Meet Your Experienced Team
Palace Law is built on the idea that every client deserves a competent team of legal professionals to handle all aspects of their case. At Palace Law, every client is assigned a team to work on each case. Our teams are comprised of attorneys and legal professionals. Please take a moment to learn about the attorneys at Palace Law and the legal professionals that make up our legal teams.
- Caylie Adams, Workers’ Compensation Legal Support Specialist
- Stefanie Carlton, Paralegal
- Debbie Crowl, Claims Negotiator
- Tia Curry, Paralegal
- Sandra Garrison, Paralegal
- Cheryl Gorder, Paralegal
- Courtney Leiphart, Paralegal
- Lusine Martirosyan, Workers’ Compensation Paralegal
- Tanya Mitchell, Litigation Paralegal
- Diana Padilla, Legal Assistant
- Aria Rolfes, Paralegal
- Zan Ross, Paralegal
- Chelsi Russell, Paralegal
- Emily Russell, Paralegal
- Jonathan Tretheway, Paralegal
- Kimberly Vorheis, Claims Negotiator
- Brittani Walters, Paralegal
Caylie Adams
Caylie Adams is a Workers’ Compensation Legal Support Specialist at Palace Law. Born in Kentucky, Caylie is a first generation professional dedicated to showcasing her determination and grit when it comes to fighting for our Palace Law clients. Caylie found a passion for helping aid the injured as a child after witnessing her mother become paralyzed in a motor vehicle accident by a driver under the influence. Spending her early 20’s in Nashville, TN and studying Healthcare Administration and completing her CCMA, Caylie felt the desire to jump head-first into the legal field to fight for justice after an injury rather than just assisting during. Her empathy and understanding allows Caylie to be a perfect point of contact to address any concerns and ensure they are heard by the Palace Law team.
Outside the office, Caylie is passionate about trying new recipes, exploring the Pacific North West, and spending quality time with her husband and pets! In office, Caylie is confident and ecstatic to stand up for what she believes is right and passionate about advocating for the voices of Palace Law clients to ensure a positive and sound solution to your legal issues.
Stefanie Carlton
Stefanie Carlton enjoys helping people navigate the legal process, allowing them to focus on what matters most: their health. She has been passionate about injury claims after she was seriously injured over 25 years ago. She has extensive experience in industrial injury cases and prides herself on her excellent communication.
In 2018, after nineteen years in the insurance industry, Stefanie chose to pursue her passion in the legal field. In 2019, she completed the Paralegal Preferred Pro-Certification, in addition to her previous education which includes Masters in Business Management, Bachelors in Business Management, Associate in Insurance Services, Workers’ Compensation Claims Administration and several other claims/insurance related certifications. As a Workers’ Compensation Paralegal, she is dedicated to her clients and strives to be the best advocate for the injured. Stefanie enjoys the Palace Law team environment and being part of the decades of history at Palace Law obtaining the best outcome for their clients.
Stefanie has many interests, but focuses her love on her husband, son, and her pack of three dogs. When Washington weather allows, Stefanie and her husband enjoy boating on Puget Sound.
Debbie Crowl
Debbie Crowl is a paralegal and claims negotiator with over 37 years of experience handling personal injury claims. She enjoys helping people through the difficulties of the claim process and finds satisfaction in forming relationships with clients and shares in the joy that comes with getting people everything they deserve. Over the years, Debbie has handled a wide range of duties from litigation, management, to her current role as a claim handler and negotiator. She is a natural at negotiating, quick thinking and persistent and works hard on behalf of every client and takes pride in helping clients fight against insurance carriers.
Debbie graduated with an Associates of Applied Science degree from Highline Community College and started her career in asbestos defense litigation but quickly realized she was working for the wrong side and moved into plaintiff personal injury work. She hasn’t looked back since taking that leap and enjoys the many aspects of the claim process and working closely with clients to obtain the best possible results.
Debbie spends her free time gardening and has a love for horses having grown up on a small farm. When she isn’t traveling to a horse competition with her daugther, she enjoys relaxing in the sun. Debbie also enjoys time with her daughter and five grandchildren which keep her busy.
