Our Team

PHIL STUDENBERG, Attorney

Phil started his legal career in legal aid, in criminal defense. He became an expert in the field of legalizing medical marijuana and became a member of NORML in 1972. "My other passion is Indian Law." He worked for the Lakota Tribes in South Dakota. We was also the law clerk for the Chief of Justice of the South Dakota supreme court. He was published and he edited the Ag Law Symposium.Phil and his family moved from Winner, South Dakota to Oregon in 1978 for family reasons. Even though he considered the larger cities in Oregon first, he favored Klamath Falls. "The people here are very accepting," he remarks. Phil also liked the geographic proximity to other places of interest. He felt comfortable raising his children in K-Falls. "I like the schools." He looks forward to serving Klamath Falls for many years to come. "I have a commitment to criminal defense law."

 

SARA M. DYER, Social Security Disability Claims Representative

Sara started working with Disability and SSI files five years ago. Her job is to analyze the medical records, the SSA documents, and Social Security Regulations applicable to the each client's case. She then prepares a memo for Phil to use either to request approval of benefits or in preparation for a hearing. Sara attends the hearings and hopes to be certified next summer as a non-attorney to represent clients at hearings. I thoroughly enjoy research particularly when it is in the course of helping individuals get through the maze of the SSA rules and regulations. Unlike criminal defense work, where there is "guilty" or "innocent,"  when we win benefits for our client, everyone wins.  Fighting for a client's benefits so that he or she can at the least have some monthly income and therefore does not have to go hungry and homeless is very important to me, morally and ethically.

JUDY LANDER, Personal Secretary

Judy Lander has a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of California at Berkley. She worked civil attorney in Austin, TX for five years. She moved to Klamath Falls, OR in 1989, and has worked for Phil Studenberg as a legal assistant since that time. In addition to her other duties, her priority is to make sure that clients are given the personal attention they deserve.