Our Team
Chris is a Santa Rosa native. He attended the California Maritime Academy earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Transportation. As a licensed merchant marine officer, he traveled globally eventually returning to Santa Rosa.
Chris was a decorated police officer and deputy sheriff; his accomplishments include the Outstanding Service Award from the Santa Rosa Police Department and Distinguished Service Award from his work in the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. Chris served as a violent crime’s detective, crisis negotiator, patrol officer and was a lead investigator on homicides, officer involved shootings, complex domestic disputes and more.
Chris’ decision to leave law enforcement for a career as an attorney was driven by his personal experience involving the custody of his child.
While attending law school at night, Chris voluntarily transferred to Civil Court as a bailiff, where he observed thousands of civil and family law actions at the Sonoma County Superior Courts.
Chris holds a Master of Legal Studies and a Juris Doctorate of Law and is a member of the California State Bar Association. Chris is an articulate negotiator with experience in litigation who is also dedicated to maintaining his reputation of integrity, a dogged advocacy for his client, and uncompromising ethics.
Chris was also a staff sergeant in the Army National Guard and was honorably discharged.
Zack was born and raised in San Francisco but has made Santa Rosa his home for the past fifteen years, owning and operating successful businesses and developing multiple ties to the community before deciding to become an attorney.
Early on in his legal career, Zack spent four years with Legal Aid of Sonoma County under the umbrella of the State Bar of California’s Practical Training program. Based upon his calming presence and ability to put people at ease, Zack was asked to work in the Domestic Violence division in which he handled thousands of Domestic Violence cases. Zack was also assigned to the District Attorney’s Family Justice Center division. In this role he assessed clients, gathered evidence, prepared documents and court filings, represented clients in court, and led countless mediations and settlements.
In 2013, Zack was honored at the Sonoma County Bar Association’s Pro Bono Awards Luncheon and “recognized for being a ‘master of all trades’ for Legal Aid of Sonoma County.”
Zack’s greatest strength is his ability to negotiate a favorable settlement for his clients. This comes in great use when dealing with Personal Injury cases, Car Accident cases, or serious Criminal Charges. As a former businessman, he is adept at discerning the issues most important to the opposing party and then promoting a solution to those issues. Having experience with people from all walks of life, he is an expert at listening and finding points of commonality.
Zack holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Master of Legal Studies, a Juris Doctorate, and is a member of the California State Bar Association.
Zack recognizes that knowledge of the law is necessary to enable people to make the best decisions when faced with a criminal or domestic cases, and he is committed to providing that knowledge to his clients.
Jeremy Fietz is a record-setting trial lawyer dedicated to representing and protecting people that have been the victims of negligence by both individuals and greedy corporations. Jeremy has handled many death and serious injury cases involving everything from auto collisions to nursing home abuse, to dangerous drugs and medical devices.
Jeremy’s cases have been reported in newspaper headlines and he has been personally featured on over 50 radio and television interviews. He has been lead counsel on cases from Santa Rosa, California to New Jersey (and many states in between).
Jeremy is an invited member of several trial lawyer organizations including, the American Association for Justice (since 1996), the Consumer Attorneys of California, and many others.
In his years of practice, Jeremy saw that people often did not know how to go about finding the right lawyer for their case. He witnessed other lawyers, inexperienced with certain types of cases and unwilling to admit this fact, failing for their clients. And in every instance he saw just how much the client suffered due to the lawyer’s lack of skills and experience. He made a commitment to himself that he would never be one of those lawyers; nor would anyone on his team.
Jeremy holds the record in Sonoma County for the highest jury award of $10.6 million dollars, including $646,446 in economic damages and $10 million in non-economic damages.
Kathy Zedrick
Paralegal / Firm Manager
Kathy has resided in Sonoma County since 1975. She is married, has three children and is family oriented.
Kathy completed the Legal Secretarial Program at Santa Rosa Junior College and in 1982 began her legal career with Ryersen & Comstock and with their later predecessors, Wigdahl & Passarino, until 1996. Kathy began working with Margret England since 1997 focusing on all aspects of Family Law matters.
Kathy has continued her legal education through the Sonoma County Bar Association continuing education programs, Redwood Empire Association of Paralegals and has participated in the Sonoma County Legal Secretaries’ Association (Past President), the Bay Area Legal Secretaries’ Forum, the Santa Rosa Junior College Advisory Committee (Past President), is an active participant in a Sonoma County Office Administrators’ Group and is a Notary Public.
Kathy’s dedication to the family structure and her ability to relate compassionately with clients, help clients to realize that although the family dynamics may be changing, the focus and importance of the family structure should remain the same.