Tia Curry
Tia Curry was born and raised in Tacoma, WA, and has lived in Tacoma for over 30 years. After graduating high school, Tia attended Tacoma Community College while working in the medical industry. After working in the medical field for a number of years and seeing the difficulty some of those patients were having navigating the legal aspects of their injuries, Tia decided to pursue a career in the personal injury legal field. Tia is dedicated to helping injured individuals through this difficult time and enjoys the rewards of making a positive difference in their lives.
When Tia is not at work, her number one passion is her son, who is very active in a variety of sports. Tia loves cheering for him, and his teams and attending the various games. She is an avid Seattle Seahawks supporter and loves spending time with family and friends.
Tia also enjoys the outdoors (gardening, camping, and hiking), acrylic painting, cooking, Netflix and reading.
Sandra Garrison
Sandra Garrison was born in Montana, but soon after, her family moved to Aberdeen, Washington, where she lived until she moved to the Seattle area in the early 80s. Sandra has always been very creative and started her career sewing custom bridal gowns, eventually transitioning into retail sales of wedding dresses.
After the birth of her son, she re-evaluated what she wanted out of a career and decided it was time for a change. Sandra started working for a major insurance company as a customer service representative. Working for the insurance companies, she realized it was hard to make an impact and often felt like she was fighting an uphill battle. In 1994, Sandra enrolled in Lake Washington Technical College and obtained her Legal Secretary Certificate.
Sandra has been a workers’ compensation paralegal for over 20 years and provides endless knowledge to Palace Law. She is dedicated to customer service and has spent her career specializing in claimant’s workers’ compensation cases. Sandra works diligently to ensure that her clients receive all the benefits that they are entitled to from the Department of Labor and Industries. She successfully handles all issues in claims such as; back time loss, employability issues, vocational meetings, Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals mediation conferences and resolution of claims with appropriate permanent partial disability awards. Her favorite part of her job is being of service to our clients, and she loves the relationships she is able to build through helping people.
Although Sandra’s son is now grown, she was a single mother who understands the challenges of living off one income and the necessity of perseverance. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family and friends. But of course, she still loves to get her creative juices flowing with sewing, crafts, and scrapbooking.
Cheryl Gorder
Cheryl Gorder is a workers’ compensation paralegal at Palace Law. She is a member of the Washington State Association for Justice and also belongs to the Washington State Paralegal Association.
Cheryl is the Palace Law “black box” that gives our trial team the winning edge. There is no substitute for her decades of trial support. She is dedicated to, and passionate about, the work she does on behalf of client’s cases and the legal process itself. She enjoys the client contact and the day to day interaction with the attorneys and staff that she is working for and with, as well interaction with opposing counsel, court staff, various medical administrators, and physicians, as well as experts, brought in to assist in cases.
Outside of work, Cheryl is a grandmother to 3 and wants her grandchildren to grow up with two very important qualities: a sense of adventure and a commitment to the well-being of others.
Courtney Leiphart
Courtney Leiphart has been passionate about injury claims since her own workplace injury 17 years ago. Understanding the challenges people face following being hurt on the job and a desire to help others, she received her paralegal degree from Tacoma Community College in 2016. And, in 2022 she joined Palace Law. When she is not helping clients, Courtney enjoys spending time with her three teenage children, four rescue cats and German Sheppard. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she also focuses on outdoor photography, skydiving, and exploring all the region has to offer.
Lusine Martirosyan
Lusine Martirosyan was born and raised in Armenia, where her curiosity, passion for learning, and natural problem-solving abilities shaped her path. These qualities, combined with a commitment to helping others, led her to a fulfilling career as a paralegal. Lusine finds great satisfaction in supporting individuals through their legal journeys and ensuring they receive the justice they deserve.
Lusine speaks four languages, which allows her to connect with diverse individuals and facilitate effective communication and understanding. Her linguistic skills enhance her ability to provide comprehensive assistance to clients from various backgrounds.
Outside of work, Lusine enjoys spending quality time with friends and family. She loves skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer. Deeply connected to her community, Lusine dedicates time to educating young adults in Armenian language, history, and culture, sharing her heritage and staying true to her roots.
