Speakers

Senator Peter Welch

Peter Welch has been a champion for working Vermonters throughout his career. Since his election to the House of Representatives in 2006, he has been widely recognized as a thoughtful and effective legislator who chooses governing over gridlock.

Peter’s record reflects his strong commitment to addressing difficult challenges facing our state and nation: affordability, childcare, climate change, and protecting our democracy. In an era of partisanship, he has worked across the aisle to advance common-sense solutions to the issues that matter to Vermonters.
Peter was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1947. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1969. After working in Chicago fighting housing discrimination as one of the first Robert F. Kennedy Fellows, he enrolled in law school at the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 1973.

After law school, he settled in White River Junction, Vermont, where he worked as a public defender before founding a small law practice. He was first elected to represent Windsor County in the Vermont Senate in 1980. In 1985, he was unanimously elected by his colleagues to lead the chamber, becoming the first Democrat in Vermont history to hold the position of President Pro Tempore.
In 2006, Peter was elected to Vermont’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. His campaign gained nationwide attention for being the only contested congressional race in the country where both candidates refused to air negative ads.

In Congress, Peter has been a leading advocate for clean energy and energy efficiency, cutting the price of prescription drugs, investing in infrastructure, and expanding broadband and telemedicine in rural America.

Peter served as a Chief Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Caucus and a member of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. He also served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

In 2022, he was elected to the United States Senate, where he plans to continue working across the political spectrum to serve Vermonters.

He is married to Margaret Cheney, commissioner of the Vermont Public Utility Commission. They share a home in Norwich, Vermont.

 

Sam Abel-Palmer

Sam Abel-Palmer is the Executive Director of Legal Services Vermont, a position he has held since 2016.  He previously served as Director of Intake for Vermont Legal Aid, as a staff attorney in Vermont Legal Aid’s Disability Law Project, and as a Civil Rights Investigator with the Vermont Human Rights Commission.  While at the Commission, Sam enrolled in the Law Office Study Program.  He completed the program and passed the Bar Exam in July 2006.  He is currently a member of the Vermont Board of Bar Examiners and of the Civil Council of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.
 
 

Emily Adams

Emily Chamberlain Adams is an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Unit of the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.  The Civil Rights Unit enforces Vermont state laws prohibiting employment discrimination and other unfair employment practices, as well as Vermont’s civil hate crimes statute.  The Civil Rights Unit also provides guidance to the public about their rights and obligations under these laws.  Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Emily was an attorney at Paul Frank + Collins, P.C., where she represented private employers, nonprofits, municipalities, and individuals in labor and employment matters.  Emily is a graduate of Hamilton College and Northeastern University School of Law.  She lives in Duxbury with her husband and two young children.

 

Ed Adrian

Ed Adrian joined Monaghan Safar Ducham PLLC in 2014. He brings with him eighteen years of practicing law in Vermont, having worked for both private and public sector clients, in the areas of civil, administrative and criminal litigation. Ed helps licensed professionals navigate difficult legal and ethical issues. His practice also includes Internet and social media law, helping businesses and individuals understand the complexities of this rapid and ever-changing area of the law. Ed provides counsel to Vermonters who find themselves having to make difficult decisions in difficult situations.
 
Ed is a 1992 graduate of the University of Vermont with a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy and a 1996 graduate of Vermont Law School where he received his J.D. and a Master of Studies in Environmental Law and Policy.
 
Ed’s service to the legal profession runs deep: between 1999 and 2005, he held every possible leadership position in the Vermont Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division. Ed has also served on the Vermont Bar Association’s Board of Bar Managers and was the Chair of the VBA’s Government Non-Profit Division from 2005-2007. Ed was the District Representative for Maine and Vermont to the American Bar Association/Young Lawyers Division from 2004-2006.

Ed has substantial hands-on policy experience serving local government. In 2007 Ed was elected to serve on the Burlington City Council. During his tenure on the Council, Ed chaired the City Council’s Public Safety, Charter Change and Community and Economic Development Committees. He also served on the Parks, Arts and Culture, and Human Resources and Institutions Committees until his departure in 2012.

Ed was appointed by Governor Phil Scott to serve on the Vermont Commission On Women in 2018.

 

Samara Anderson

Samara Anderson is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher becoming a 500 hour Certified Yoga Medicine Instructor, Agency of Human Services legal and policy advisor, and an entrepreneur teaching mindfulness to stressed professionals and creating a non-profit community farm in Vermont to use farm animals, nature and mindfulness to heal people.  She discovered yoga in 2003 when she graduated from Vermont Law School and was in a stressful and busy commercial litigation law firm at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP.
 
Her legal work has evolved from complex commercial litigation to public service with the State of Vermont, initially as an Assistant Attorney General and now as an in-house legal and policy advisor for the Agency of Human Services.  Her yoga practice has deepened over the past eleven years, culminating in completing her first yoga teacher training in 2013.  Samara has combined her mindfulness practices with the practice of law in her Mindful Practices workshops to reduce stress and increase productivity and happiness.  Attorneys and non-attorneys alike exclaim that they have never felt so relaxed and focused at the same time: two qualities that make for highly effective humans and attorneys.

 

Sam Angell

Sam Angell has been a litigator for over 20 years, first in New York and the last 17 years in Vermont, where over half his caseload is in the Family Division.  Sam also volunteers his time in representing children in difficult divorces and in Juvenile court.  He has worked with numerous trauma survivors and has developed techniques in helping them gain control of a system they often fear.


 

Ben Battles

Ben Battles is Chief of the General Counsel and Administrative Law Division at the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, where he supervises more than 30 attorneys and staff who provide a diverse array of legal services to the State of Vermont, its agencies, and employees. Ben is also an adjunct professor at Vermont Law & Graduate School, where he teaches a seminar on state constitutional law. He previously served for five years as Vermont Solicitor General, where he supervised and conducted the State’s appellate litigation in the Vermont Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to his government service, Ben has practiced at the law firms of Pollock Cohen, Boies Schiller & Flexner, and Cahill Gordon & Reindel. Ben is a graduate of the University of Vermont and Brooklyn Law School, where he was an Executive Articles Editor of the Brooklyn Law Review. Following law school, Ben served as a law clerk to the Honorable Dora Irizarry, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, and the Honorable Morton Greenberg, U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. 

 

Penny Benelli

Patricia "Penny" Benelli served on the VBA Board of Managers from 2001- 2008. She has also served as President of the Vermont Association for Justice (formerly the Vermont Trial Lawyers’ Association), and is currently Chair of the VBA’s Family Law Section. Penny is a Vermont Law School graduate and was admitted to the Bar in 1986, after clerking with the Windham trial courts. She has been a partner at the law office of Dakin & Benelli, P.C. in Chester since 1990, where her practice focuses on family law and civil litigation.

 

Niki Black

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney, author, journalist, and Senior Director, SME and External Education at MyCase, legal practice management software. She is the nationally recognized author of "Cloud Computing for Lawyers" (2012) and co-authors "Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier" (2010), both published by the American Bar Association. She also was the co-author of "Criminal Law in New York," a Thomson Reuters treatise. She writes regular columns for Above the Law, ABA Journal, and The Daily Record, has authored hundreds of articles for other publications, and regularly speaks at conferences regarding the intersection of law and emerging technologies. She is an ABA Legal Rebel, and is listed on the Fastcase 50 and ABA LTRC Women in Legal Tech. She can be contacted at niki.black@mycase.com.

 

Eileen Blackwood

Eileen Blackwood, previously the City Attorney in Burlington, Vermont, and prior to that position was a partner in the Hinesburg firm Kohn Rath Blackwood & Danon, LLP. Ms. Blackwood received her A.B. degree from Dartmouth College with a special major in Women and Education. She received her J.D. degree with honors from Cornell Law School where she was the Managing Editor of the Cornell Law Review. She served as Law Clerk to the Hon. Franklin S. Billings, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, and is a past president of the Vermont Bar Association. Prior to becoming City Attorney, Ms. Blackwood had been in private practice since 1986 and focused her practice in the fields of education law, employment law, nonprofits, and estate planning. She also has served as a mediator and early neutral evaluator for a wide variety of disputes and as a hearing officer for VOSHA.

 

Kira Botting

Kira Botting is an Associate at Rousseau & Ross, a civil litigation firm in Lebanon, New Hampshire. She represents plaintiffs in Vermont personal injury cases. Kira’s legal career began when she joined the firm in 2016 as a paralegal. She earned her undergraduate degree from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, where she focused her studies on sociology, law, and art history. In 2022, Kira completed Vermont’s four-year Law Office Study Program, a unique legal education during which she studied the law and gained practical skills under the mentorship of Cristina Rousseau and Kristin Ross. She was admitted to the Vermont bar in 2023.

 

Ian Carleton

Ian Carleton joined Sheehey Furlong & Behm PC in February 2003 and is a principal of the firm. He regularly represents corporate and individual clients in complex civil and criminal matters in state and federal court, with a particular focus on medical and legal malpractice matters as well as intellectual property disputes including patent, trademark and copyright infringement, breach of contract, and consumer fraud.

 

Justice Carroll

Justice Karen Carroll is a former prosecutor, working for both the Windham County State’s Attorney and Vermont Attorney General.  She was also designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Vermont in order to prosecute serious drug crimes in federal court.  In 2000, she was appointed a Superior Court Judge by Governor Howard Dean and presided in the civil, criminal, and family dockets in Windham, Bennington, and Windsor counties.  In 2017, Governor Phil Scott appointed her to the Vermont Supreme Court.


 

Dave Casier

David H. Casier, Esq., has practiced in Vermont since 1985. He is admitted to both the Vermont courts and the United States District Court, District of Vermont. He has handled more than two thousand cases in both criminal and civil court, including more than thirty jury trials. He also has acted as corporate counsel for a software development and consulting firm and has handled numerous real estate transactions. He has been approved for appointment as acting judge in the Vermont Superior Court. Mr. Casier has been an adjunct instructor at Champlain College since 1992, where he has offered a required two-semester course on civil and criminal litigation. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1981 from St. Lawrence University and his J.D. from Vermont Law School in 1984.

 

Rich Cassidy

Richard T. Cassidy is a Vermont mediator and arbitrator.
 
He founded Rich Cassidy Law. Before beginning transition to full-time work as a neutral, Rich practiced for 42 years as a litigator and trial lawyer. He has represented all sides in many kinds of disputes: plaintiffs and defendants, employers and employees, unions and management, injured parties, and insurance companies. In his last decade as a trial lawyer, Rich’s practice focused on personal injury and labor and employment law. 

Since 1994, he has been a member of the Panel of Early Neutral Evaluators for the United States District Court for the District of Vermont. He has been on the mediation panels for the Vermont Environmental and Superior Courts, and the Workers’ Compensation Division of the Department of Labor.

Rich has worked to improve the law throughout his career. A former President of the Uniform Law Commission, he chaired its drafting committees on the Uniform Restrictive Employment Agreement Act and the Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act, and served on the drafting committees for the Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act, the Punitive Damages Act and the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and served on the Board of Governors and in the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association. He is a member of the VBA Board of Managers.

When he’s not working or in a committee meeting, Rich enjoys reading, walking his dog, Sophie, swimming, and rowing his Adirondack Guide Boat on Lake Champlain.
 

Linda Cohen

Linda Cohen, Dinse. As a leading healthcare regulation attorney in Vermont, I am passionate about working alongside healthcare organizations and providers to navigate the evolution from fee-for-service to value-based reimbursement. I bring a deep level of understanding of the barriers faced by providers beyond the law itself, including cultural, financial, operational, employment, privacy, and technological. I work in collaboration with clients to ensure these barriers do not inhibit their success. My practice is solutions-oriented; I believe in identifying goals at the outset and in working together towards identifying solutions. My studies of healthcare delivery science and experience in change management allow me to continue to support organizations and individuals throughout implementation and evaluation of the solutions.

