September 29, 2022 by Natalie Cochran
Lone Star Legal Aid’s Military and Veterans Unit: Meet the Team
The Houston metro area is home to the nation’s second-largest veteran population and Texas’ largest. Our Military & Veterans Unit (MVU) provides free civil legal services to low-income United States military veterans, their dependents, and surviving spouses throughout Texas.
We can help with:
- Veteran benefits;
- Bankruptcy,
- Expunctions & Non-Disclosures of misdemeanor and felony cases;
- Custody & Child Support;
- Consumer Issues, including consumer debt defense, contracts & warranties, home repair, and lemon law;
- Divorce & family issues;
- Education, including special education disputes, school discipline;
- Employment, such as unemployment claims, wage theft issues, wrongful discharge;
- Housing;
- Public benefits;
- Wills & probate; and
- Crime victim services
*Upon application, we will request a copy of the veteran’s DD-214 or a military or dependent ID card to verify veteran connection or status. If you do not have a copy of the veteran’s DD-214, we can help you get one for free.
Meet the Team
- Andrew Moore
- Dedra Gale
- Sondra Haltom
- Jalanda Johnson
- Nicole Ketchum
- John Hayden
- Marcella Turner
- Khadijah Brown
- Lori Fergie
- Phillips
- Anna Martinez
- James Meredith
- Reshae Ridley
- Geraldine Valle
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ANDREW MOORE
Andrew Moore is the Managing Attorney of LSLA’s Military & Veterans Unit (MVU), and recently assumed this role after serving as a staff attorney in the unit for more than four years. He oversees MVU’s attorneys, paralegals, and support staff that serve veterans and their family members across LSLA’s 72 Texas counties. He directs his staff’s community outreach and advocacy activities; supervises screening and acceptance of new client cases; monitors the quality and timeliness of his staff’s legal work; ensures compliance with regulations, policies, and funder requirements; builds and maintains beneficial relationships within the legal and veteran services communities throughout our service area; and handles his own caseload. Mr. Moore previously served as an advocate in the Veteran Law Clinic at South Texas College of Law, where he earned his law degree and worked with Beacon Law as a legal intern. He also gained relevant experience, working as a law clerk in the Child Support Division of the Texas Office of the Attorney General.
DEDRA GALE
Dedra Gale is the Assistant to Managing Attorney for MVU. She started her journey working in the non-profit sector as a Project Manager for an organization that addresses the long-term recovery of communities struck by natural disasters. Many of her clients there were veterans, so she jumped on the opportunity to serve veterans again at LSLA. When she is not working, she is busy raising foster children. She enjoys cooking, baking, and attending church.
SONDRA HALTOM
Sondra Haltom is an attorney with MVU and has been with the unit since 2019. In MVU, she works on various issues including veterans’ matters, consumer debt, housing, Social Security disability claims, probate matters, and family law. Sondra received her Juris Doctor from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.
JOLANDA JOHNSON
Jalanda Johnson is from California and considers herself a military brat. Her dad served in the Air Force for 23 years, and Jalanda married an Army soldier. She has two young adults: her son is a disabled Air Force veteran, and her daughter is an active duty Army soldier. Jalanda is a paralegal with MVU in Belton and has been with LSLA since October 2016. While assigned to the Belton office, she assists most of the unit’s attorneys. She loves that MVU can provide quality assistance to veterans and active duty soldiers of our community.
NICOLE KETCHUM
Nicole “Nikky” Ketchum is the Legal Intake Assistance for MVU and has been in this position for three years. Her responsibilities include interviewing and evaluating potential clients, scheduling initial consultation appointments with attorneys, onboarding new clients, and networking with other law firms to grow referrals. Nikky has three kids, which include a set of twins. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, cooking new recipes, swimming and helping others. The words she lives by are: “You never know what life may bring, so always bring a smile wherever you go.”
JOHN HAYDON
John Haydon is a Staff Attorney for MVU at the Belton Office. John spends most of his time helping veterans in Central Texas facing eviction. As a former Assistant Attorney General, John is an expert in child support law. He regularly uses this expertise to assist veterans hoping to receive or pay their fair share of child support. As an adjunct professor for Baylor Law School, John also helps law students learn to write persuasively. John is a Fightin’ Texas Aggie from the class of 2011 and graduated from Baylor Law School in 2018.
MARCELLA TURNER
Marcella L. Turner has been a Staff Attorney for MVU since October 2021. Prior to joining LSLA, Marcella worked for the State of Texas, where she gained invaluable experience, which she now uses to assist veterans in various legal matters. She holds a B.A. in Political Science with a minor from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University located in Normal, Alabama. She received her J.D. from Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, Texas. When Marcella is not advocating for veterans, she enjoys traveling and trying out new foodie spots around Houston.
If you or someone you know has issues with your mortgage, property taxes, or homeowner’s association, you can apply for free legal assistance by visiting www.lonestarlegal.org or calling 1-800-733-8394.
Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations by providing free legal education, advice, and representation. LSLA serves millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines, who live in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties in Southwest Arkansas. LSLA focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety, stability, health, and wellbeing; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those with disabilities, the aging, survivors of crime and disasters, the unemployed and underemployed, the unhoused, those with limited English language skills, and the LGBTQIA+ community. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.LoneStarLegal.org.
Media contact: media@lonestarlegal.org
