpractice, elder abuse and estate related matters. |