Driven by a profound desire to make a difference, Lusine is motivated by the success of providing essential assistance to those in need. Through her multifaceted experiences and unwavering values, she strives to create positive change and promote equality and understanding in all aspects of her life.
Tanya Mitchell
Tanya Mitchell is the Senior Worker’s Compensation Litigation Paralegal at Palace Law. She manages the workers compensation litigation team and is the right-hand supporting attorneys in appeals and other litigation. Tanya is a fierce defender and strong advocate for the injured people she works for With well over a decade of service to injured workers, Tanya represents Palace Law’s Core Value of “Relentless, Persistent and Self-Motivated.”
Tanya was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington and graduated from Pierce College. Tanya and her husband raised two sons in Tacoma and now have the pleasure of spending time with their grandchildren.
Tanya loves to paint and spend time with her grandchildren.
Diana Padilla
Diana Padilla originally started out working in the legal field as a receptionist at a personal injury law firm. With hard work and her constant curiosity, she advanced to helping clients navigate their auto claims. She moved her way up quickly to becoming a legal assistant where she loved working one on one with clients assisting in liability, property damage and medical treatment. Today at Palace Law she focuses on complex medical-legal issues and manages the personal injury team’s medical records and medical billing. She is a beloved by her fellow Palace Law team members for her daily upbeat morning messages and her relentless smile.
On her off-time Diana is a dedicated mother and enjoys spending time with her husband, kids and extended family traveling, exploring and trying new things. If you ask her about camping at her lake property, barbecuing, or kayaking, you will see her passion for the outdoors.
Aria Rolfes
Aria Rolfes is a workers compensation paralegal. Her passion for helping others has been the hallmark of her career path. As she gained breadth of experience working in other areas of law, she found her passion for helping injured workers navigate the workers compensation system. Aria is a student at heart and continues to grow her education. She is currently enrolled at Western Governors University, finishing her bachelor’s in business administration, but intends to continue onto Law School.
Aria has a beautiful daughter and is an active community volunteer. Sometimes she is distributing food at food banks or free meal events, and at others she volunteers at recovery centers, or community youth outreach programs. Regardless of where or how she serves, Aria places service to others as her calling.
Zan Ross
Zan Ross is a workers’ compensation paralegal with a strong tech background. Zan has helped design many of the systems Palace Law uses to streamline cases to get faster and better results for our people. She is clear that she has her own visons to change the world in big and small ways. She has made significant contributions to Palace Law and has a bright future of legal innovation ahead of her.
Zan loves being a part of the Palace Law team, where she is inspired by Patrick’s enthusiasm to make the law better for injured workers and Jordan’s daily passion for justice in every case he touches.
If you know Zan, who know that she builds relationships with the people who entrust her with their cases and their livelihood. She is the first to honor that trust. She is also the one you can count on to stand up to any company’s opposition to doing the right thing. On her watch, Palace Law injured workers get the justice they deserve in a system where they are often rushed with little to no empathy. She is passionate about protecting workers’ basic rights, because too often people’s basic and legal rights are overrun or ignored by those in power.
Zan is a licensed Limited License Legal Technician (LLLT). She was independently licensed and can practice law without the supervision of a lawyer and can practice in her own law firm. However, Zan has chosen to team up with Palace Law to offer her skills to injured workers in the innovative and progressive environment that Palace Law uniquely provides.
Outside of work, Zan loves to write, paint, and volunteer in programs that benefit children. She also has three children of her own.
Chelsi Russell
Chelsi Russell grew up watching her mother fight on behalf of injured workers as a workers’ compensation paralegal and was inspired to carry on the legacy of advocating for the injured in our community. She got her first job in law in 2015 and has singularly focused her advocacy for injured workers since then. Today she is involved in a wide variety of workers compensations cases including self-insured cases, State fund L&I cases and cases in litigation.
Chelsi’s passion for justice is obvious in everything she does, from the way she dives deeply into each new case to the way she fights to the very end to get everything our injured workers deserve. She is quiet and sweet until she sees one of our injured workers mistreated under the law. To those claims managers who work with her, they know not to underestimate her work ethic or to dismiss her passion to do the right thing.
