So great that we’re all getting together again. It means a lot to see everyone. We have such a great class!
After graduating, I spent a year training horses in Ireland before attending Brown University. I began my professional career in Washington, D.C., working for a member of Congress, and subsequently earned my J.D. from Harvard Law School.
I moved to Los Angeles to clerk for the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court. I later served as Assistant Housing Coordinator to Mayor Tom Bradley, where I focused on affordable housing policy and homelessness. Following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, I worked as counsel to the City of Los Angeles Housing Department, facilitating real estate loans to nonprofits to help rebuild the city’s housing stock.
Along with my partner, we co-founded Bergman and Allderdice, a boutique law firm with a national and international practice advising charities and mission-driven organizations. The firm is recognized for its work in community and economic development. We have an amazing roster of clients, all of whom are committed to reversing blight and creating jobs in underserved communities.
As an educator, I lecture frequently on nonprofit and tax-exempt law and have taught Constitutional Law at Loyola Law School and Environmental Law at Glendale School of Law.
I serve on the boards of National Trust Community Investment Corporation, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles, bringing free music to MacArthur Park; and Integrated Recovery Network, helping the unhoused access housing, health care and jobs. I’m a member of the California, New York, Texas, Arizona, and District of Columbia Bar Associations and have lived in Los Angeles since 1988.
Having played music throughout my life, I continue to perform as a violinist and violist with a local symphony and a string quartet that plays for charitable events. I also record and perform with the original alternative rock project Black Cactus, where my duties include singer, songwriter, and electric violinist/violist.
I’m a proud mother of a daughter attending Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida.