Legal Aid of Napa Valley announced Monday it is changing executive directors a year after re-establishing its services for seniors, immigrants and low-income groups.

Diane Dorame, Legal Aid's current supervising attorney, is set to succeed Karen Stevenson as executive director on March 1.

"I want to continue with the groundwork that Karen has begun and have the agency continue to grow and provide services for the people here in Napa Valley," Dorame said.

Stevenson is leaving the position to serve as publishing giant Knight-Ridder's chief legal officer and assistant to the chairman. Knight-Ridder is America's second largest newspaper publisher. Before coming to Legal Aid in 2004, Stevenson served as Knight Ridder's general counsel. She will also keep a hand in Legal Aid's future as a member of the organization's board of directors.

Dorame is a 13-year Napa resident, a specialist in family law and 20-year bilingual legal veteran, who once worked as senior attorney with the Napa County Department of Child Support.

Dorame also has worked with legal associations including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Los Angeles Mexican Bar Association. She graduated from University of California Berkeley's Boalt School of Law.

Michael Holman, president and chairman of the Legal Aid Board of Directors and a local attorney, said the board decided not to look outside the organization for a new executive director because Dorame was so integral to Legal Aid.

"We didn't feel like we needed to go and look for anybody," he said. "We had someone in our organization we felt confident in."

Holman said Stevenson's departure wasn't expected, but he believes the transition will be smooth.

"Diana and Karen have been working hand in hand together for the last year," he said. "They know about all the program areas ... They're not only good friends but they fit very well from a professional perspective. They both know where we are and where we need to go."

Legal Aid overcame financial challenges after its former funder, Legal Aid of the North Bay, pulled its money out in early 2003. With subsequent urging from leaders of the Napa legal community, including then-Napa Superior Court Judge Scott Snowden, Legal Aid eventually garnered enough support and money to revive in March 2005, when Stevenson took the helm as executive director.

When Legal Aid restarted it primarily served seniors. But the organization was able to expand its services to immigrants and other low-income groups. According to its records, Legal Aid served 700 clients in 2005, an increase over an estimated 500 clients served on an annual basis prior to 2003.

"We've got the program up to a point where we are certainly serving more clients on a consistent basis with a lot more depth as for as resources on our side," Holman said, adding Legal Aid is now able to employ professionals dedicated to immigration and senior law.

Legal Aid also provided educational forums on advanced health care directives, financial fraud and immigration law, as well as legal clinics in Napa, Calistoga, St. Helena and in the fields with farmworkers.

"Because we've been back not quite a year yet, there was a pent up demand for people who couldn't quite afford legal services," Dorame said.

Just like many local non-profits, the key to providing Legal Aid's breadth of services is community support.

In a December letter to the Register, Stevenson credited financial help from the Gasser Foundation, the Napa County Bar Association, the Jewish Community of Napa Valley and law firms like Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty, Gaw Van Male and Coombs & Dunlap.

Holman said other donors, including Auction Napa Valley, have helped as well. Yet despite Legal Aid's success and newfound financial stability, Holman said the search for money won't stop.

"We're still certainly looking for new and better ways of sustaining funding," he said.