Our Team
Julie F. Trachta, Managing Attorney
Julie began her career in general private practice including family law, criminal defense, insolvency practice, juvenile law, civil litigation, and juvenile court after graduating from Iowa Law School where she worked as an intern in the Student Legal Services Clinic. She also worked in the Civil Litigation Clinic representing indigent clients in Black Hawk County and mentoring other students in client representation skills.
Julie joined the Linn County Advocate, Inc. in 1994 as a staff attorney with a case load focused on defending clients in felony and misdemeanor matters, and an assigned portion of juvenile court casework, where she was able to put her bachelor’s degree in Social Work. Julie was appointed as Managing Attorney for the firm in 2005. Since 2009 Julie has practiced primarily in juvenile court as designee Attorney and Guardian Ad Litem representing the interests of children in Child in Need of Assistance cases, Delinquency filings, and Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committals in Linn County.
Throughout her career Julie has pursued her passion to ensure that indigent clients received zealous and competent representation in the court system, with a commitment to make a difference in lives one case, one client at a time. After being appointed as managing attorney, Julie worked on the goals to expand the staff and practice areas for the firm to include juvenile and criminal court practices in Linn, Johnson, Benton, and Jones Counties. She has served as an active volunteer in the community holding several offices on local boards, including the Xavier High School Board of Education as member and past president, and numerous other endeavors during her children’s school careers. Professionally she worked with the initial task force to develop Adult Drug Court parameters, presented at trainings for juvenile court practice skills, been a member of the state and local bar associations, the National Association of Counsel for Children, ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Linn County Collaborative Project, and served on the Magistrate Appointing commission.
Jeremy D. Elges, Senior Staff Attorney
Jeremy joined the Linn County Advocate, Inc. in 2002, after receiving a bachelor’s degree from Missouri State University and graduating from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. He was admitted to practice law in 2001. In his career he has taken dozens of trials to jury verdict, including all levels of misdemeanors and felonies. He has never lost a trial for a Class A or B felony. He has handled cases in Linn, Johnson, Benton and Jones counties and has represented thousands of clients. He currently handles both adult criminal cases and juvenile delinquency cases in Linn County. He is the co-chair of the Linn County Stepping Up Steering Committee, a member of the Board of Directors at YPN, and a member of the Cedar Rapids Library Board of Trustees.
Jeremy was drawn to the law by the desire to use the law to protect the powerless from the powerful, and it is why he continues to represent people charged with crimes who cannot afford an attorney on their own. He cares deeply about justice, fairness and making the systems of society work more equitably for all. If you want to talk to him about something other than the law or social justice reform, then board games, the ocean, backpacking, Stoicism, economics, and quantum physics are all good topics.
Aaron J. Eddy, Staff Attorney
Aaron joined the Linn County Advocate, Inc. in 2018 after a short time as a solo practitioner. Aaron specializes in criminal defense work ranging from simple misdemeanors to serious felonies. Aaron completed his undergrad at Luther College and then continued onto University of Nebraska College of Law-Lincoln, graduating in 2017. Aaron was admitted to practice law in Nebraska in 2017, then moved to Iowa where he was admitted to practice in 2018.
Aaron is interested in helping people through the criminal justice system and beyond. In his spare time, Aaron volunteers with criminal record expungement and is member of the newly created Cedar Rapids Citizen Review Board.
Jeffrey M. Beatty, Staff Attorney
Jeff joined the team in 2021 as a staff attorney at the Linn County Advocate, Inc. and is an Eastern Iowa native. He completed both his undergrad and law degree at University of Iowa. He was admitted to practice law in 2015. Jeff focuses on criminal defense. He strives to carry a people-first focus into his work. He understands that criminal charges carry not only legal consequences, but cause fear and anxiety as well. He aims to provide his clients with sound analysis and candid legal advice as he fights for positive outcomes in their cases.
Jeff is blessed with a wife and two young sons.
Tomás Rodriguez, Staff Attorney
Tomás is an exceptionally experienced and battle-tested criminal defense attorney who brings a wealth of knowledge to his practice at the Linn County Advocate, Inc. Tomás has been an attorney for over thirty years, serving fifteen years as a public defender in the State of Iowa. He has been lead counsel in more than twenty Class A felony cases in several counties across the state. Tomás is fluent in Spanish, having also been certified as a court interpreter in that language. He spent several years as an instructor at the University of Northern Iowa in addition to his duties as a busy criminal defense attorney. When not winning jury trials and getting cases dismissed for his clients, he enjoys quiet moments playing his mandolin, baking, and sewing.
Sara E. Strain Linder, Staff Attorney
Sara is a skilled juvenile law attorney who brought fifteen years of experience when she began work with Linn County Advocate, Inc. Sara received her bachelor’s degree (with distinction) and her law degree from the University of Iowa, where she had a successful moot court career. Sara has presented on juvenile law and other issues to attorneys at several seminars and conferences. Sara is a fierce advocate for her juvenile clients and when she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, buying but not necessarily eating donuts, and making sure she has appropriate tires on her car for the season.
Robin L. Himes, Staff Attorney
Before joining the Linn County Advocate, Inc., Robin was a solo practitioner for sixteen years, practicing primarily in juvenile law. She is happy to continue this focus as Guardian ad Litem in juvenile cases for LCA. Robin completed her undergraduate degree at Arizona State University. She then spent a year in Japan teaching conversational English and eating lots of sushi before attending law school. After law school, Robin worked at public defender offices in Arizona and Florida before going into solo practice, returning to her home state of Iowa in 2008. When she is not diligently advocating for her young clients, Robin enjoys spending quality time with her family, friends, and dogs, and continuing to enjoy sushi.
Kristin A. Mork, Office Manager
Kristin joined the Linn County Advocate, Inc. in July of 2009 as an administrative assistant. She took over the Office Manager position in September of 2018. Kristin is passionate about helping others and applies that every day with her co-workers and our clients. She strives to make things run smoothly and implements that to the many tasks she handles managing the office. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her son, listening to music, curling up with a good book, putting together puzzles and dancing like nobody is watching!
Matthew T. Brophy, Investigator
Matt joined the Linn County Advocate, Inc. as an investigator in 2022. He has a degree in Criminology from the University of Iowa and has experience as a correctional officer for the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, as an officer at Linn County Juvenile Detention, and as a volunteer with Inside Out prison re-entry program. While in corrections, Matt worked mainly with those suffering from mental and behavioral health issues.
Matt is committed to being versatile and flexible in what he is able to do for the Linn County Advocate, Inc. and our clients. When Matt is not working hard for the clients of LCA, he is an avid disc golfer who commonly shoots well under par.
Support Staff
The support staff work tirelessly behind the scenes to help the office run smoothly. They often assist clients with scheduling appointments, looking up court dates, filing documents, and many more tasks. Our support staff will be happy to help you if you call into our office.