Chelsi is a Washington native, a mother to three children who light up her world. She is a connoisseur of the burger (ie the Guy Fieri of local burger bars) and is happy to discuss the perfect French fry. You can find her at [email protected].
Emily Russell
Emily Russell grew up in a small logging town, graduated from her local high school and moved away to attend Eastern Washington University (where she met her husband). Always striving for personal growth, she transferred to the University of Washington where she graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Law, Societies and Justice. Because of her desire to help people, and because she got a great job offer, she became a Licensed Optician and helped patients for several years with vision issues. However, Law and justice has always been her dream. So, in 2016 she started at Palace Law. She has worked full-time and also continued her education. In 2020, she returned to the University of Washington and obtained her certificate as a Private Investigator. Throughout this time, she has worked her way through Palace Law and today is a Workers Compensation Paralegal. She is passionate about making sure everyone has access to the care that they need and the legal services they deserve. Those injured workers she has helped will tell you that the combination of medical experience, investigative skills and years in the legal field have made her an unusually effective advocate for the injured.
Emily has lived in Tacoma for the past 15 years with her husband and is a dedicated mother of two amazing daughters. Emily loves to spend time with a good book (often about wrongful convictions), going to the beach, cooking with her husband and running… lots of running.
Jonathan Tretheway
Jonathan Tretheway is a paralegal in the personal injury department of Palace Law with a focus on litigation. In 2006, after several years in the building materials industry, he chose to pursue a career in the legal field. In 2008, after graduating from Tacoma Community College with an Associate of Applied Science in Paralegal Studies (with honors), he began his career fighting for plaintiffs in matters concerning workplace discrimination, civil rights, and personal injury.
Jonathan has diverse skills and extensive experience in the litigation process and is the perfect team member to help guide our clients through the challenges of taking a case to court. He can explain the often-difficult litigation process in a down to earth way helping to put our clients at ease.
When Jonathan is not hard at work for his clients, he enjoys playing guitar, having a beer at newly discovered Northwest craft brewery, and hiking in the PNW trails with his wife, Kelsey, and their little dog Bailey.
Jonathan and Kelsey met in December 2016 at Doyle’s Pub in Tacoma watching the Seattle Sounders win the MLS cup. They are both avid soccer fans and Sounders FC season ticket holders.
Kimberly Vorheis
Kimberly Vorheis has worked in the legal profession for over 20 years. Although she started as a legal assistant, she quickly gained interest in the claims process and found herself managing personal injury claims from start to finish. Kim finds great satisfaction in getting injured people compensated, getting their bills paid, and making sure that insurance companies are not withholding any benefits or payments that are due under the law.
Kim makes a promise to everyone she works with that under her watch she will protect them and take away the unnecessary stress. She is known as a tough negotiator, especially by those who have tried to stand up against her. Her secret tool is her incredible smile, huge heart and sunny personality coupled with grit and tenacity. Those claims adjusters that underestimate her, often end up paying the best settlements.
Since 2007, Kim has been managing a caseload from the beginning through settlement. She drafts and prepares settlement demands and then negotiates settlements with claims adjusters. Kim prides herself on her communication skills and loves to give people a better understanding of how the claims process works.
When Kim isn’t working, you can catch her and her husband on the hunt for the best slice of pizza in town. They have many dogs that they love to spoil, and they spend as much time as they can with their family. She also may or may not have binge-watched “The Office” more times than she would admit.
Brittani Walters
Brittani Walters was born and raised in Kansas where she attended Wichita State University and received a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish with a minor in Japanese. In 2018, she moved to Washington and began additional education in the legal field. She obtained her paralegal certificate from Renton Technical College and began working for Palace Law. Brittani works with the Workers Compensation Litigation Team and supports our attorneys in trials and hearings from the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, Superior Court and to the Court of Appeals.
Outside of work, Brittani enjoys being at home either reading or spending time with her two dogs, cat, and pet pig. She also likes to travel but never for too long, because she loves her urban farm life.