OUR TEAM

Steve Gottlieb has been the director of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society since 1980. He started as a summer student and then a staff attorney with Legal Aid in the late 1960s. After spending two years with Georgia Legal Services, he came back to Legal Aid as deputy director before becoming director. During his tenure, Legal Aid has expanded its core legal services to clients on family, housing, consumer and benefits issues, by adding staff and increasing services outside Atlanta particularly in Gwinnett and Clayton Counties and to seniors throughout the State. Legal Aid has also created new programs to respond to the needs of vulnerable populations, including people with AIDS and cancer, people with disabilities, seniors and homeowners subject to predatory mortgage lending. He is one of the founders of the Health Law Partnership (HeLP).

Cathy Vandenberg started with Legal Aid as a staff attorney in the Cobb Office in 1989 and became managing attorney of that office in 2000. As an attorney with a general law unit, she has represented clients in their family law, housing, special education, and public benefits cases. For many years, she had a special focus on representing children with special needs in juvenile court dependency cases. Cathy has hired, trained and mentored many new and experienced attorneys and has a special interest in maintaining Legal Aid’s relationships with its community partners, including state and local bar associations, the courts, state and local governments and the non-profit community.

Charles Bliss has been the Director of Advocacy since October 2005.  Prior to that, he worked in private practice representing employees in a variety of legal matters including employment discrimination and employment contracts.  Prior to private practice, he worked at Atlanta Legal Aid, Three Rivers Legal Services in Gainesville, Florida and the ACLU of Mississippi.

David Webster has worked several times and in several capacities with Atlanta Legal Aid. He joined ALAS as a staff attorney in 1970 and remained through 1976, departing as Deputy Director. He rejoined ALAS in 1980 as director of litigation.  He served on the faculty of Emory Law School from 1984-88 and has been in private practice since. He now serves as our part-time General Counsel.