As a recent graduate of Dartmouth’s Masters of Health Care Delivery Science program, I am able to offer healthcare organizations a level of business knowledge, operational expertise and legal skill that is not available elsewhere in the state. With secure knowledge of the current system, as well as the goals for the future, I am able to guide clients to success in both venues.

I have substantial experience in reimbursement issues involving both governmental and commercial payors, having litigated many disputes to conclusion and resolved many through negotiation. I regularly work with organizations participating in Vermont’s All Payer Model partnership with The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

 

Teri Corsones

Therese M. Corsones, Esq., is Court Administrator for the State of Vermont. She previously was the Executive Director of the Vermont Bar Association, and Court Clerk in the Rutland Unit of the Vermont Superior Court, a position she held since the restructuring of the Vermont court system in 2010. Prior to that, she was Rutland Superior Court Clerk from 2007 to 2010. She was a partner in Corsones & Corsones in Rutland from 1987 to 2007. She is a member of the Vermont Bar Foundation Board (since 2006), the former president of the Vermont Bar Association and a VBA Board member from 2003 to 2011. In 2006 she received the Best Presentation Award from the Sterry Waterman American Inns of Court. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1979 and her J.D. from Cornell University Law School (1982), where she was managing editor of the Cornell International Law Journal.

 

Don Cuerdon

Don Cuerdon a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in private practice in Brattleboro, Vermont. Don specializes in memory reconsolidation therapy for reducing the emotional charge behind the traumatic stress that drives many mental health disorders, including substance use disorders, anxiety, depression and, of course, PTSD.

 

Josh Diamond

Joshua Diamond is an attorney at Dinse with a focus on civil litigation, regulatory matters, and government relations.   Prior to joining Dinse, Joshua served as the Deputy Attorney General from 2017-2022 where he had responsibilities for the development and implementation of policies and priorities at the Attorney General’s Office, oversight of personal and administration, supervised litigation and settlement negotiations, and provided general counsel to the Attorney General. 
 
Before joining the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, Joshua was in private practice with the law firm of Diamond & Robinson, P.C.  His practice focused on civil litigation and administrative matters involving public utilities, consumer protection, campaign finance, personal injury, employment and labor law. 
 
Joshua is a graduate of the University of Vermont and the George Washington University (J.D.).  He was previously recognized by Super Lawyers as one of New England’s Rising Stars. He received the prestigious Jonathan Chase Award for Cooperating Attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union − Vermont Affiliate − and served as its President for three years.  Joshua also served on the National Advisory Board for the Electric Cooperative Bar Association from 2009 to 2017.   He currently is a member of the Vermont Bar Association’s Board of Managers and is President Elect. 
 
Joshua resides in Williston, Vermont, with his wife and two children.  He is a former member of the Williston School Board (2011-2017) and serves as President of the Board of Directors at Cochran’s, the nation’s first non-profit ski area. 

 

Will Dodge

Will Dodge chairs the Regulated Entities Group at Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, which includes oversight of the firm’s environmental, telecommunications, and energy practices.  While focused primarily on telecommunications and energy permitting and real estate transactions, Will was closely involved in stormwater-related litigation in the early 2000s, and played an instrumental role in the legislative efforts related to stormwater permitting reform in 2004.  During his 15 years of practice, he has given numerous CLE presentations on stormwater law, and maintains an ongoing, active interest as a member of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce in the evolving topography of this challenging legal landscape. 

 

Steve Ellis

Stephen D. Ellis is a Director at Paul Frank + Collins, where he practices with the Labor and Employment and Litigation teams.  He is the Chair of the Vermont Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section. He is a seasoned trial lawyer, appellate advocate, arbitrator and mediator with over thirty-five years of experience representing private and municipal clients before state and federal courts, as well as state and federal administrative agencies and tribunals, in Vermont, New York and multiple other jurisdictions. His practice focuses on complex civil litigation, negotiated settlements and alternative dispute resolution, and general legal and strategic counseling, guidance and problem-solving, in the areas of general and professional liability, intellectual property, labor and employment law, business and commercial transactions and disputes, corporate governance, shareholder agreements and disputes, contracts, and insurance law.

 

Soryu Forall

Soryu Forall has decades of intensive monastic training, a degree in Economics from Williams College, and extensive experience in social and environmental justice. As a teen, upon learning that monasteries are built for such a purpose, he traveled to Japan in order to study suffering and the end of suffering. Forall was ordained in 1998 at Sogen Temple under the tutelage of the Zen Master Shodo Harada.  After training at Sogen Temple for five years, Forall trained further at Hemis Gompa, a Kagyud Tibetan monastery in northern India; Xue Feng Si, an ancient Ch’an monastery in eastern China; and at the Sariputta Ambedkar Monastery in southern India, where he served as head monk (Ambedkar Buddhism is an influential sect that defines spiritual training as social engagement and economic justice). While there, he led peaceful protests and organized community efforts to overcome the injustice of the caste system. He also helped to raise thirty boys with the understanding that all are inconceivably valuable, regardless of family circumstance.  Forall, a native Vermonter, returned to his home state in 2008 and has continued to fight against systemic injustice and promote youth empowerment. He has created successful curriculum for mindfulness in education, trained professional mindfulness teachers all over the world, worked with high level athletes and business people on using mindfulness for high performance, and founded the Center for Mindful Learning, where he currently serves as President and head teacher.  At the Monastic Academy Soryu dedicates his life to creating the next generation of awakened leaders.

 

Ryan Kane

Ryan Kane is an Assistant Attorney General in the Environmental Protection Division where he works primarily on environmental enforcement matters. Ryan graduated from Vermont Law School in 2013.  After graduating he clerked for the Vermont Superior Court, Environmental Division for two years.  He then spent several years in private practice at Tarrant, Gillies, & Richardson practicing in the areas of environmental law, land use regulation, municipal law, energy and telecommunications, and real estate.

 

Mike Kennedy

Michael Kennedy graduated from South Burlington High School, the University of Vermont, and the George Washington University Law School.  Michael clerked in the Office of the Chittenden County State’s Attorney and then worked for five years as an Assistant Attorney General before accepting the position of Deputy Disciplinary Counsel in 1998.  He was promoted to Disciplinary Counsel in 2000.  In 2012, Michael was named Bar Counsel, changing his focus from investigating & prosecuting disciplinary cases to providing guidance for lawyers with ethics questions.
 
Michael is a former President of the Vermont Bar Association’s Board of Managers and former member of the Board of Bar Examiners.  Michael is an avid marathoner and has been the head coach of the varsity boys’ basketball team at South Burlington High School since 1999.
 

Jim Knapp

James E. Knapp. Mr. Knapp is a recently retired attorney with 40+ years of experience in the practice of law. During his career he was in private practice with Gravel & Shea, P.C., and Mickenberg, Dunn, Lachs, & Smith,PLC.   He served as an underwriter and State Counsel for three national title insurance companies and was the Interim Director of the Property Valuation and Review Division of the Vermont Department of Taxes.   He also served as the Program Coordinator for the Vermont Bar Association Law Practice Management Program.  Throughout his career and into retirement Mr. Knapp has presented at continuing education programs for the Vermont Bar Association, for-profit continuing education providers, the Vermont Paralegal Organization, the Vermont Bankers Association, and for private firms implementing in-house training programs.  Presentation topics include all areas of real estate law and practice, title insurance, ethical considerations in law practice, professionalism, and the application of technology to the practice of law. Mr. Knapp was an adjunct instructor in the Paralegal Program at Champlain College and for two years at Vermont Law School.  In retirement Mr. Knapp creates custom pens and is rebuilding and restoring a 1977 MGB and a 1972 Triumph GT6.

 

Kyle Landis-Marinello

Kyle Landis-Marinello is Senior Legal Counsel at the Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO). Previously, Kyle was General Counsel of the Vermont Public Utility Commission, and before that, he was an attorney in the Environmental Protection Division of the Vermont Attorney General's Office, where he worked on environmental enforcement and cleanup cases, nuclear matters, and the State's defense of its law requiring the labeling of genetically engineered foods. Kyle received his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Emory University, a Master's Degree in Environmental Law summa cum laude from Vermont Law School, and a J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. After law school, Kyle clerked for the Environmental Court and the Vermont Supreme Court.

 

A.J. LaRosa

Alexander J. LaRosa, Esq.
A.J. is a Senior Associate with Murphy Sullivan Kronk, a Burlington law firm that specializes in complex real-estate development, financing, re-development and land-use issues. A.J. is a member of MSK’s litigation department and his practice focuses on commercial and environmental/land use law.  A.J.'s environmental/land use litigations have involved land-use and zoning law, Act 250 law, CERCLA claims, and permitting disputes.  A.J.'s recent commercial litigations have involved construction law, banking and finance law, breach of contract, fraud, negligence and consumer fraud, and bankruptcy law. Prior to coming to Vermont, A.J.'s practice focused substantially on environmental coverage claims arising from violations of a wide array of EPA environmental standards. In the course of practice, A.J. has represented clients before the Vermont Superior Court, United States District Court for the District of Vermont, the Vermont Superior Court - Environmental Division, Act 250 commissions, and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Vermont.

 

Lauren Layman is the General Counsel of the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation (OPR), an office within the Vermont Secretary of State Office.  OPR is Vermont’s umbrella occupational and professional licensing and regulation authority for 51 professions.  Lauren’s role with OPR involves advising and counseling professional boards, advisors, and licensees regarding professional licensing laws, drafting legislation and administrative rules, conducting regulatory sunrise reviews and drafting subsequent reports, and developing and implementing statewide professional licensing policy.  Prior to joining OPR, Ms. Layman worked in private practice providing legal counsel to health care organizations and providers, and, previously, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Senator James Jeffords’ Office.  Ms. Layman is licensed to practice law in Vermont and Virginia.  She lives in Vermont with her three children and partner.
 
 

Samantha Lednicky

Samantha Lednicky was born and raised in Shelburne, Vermont, and graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science from the University of Vermont in 2011. She went on to Northeastern University School of Law, graduating in 2015.
 
Samantha primarily represents criminal defendants in both state and federal matters as well as represents clients in divorces and custody disputes. Prior to joining Catamount Law, Samantha practiced civil litigation at another Vermont law firm for two and a half years. She tried and obtained favorable verdicts in her first two bench trials and has successfully negotiated numerous favorable settlements. During law school she worked as a law clerk for the District of Vermont U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services, the Boston Juvenile Court, and Murdoch Hughes Twarog Tarnelli. At Northeastern University School of Law, Samantha was first a student attorney and then a teaching assistant for the Prisoner’s Assistance Project clinic where she represented clients seeking parole and a Legal Clinician for the Northeastern Law Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Clinic where she investigated cold homicide cases in Tennessee.
 
Samantha was a Super Lawyers rising star from 2017-2022 and is a Top Rated Attorney and received the Vermont Bar Association Pro Bono Award for 2020. Samantha is a local Vermonter who enjoys snowboarding, hiking, mountain biking, and sailing.


 

Ott Lindstrom

Carl “Ott” Lindstrom is a member of the Litigation team, serving clients in a wide swath of civil matters. Before joining PF+C, Ott served as a Law Clerk with the Vermont Superior Courts in Washington and Orange County. He has previously worked with a Virginia-based boutique IP firm, interned with the Fauquier County Attorney’s Office in Warrenton, Virginia, and served as the Chief Technology Officer for William & Mary Law School’s Center for Legal and Court Technology. Ott has been published several times for his work on the intersections of copyright law and technology.

 

Andrew Manitsky

Andrew Manitsky represents clients in state and federal courts, and other tribunals, throughout Vermont and New York in a wide variety of complex civil matters, including breach of contract, business torts, employment-related disputes, professional malpractice, ethics complaints, personal injury, product liability, antitrust, family law, scientific misconduct, regulatory investigations, and intellectual property (litigating and counseling on trademark, unfair competition, copyright, patent, and trade secrets).  He is the President of the Vermont Bar Association and Chair of the VBA’s Intellectual Property Section.

Mr. Manitsky is also a member of the American Law Institute, the VBA Board of Managers, the Vermont MCLE Board, a past member of the Vermont Professional Responsibility Board hearing panel (and Probable Cause panel), and the Mediation-ENE Panel for the United States District Court in Vermont.  He frequently gives seminars on intellectual property, trial evidence, and legal ethics.

Mr. Manitsky is listed in Best Lawyers in America; New England Super Lawyers; Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; and Benchmark’s Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys.  Before moving to Vermont in 2000, he practiced at a boutique firm in New York City.


 

William "Chip" Mason

Chip Mason, chair of the VBA Business Law Section, has been a partner in the Corporate Department of Gravel & Shea since 2006 and a managing partner since 2020. He joined the firm in 2003 after practicing at another prominent law firm in Burlington, Vermont, where he worked primarily on debt and equity financing.
 
At Gravel & Shea, Chip’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisition transactions and other investment activities, including representing private equity funds and companies in debt and equity financings. Chip also handles other corporate engagements, including structuring agreements among investors, structuring shareholder, partnership and LLC agreements among and on behalf of various investor groups and representing issuers and purchasers in the structuring, issuance and sale of securities.

 

Shane McCormack

Shane W. McCormack practices law with the Business + Transactions, Taxation and Commercial Finance teams at Paul Frank + Collins. Shane provides counsel to entrepreneurs, business clients, banks, property developers, municipalities, investors, underwriters, and utilities in a variety of areas including securities law, business law, commercial lending, contract law, and public finance.

Shane has over 15 years of experience from his past work at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and, more recently, at Burak Anderson & Melloni, PLC in Vermont.  Shane handles a variety of complex corporate law matters, with a particular focus on securities laws for both local and national clients.

Shane’s practice includes the representation of entrepreneurs and start-ups in connection with seed funding, venture capital and private equity financing, and corporate governance matters. As part of this practice, he assists clients with business formation, the drafting of operating agreements, limited partnership agreements, shareholders agreements, securities purchase agreements, and registration rights agreements.

In addition to company-side work, Shane has represented private equity investors, hedge funds and institutional investors in commercial finance transactions involving both privately-held and publicly-traded companies.

Shane was selected for inclusion in the 2015 and 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Project Finance Law, Public Finance Law, and Capital Markets Law. Shane grew up in Charlotte and Jericho, Vermont and now lives with his family in Underhill.

 

Donna is the Legal Justice Project Coordinator at the Women's Freedom Center, the domestic and sexual violence program in Windham and southern Windsor counties. She has provided legal advocacy and support to survivors since 1990 as well as working to change the systems upon which survivors rely for safety and protection.  Advocates from the Women's Freedom Center work from a trauma informed perspective and believe that survivors thrive when their voices and experiences are welcome and understood.


 

Bob Paolini

Bob Paolini is the Executive Director of the Vermont Bar Association. He attempted to retire 7-8-ish years ago, but missed working with VBA staff so much, he's back at the helm.

 

Samantha Prince

Samantha Prince is the director and interviewer at Windham County Safe Place where she provides forensic interviews to survivors of sexual and physical violence. For more than 10 years, Samantha has been connecting with, advocating for, and serving adults and children who endure trauma in various systems. She has provided hundreds of interviews to survivors and provides outreach, training, and education to thousands of professionals and children of all ages throughout Vermont. 


