LEGAL ADVICE WITH SISKIYOU LAW
December 2024
It’s been a long and winding road for local attorney Sarah Vaile of Siskiyou Law (223 5th Street, Suite 3). A resident of Ashland since 2008, she briefly relocated to Minneapolis last spring to be closer to family but decided that Ashland was where she really wanted to be.
“I’m originally from the Midwest,” she said, “growing up in Marion, Indiana, and attending college at Indiana University (Go Hoosiers!). I met Joseph (my husband) before law school at Pace University in New York and spent the next few years trying to figure out how to get out to where he lives in this beautiful place that is southern Oregon. After a brief stint in Klamath Falls clerking for the judges there, I found my way to the Rogue Valley.”
Since graduating from law school in 2007, Sarah has done lots of different types of work in the legal field, including criminal defense, legal aid, housing law, family law, agricultural, environmental law and land use.
“In 2012 I went to work for another attorney, Robert Good, where I learned the ropes in estate planning and probate, and spent the next five years there focused on that type of work which I enjoyed and felt like a good fit for me,” she said. “I eventually left the firm to focus on being a mom and spending time with my two young sons (now 10 and 13), but estate work kept coming back to me, with a friend here and there needing a will or trust. That grew into more and more work and eventually I needed an office space and from there Siskiyou Law emerged. It really grew out of a need to serve my network of friends and the greater community, and that service piece is what continues to motivate me to do this work.”
The focus of Siskiyou Law is wills and trusts, which includes both estate planning and estate administration.
“On the estate planning side, I help clients protect their assets and loved ones in case of their death or disability, and develop either a will plan or a trust plan, which includes not only a will or a trust but a range of other related documents,” Sarah said. “On the estate administration side, I help clients who have lost a loved one, and need to handle the legal aspects of their estate, through either opening a probate in court or privately administering a trust.”
Sarah’s legal assistant, Janet, sets up the initial consultation.
“An important goal of mine is to always meet the client where they are,” Sarah said. “Some clients are comfortable in the digital world and prefer Zoom meetings and communicating through Clio, the Cloud-based law practice management software platform that we use. Other clients prefer in-person meetings and want their documents to be mailed out to them for review. We can accommodate all of that and can even go to the client and meet them in their home if that is what they need. Maintaining the highest level of client care and ensuring that clients feel heard and attended to promptly is another important goal that we always strive to meet.”
Siskiyou Law can also help clients who are starting small businesses and need to set up an LLC or nonprofit organization and need advice and assistance around all of those pieces. “Occasionally I will handle guardianships, conservatorships, adoptions and other non-contested court proceedings,” Sarah said. “I do not do contested cases/litigation, so if that is what you need there are a number of other attorneys in the valley that are available to handle those matters.”
The phone number at Siskiyou Law is 541-482-2406. You can also see them at siskiyoulaw.net and on Facebook and Instagram.