Meet the CLP Staff
Kenneth Klein, J.D.
Chair of CLP Advisory Council
Mr. Klein joined the CWSL faculty in 2008 and currently teaches Civil Procedure, Evidence, a section of the Clinical Externship Program, and an experiential course in the law and policy surrounding Natural Disasters. Before coming to CWSL, Mr. Klein worked at Foley & Lardner and while there, he joined CWSL Prof. Linda Morton, and UCSD School of Medicine Professor, Dr. Ellen Beck, to form the CWSL CLP. Since that time, Mr. Klein has served as a volunteer attorney, supervising attorney, and intake assistant. Mr. Klein is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and is currently the President of the CLP Advisory Board.
To contact Mr. Klein, please e-mail him at: kklein@cwsl.edu
Dana K. Sisitsky, Esq.
Executive Director
Ms. Sisitsky joined CLP as Executive Director in October 2010. Prior to joining CLP, Ms. Sisitsky worked as a legal aid attorney for over ten years, most recently as a project director and staff attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Greater Boston Legal Services, Ms. Sisitsky served as an advocate and litigated on behalf of low-income clients, primarily victims of domestic violence. In addition, Ms. Sisitsky managed the hospital project, a federally funded collaborative with five Boston-area hospitals that provided medical, legal and social services to victims of domestic violence. She was awarded as a Top Attorney in the Academic Category in 2013 with the San Diego Source. Ms. Sisitsky is a graduate of University of California at Berkeley and earned her law degree from New York University School of Law. Ms. Sisitsky holds licenses to practice law in California, Massachusetts, and New York.
To contact Ms. Sisitsky, please e-mail her at dsisitsky@cwsl.edu
Ted Janowsky, Esq.
Supervising Attorney
Mr. Janowsky has over fifteen years of experience as a public interest attorney. He began his career as a staff attorney for the Homeless Advocacy Project. While there he focused on various poverty law issues including: immigration, housing, unemployment, and helping individuals gain access to federal and state disability benefits. Mr. Janowsky then moved his talents to San Francisco, where he continued to work for the Homeless Advocacy Project from 2006-2011. There, he focused on eviction defense litigation, specifically cases involving clients at risk of homelessness and evictions from housing programs. From there Mr. Janowsky began his work as a staff attorney for the Justice and Diversity Center “Right to Civil Counsel Project.” The focus of his work was to improve the access to attorney representation for low-income tenants. In 2015, Mr. Janowsky returned to San Diego where he began working as a volunteer attorney for the Legal Aid Society of San Diego. Mr. Janowsky graduated from the University of California at Berkely in 1991, and he earned his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1999. Mr. Janowsky holds a license to practice law in California, and is also a licensed Teacher of English as a Second Language.
To contact Mr. Janowsky, please e-mail him at TJanowsky@cwsl.edu
Lizeth Cervantes
Community Education
Ms. Cervantes joined CLP in the summer of 2018 after over ten years of experience working with Native American students. She serves as the primary coordinator for the program. Ms. Cervantes coordinates Spanish-speaking interpreters, outreach and networking events, and plans workshops and community education events. Presently, she works with University of California San Diego—Extension pre-college programs helping prepare students for college and the professional field. Before working at Cal Western, she volunteered for a non-profit organization in San Diego that specializes in Landlord/Tenant disputes. Additionally, she has also volunteered with a prominent Bay Area non-profit in one of the busiest immigration departments in the region. Ms. Cervantes received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Political Science with a minor in English. She is also working toward becoming a certified court interpreter in California.
To contact Ms. Cervantes, please e-mail her at lcervantes@cwsl.edu
Michelle Valania
CLP Student Fellow
Michelle is a 3L student and the Community Law Project’s Student Fellow for the 2024-25 year. Michelle helps support CLP by training new student volunteers and following up with specific CLP clients to help them reach their goals. She also creates educational resources and presentations covering common legal questions we see at our clinics, and shares these materials with our community partners.
Verenice Meza
CLP Student Manager
Verenice joined our team this year as CLP’s Student Manager for the 2024-25 year. Verenice is a 3L and assists CLP by curating our media content and updating our clinic resources, including our connections with our volunteer attorneys. Verenice also helps to train new student volunteers and manages our student-attorney relations.
California Western School of Law Students, Legal Interns
A group of twelve second and third year law students at CWSL volunteer their time each week to meet with clients and assist specialty attorneys in their consultations.
Community Law Project Administrators/Interpreters
The Community Law Project is able to broaden its community impact with the help of several bilingual undergraduate students from colleges throughout the county. These students volunteer their time to help with the administration of each clinic by helping check-in clients, enter data, and aid the law student volunteers, as interpreters, to bridge language barriers and provide better service to our clients.