Senior Paralegal.

Joshua graduated from Blackstone Career Institute with 3 paralegal diplomas. General paralegal, Advanced Criminal Law and Advanced Civil Litigation. Joshua has 20 years of paralegal experience in the legal field. Joshua specializes in complex criminal court cases and Complex Civil Litigation cases. As well as appeals at all federal and state levels. Joshua is also our community and reentry services director. Joshua spent 18 years as an inmate in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections where he has successfully litigated hundreds of cases while helping other inmates nation wide. Joshua has a network of supervising attorneys across all 50 states that he works with.

Senior Paralegal

Phillis handles all divorce and family law cases for Sherin and Associates LLC. Phyllis Smith Pemberton has more 30 years of business ownership plus 25 years of progressively increased responsibilities and experience in the creation, organization, start-up, direction, management and supervision of non-profit agencies and social service programs which have included grant writing and management, program development, public relations, project management, and private funder development. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of Warhorse Creek, a rehabilitation program for wild mustangs and wounded warriors in California. She was raised in an Air Force family living in Europe for 8 years and has served as a GS-9 for the Department of Defense as an entertainment/recreation director in Korea and Vietnam for five years during which time she became the youngest recipient of the Sustained Superior Performance Award for her work in Korean-American relations and production of USO tours in the Pacific. Beginning college at Winthrop University in South Carolina, she received her BS in speech and communication at New York University, studied for her master’s in Management at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee and law studies at Concord University, CA. She won two competitive scholarships: American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York for Acting and Winthrop for voice/music. She has been licensed to sell Real Estate, has taught secondary, elementary, and special education, and was trained in suicide/crisis intervention and in hostage negotiation by the FBI. Her program innovations, developments have included founding and building and orphanage in Korea (1965) Public Relations, for Goodwill of New Orleans (1977-78), chartering and funding an independent an YWCA and crisis intervention service, and Altrusa club in Houma, Louisiana (1977-84). She has directed programs and agencies working with Native Americans (Houmas Indians), creating countless special events for many causes: in Columbus, Ohio YWCA(1990-92) as grant writer, coordinating the Women of Achievement Luncheon, Ruth McLean lecture series and other events/programs serving women and children’s issues; executive director of Central Ohio Radio Reading Service, a public radio station in Columbus, Ohio (1991-92; as executive director for Cystic Fibrosis in Central Ohio (1988-89); as Director of Financial Development for The Women’s Center domestic violence, displaced homemakers, parents, teen mothers, substance abuse in Waukesha WI (1985-1988); and developed a business incubator which was the precursor of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative, and Phyllis Smith Pemberton Phyllis Smith Pemberton, Bio: page 2 Milwaukee Women’s Fund. She was instrumental in drafting and implementing the 1983 revision of the temporary restraining order statute in the State of Louisiana and served as a national consultant to the White House Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) with the US Department of Human Services from 1992-1994. Since 1993 to 2016 as the founder and president of the international foundation, ARROW (American/Russian Recovery Options at Work) Foundation, she has provided business and English training, exchanges, humanitarian aid, and currently manages a revolving micro-loan fund which assists entrepreneurship and new farmers in the countries of the former Soviet Union. In that capacity, she has traveled to Russia annually and taught for a semester at the Irkutsk State University, International Business Institute and was a regular guest lecturer at various universities and institutes in the Russian Federation. In 1995, she served as a consultant to USAID for conflict resolution serving the Aga Khan Foundation, World Relief, and Red Crescent agencies in Azerbaijian’ Iranian and Armenian borders. As the Executive Director of FAVR (Friends Against Violent Relationships) in Fond du Lac, WI from 1994-1996, she manages multiple state, federal and private grants, served on various boards, committees and developed a coalition to provide a coordinated community response to domestic abuse which continues today. During that period of time, she served on the coalition against homelessness and was the Fond du Lac County chair of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). She purchased a small legal document preparation company in 1996 – current). As The Pemberton Group, and its subsidiaries advanced that company as: Pro Se Support Services and Affordable Divorce Assistance, Deployment Group Construction and La Casbah, a middle eastern restaurant. Following her studies for a law degree through the Univ, of Indian-Perdue in 2006 she became an advocate for the underserved as well as a certified Wisconsin mediator. In 2007, she took ownership and management of a large construction company for the express purpose of servicing one client which renovated 7 apartment complexes in southern Wisconsin under HUD grant provisions. And, since has been a consultant to restaurants, county economic development and government contractors. She has been a member of the Public Relations Society of America, the National Society of Fundraising Executives and a member of Rotary International since 1996 and Soroptimist International since 2004 and continues her advocacy for legal and social justice. In 2022 Phillis joined Sherin and Associates full time as a paralegal and consultant

Director

David Cobbs is Sherin and Associates community services director. David has been with Sherin and Associates LLC since 2024. David has a background in legal research and community services. David has spent time in the Wisconsin Prison System and has rebuilt his life after prison and started the non-profit Wisconsin Reptile Rescue in Portage Wisconsin. David has helped numerous community members find food, housing and health care resources through out the state of Wisconsin. David continues to be active in helping people being released from prison with a positive transitions back to the community not only by his work, but also by his actions.