In the News

When family law attorneys dedicate their careers to serving underrepresented communities, their paths often cross in meaningful ways. Abby Frost Lucha and Adrea Tencer met while working at the Family & Children's Law Center (FACLC), where they both worked to provide critical legal services to low-income families in Marin County.

Across California and the nation, justice-involved women represent the fastest-growing population within the criminal legal system. Despite recent declines in men’s incarceration, women’s incarceration continues to rise, revealing a significant gap in how systems respond to women’s needs. Over the past 35 years, arrests of women have increased by 25%, while arrests of men have decreased by 33%. Between 2009 and 2018, men’s jail populations fell by 8%, but women’s jail populations grew by 23%. These statistics make clear that gender-neutral services are not effective for women, and that counties must adopt specialized, gender- and trauma-responsive approaches if they hope to improve outcomes.

Filling the vacancy created by the retirement of the late Paul Haakenson, Marin County resident Matthew Siroka was recently appointed to serve as a Judge in the Marin County Superior Court. He received his law degree from U.C. Law San Francisco (formerly U.C. Hastings College of the Law). Though presently closing out his private practice as defense counsel in a homicide trial, Siroka graciously took the time to share his motivations to become a judge and the life experiences that led him to it. He is known to friends and colleagues as “Matt” and has been married to Alejandra Siroka of Argentina since 2005 (she is a relationship and communications coach with her company Language Alchemy).

This edition of the Marin Lawyer reflects the critical issues currently affecting our community, with a particular focus on diversity and the state of representation at local and national levels. While we navigate challenging and ever-changing landscapes, we find a silver lining in the dedicated contributions and activism of our Marin community members, including our judges and public service providers.

In 1985 we were using IBM typewriters for legal briefs and the U.S. mail for communication. We did our legal research in the stacks with the aid of Shepard’s maroon volumes.