LAS Welcomes a New Managing Attorney

After acting as Interim Managing Attorney since the first week in January, Maureen Carden officially accepted the position of Managing Attorney in late February. LAS staff couldn’t be more thrilled with her promotion. Maureen is a caring, intelligent, dedicated member of the staff with a keen sense of humor. 

We asked Maureen to tell us a little about herself.

“I was born in Montreal and moved to Quebec City as a young teenager. As a child I spent a lot of time in the country. I learned to catch frogs by hand, a skill which impressed my kids more than graduating from law school. I got a BA from Bishop’s University, Quebec, in 1968. I spent a whole year in Aix en Provence. It was great!  I was a real hick when I went there, and to be exposed to European culture was just fantastic. I got a master’s degree from Edinburgh University in Scotland where I learned to like haggis very much. I stayed on to work in London and met my husband Malcolm.

“We moved to Montreal after a couple of years; both our children were born there. I had a pretty successful sideline as a translator. We came down here in 1979 because Malcolm’s job moved to San Francisco. We were so amazed to see oranges growing on trees in people’s yards that we decided to stay forever, especially after it became January and it still wasn’t snowing. We’ve lived in the same house all this time.

“I went to law school at age 38, when my children were 8 and 10, and graduated in 1988. I thought it would suit me; I’m not sure why. I started out with a firm of litigators and hated it. I was in San Francisco for the 1989 earthquake which convinced me I wanted to be on the east side of the Bay. I worked for a firm for a while and then went out on my own. That was never a big success financially because I have no business sense. I handled conservatorship and guardianship cases and then moved over to Social Security Disability/SSI. I got fed up working on my own. In 2001 I saw a job at LAS on Craigslist, so here I am.”

When asked how she spends the non-working hours?

“My family is the biggest thing in my life. That’s Malcolm; daughter Angela (who is married to Jeremy); son Nick (who is married to Joy); my mom in Peterborough, Ontario; my brother, his wife and my two nephews in Toronto; and my whole tribe of cousins in Quebec and elsewhere. I see so many older people who have no family and it seems like the saddest thing in the world.”

Besides knitting (last year Maureen led the staff in making oodles of hats for premature babies) and being involved with the Scottish community in the area, what other hobbies and interests does Maureen pursue in her now even more limited free time?

“I paint and draw seriously and also knit seriously. I bought a knitting machine! I’m totally excited because of the possibility it offers of actually getting a large project finished. Don’t worry—it is every bit as hard to do as hand knitting.”

Congratulations, Maureen!