Valerie Gerard Kushel
Founding Attorney
Valerie is an experienced estate planning attorney who combines personalized service with a compassionate approach. With a Masters of Law (LL.M.) in Taxation, Valerie is well-equipped to advise her clients regarding the most efficient and effective means of protecting and transferring wealth. Valerie ensures her clients feel educated and empowered through the process as she builds long-term relationships with her clients through tailored advice and friendship.
Prior to founding VGK Law, Valerie worked at a large law firm in San Francisco and a boutique estate planning firm in Marin. A leader in her field, Valerie currently serves as a Chair of the Marin County Bar Association Probate and Estate Planning Section and speaks regularly on the subject of estate planning and trust administration.
Valerie lives in Corte Madera with her husband and two young sons and is proud to serve the community where she lives. A Bay Area native, Valerie previously lived in Los Angeles and London, England before putting down firm roots in Marin.
Education
London School of Economics - LL.M. in Taxation
University of Southern California - Juris Doctor
University of California, Berkeley - B.A., Political Economy of Industrial Societies
Current Activities & Affiliations
Marin County Bar Association, Board Member; Former Trust and Probate Chair
Southern Marin Mothers' Club, Member
Corte Madera Larkspur Mom’s Club, Member
Joy in The Law
Sofia Hatley
Legal Assistant
Sofia comes to VGK Law from the financial sector, having spent six years at financial firms throughout the Bay Area. Focusing on client facing roles, Sofia has assisted in creating accounts and analyzing investments. She is passionate about providing the best possible experience for her clients. Sofia’s education includes a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University in International Relations and East Asian Studies. During her studies, she spent one year in Asia working with a labor union in Tokyo and completing a cultural studies course in China.
Sofia is a Marin native having grown up in San Rafael. She now resides in Novato with her husband and daughter. She enjoys traveling, baking, reading and spending time with her family.
Colleen Tobin Finney
Paralegal
Colleen began her secretarial career with the California Attorney General’s Office in San Francisco. She then went on to work as a legal secretary for a small law firm in Monterey, California, where she also began her studies as a paralegal. Colleen was one out of a total of only 85 legal secretaries and paralegals nationwide to take the first certified legal assistants’ examination, and was the first paralegal in the State of California to pass the examination.
Colleen has worked as an estate planning and probate paralegal for her entire working career. She has worked in large law firms in San Francisco and Palo Alto, as well as small law firms in Mill Valley and San Rafael. Colleen has exceptional rapport with clients and is a highly trained and very competent paralegal.
Colleen was raised in Fairfax and now resides in Novato with her husband. She has been an officer and director of Soroptimist International of Marin County and currently of the SI Novato Club for over 15 years, and enjoys volunteering her time to raise funds to support the continuing education of women and girls in Marin County and around the world.
Peggy Droesch
Paralegal
Peggy joined VGK Law in 2020 with five years’ experience as an estate planning paralegal, after twenty years at an East Bay firm specializing in tax law. Before embarking on a legal career she worked in biotechnology as a research scientist and senior quality control microbiologist. Peggy graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science and earned a Master’s in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She brings a wealth of life experience and a scientist’s attention to detail to her work at VGK Law.
A native of San Rafael, Peggy and her husband live in the house she grew up in. She enjoys international travel, extensive reading on a wide variety of subjects, growing and preserving organic produce, and is an enthusiastic researcher in her home laboratory, the kitchen.