Leslie McCrary
Civil Litigation Paralegal
Leslie McCrary started work as a legal secretary in 1972 for her father, an attorney, in San Francisco, California. His was a general practice specializing in personal injury but also included family, employment, and real estate law.
Leslie went on to get her Paralegal Certificate with honors from Cañada College in Redwood City, California in 1986. She went to work for Galligan & Biscay in Millbrae, California before moving to Sonoma County in 1988.
She began work for the former president of the Sonoma County Bar Association and an expert in personal injury litigation. When that attorney retired, Leslie was hired by Lanahan & Reilley. Leslie eventually moved to another law firm that specialized in probate, estate planning, and a wide variety of services for the wine industry. Leslie missed working on mass tort and personal injury cases and began to work for attorney Jeremy Fietz in 2008. She was the primary paralegal for the firm and assists to manage cases through the MDL process.
Allie Zaragosa
Bilingual Law Clerk
Allie’s family moved to Sonoma County from Cotija, Michoacan at the young age of 3 years old. Allie grew up in Sebastopol and went to Analy High School.
She discovered her passion for criminal defense work when she took on a role at the Marin County Public Defender’s office in 2008. Shortly thereafter she began taking courses at the Santa Rosa Junior College in Paralegal Studies and English Literature. She received her Associate Degree in English in June 2012.
From 2009-2011 Allie worked for the County of Marin as a Paralegal for Conflict Attorney Tara Higgins.
In December of 2011 Allie decided to come back to Sonoma County and began working at Adams Fietz Trial Lawyers as their Office Manager.
In 2019 Allie began law school at Empire School of Law. She received her Master’s degree in Legal Studies in April 2021. She will receive her Juris Doctorate in Law in April of 2023 and sit for the July 2023 Bar exam.
As the oldest of five siblings in an immigrant family, she is no stranger to the struggles that the Hispanic community endures daily. Her own family’s struggle coupled with those suffered by the community are what have fueled her passion and drive in becoming an attorney.
Recently Allie has joined our team. She is bilingual and has a great deal of experience running a Criminal Defense firm as well as knowledge in Personal Injury cases. We are excited to have her.
Allie is married with two young children and a golden-doodle named Cocoa. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, going to her favorite CrossFit gym, camping and listening to live music.
Kayla Patel
Legal Administrative Assistant
Born and raised in Sonoma County, Kayla is an up and coming Legal Administrative Assistant in the legal field, with 4 years of experience assisting students, clients, and attorneys. Her first small introduction into the legal world began at Empire Law School, providing support to students and staff. And was soon fully immersed into law when she started working with attorney Richard Freeman, and later on attorney Ryan Wilber.
Kayla is planning on continuing her legal education this Fall at the Santa Rosa Junior College, pursuing Paralegal studies.
Kayla is a very personable and empathetic person, allowing her to understand the stress and struggles clients face with all types of legal cases and takes pride in being a calming, kind presence in these trying times.
Dan Shacklett
Investigation Team
Dan was born and raised in Sonoma County. In 1989, Dan was hired as a full-time police officer for the City of Santa Rosa and retired in 2018.
Dan was a plain clothes narcotics detective, property crimes detective, and environmental crimes detective. The detective assignments were all in an undercover capacity. These assignments consisted of countless hours of surveillance and the ability to be in public and private situations without being detected.
Also, Dan spent many years on patrol responding to calls for service and resolving many types of situations. Dan was also a Field Training Officer, Firearms instructor, and a background investigator.
Dan knows the value of having material information in your divorce, child custody, criminal or civil case. Dan can obtain this information, so you do not have to put yourself in a compromising position. Having a private investigator as part of your team is an invaluable asset that could make the difference between winning or losing your case.
Brett Bartlett
Polygraph Examiner / Investigation Team
Brett is a retired Police Officer with almost 20 years of Law Enforcement experience.
Brett has worked as a Detective, Patrol Officer, and as a Correctional Deputy. Collateral assignments included Undercover Narcotics, Hostage Negotiations, Crisis Intervention, and Community
Orientated Policing (COPS). He has testified in criminal court throughout his career and has been
recognized as an expert in narcotics trafficking.
Brett has in-depth, specialized training in Interviewing and Interrogation, Hostage Negotiations,
Crisis Intervention, Gangs, Mental Health, Drug Endangered Children, Narcotic Investigations, Social
Media, Child Protective Service related issues, and sex crimes.
Brett owns and operates To The Point Polygraph, Inc. He has conducted over 1500 polygraph
examinations for Law Enforcement Agencies, Fire Departments, Governmental Agencies, Mental Health Providers, Civil Clients, and Attorneys.
If your case has a need for a private, civil, or criminal related polygraph examination, please reach out to us to discuss if a polygraph examination is right for your situation.