 

On December 19, 2009, Christina Reiss was appointed as a U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Vermont. She was chief judge from 2010 to 2017. Prior to being appointed to the federal bench, Judge Reiss served as a Vermont trial court judge for over five years, including acting as the presiding judge in five Vermont counties. She was in private practice for fifteen years before becoming a judge, focusing on First Amendment law and commercial litigation. In 1989, Judge Reiss graduated from the University of Arizona’s College of Law summa cum laude. She was named Most Outstanding Student by the law college faculty and was the Editor-in-Chief of the Arizona Law Review. In 1984, Judge Reiss graduated magna cum laude from Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont where she majored in modern languages. Judge Reiss is a member of the American Law Institute, teaches for the Federal Judicial Center, is an American Bar Association fellow, and is a co-author of Litigation in Federal Courts.

 

Gabrielle Shea is a Senior Policy Analyst on Bipartisan Policy Center’s business and technology team. Prior to joining BPC, Shea was a Public Policy and Privacy Manager at NEC Corporation of America. At NEC, Shea helped develop internal initiatives to promote data privacy, responsible AI governance, and digital trust, and she helped manage related external engagements with federal, state, and local governments. In addition to interning/externing in non-profit organizations, law firms, and judicial chambers, Shea has worked as an analyst at an economic and financial litigation consulting firm and a research assistant in a computational biophysics lab. Shea holds a CIPP/US certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals, a J.D. from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary, and a B.A. in Ethics and Public Policy with a minor in Chemistry from Wake Forest University.

 

Daniel Shin is the Center for Legal and Court Technology's (CLCT) Cybersecurity Researcher at William & Mary Law School and the Coastal Node Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Research Scientist. With an extensive technical and technology background, Daniel focuses his research on the intersection of emerging technology and law, including as it pertains to blockchain technology, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence. One of his research interests’ centers around the implications of deep-fakes technology and its role in facilitating disinformation campaigns.

Daniel also publishes the CLCT Cybersecurity and Information Security Newsletter, a monthly newsletter that covers cybersecurity and information security events with the accompanying legal analysis. Past issues of the newsletter examined major cybersecurity incidents of critical infrastructure, government cybersecurity regulations, and court decisions impacting cybersecurity laws.

Daniel Shin is a licensed attorney in Virginia and a Certified Information Privacy Professional – United States (CIPP/US). He is a graduate of Northwestern University (B.A.), Mannheim Universität (M.A.), and William & Mary Law School (J.D.).

 

Bradley Showman

Bradley Showman grew up in Toledo, Ohio and graduated from law school at University of California, Davis in 2014. He started his career as a civil legal aid attorney with Legal Services of Northern California shortly after bar study. In 2020, he moved to Vermont and continued to work as a civil legal aid attorney with Legal Services Vermont (LSV). At LSV, he is the Pro Bono Manager responsible for connecting attorneys to volunteer opportunities. His legal advocacy specializes in eviction defense, Social Security, and emergency housing benefits.

 

Rod Smolla

Rod Smolla is President of Vermont Law and Graduate School.  Prior to coming to Vermont he has taught at 12 law schools, served as dean at three law schools, and been a university president.  He is an active scholar, author or editor of over 17 books and 100 articles.  He is also an active litigator, having presented argument in state and federal courts across the nation, including the United States Supreme Court.  He recently argued the First Amendment and defamation law issues on behalf of Domininon Voting in its landmark suit against Fox News.


 

Kerin Stackpole

Kerin Stackpole leads the Employment + Labor Law Group at Paul Frank + Collins. She provides practical and proactive advice to senior leaders and management teams regarding a wide range of labor and employment issues, including workforce planning, hiring and on-boarding, performance management, legal and recordkeeping compliance, leave management, employee engagement, policy development and implementation, union avoidance, and discipline and discharge. Kerin firmly believes that the best defense against legal claims begins well before those claims are made – with positive and continuous employee engagement, good education for supervisors and managers, fair and consistent practices, and solid documentation.
Kerin is also an experienced litigator and a skilled teacher. She has taught at several law schools and colleges on the East Coast, and she regularly designs and presents training programs for businesses and municipalities seeking to strengthen the skills of their management team. Kerin has been a featured speaker at conferences for numerous state and local human resource associations, municipal and payroll associations, Lorman Educational Services, and the Champlain College Management Excellence Series.

 

Andrew Stone, Technology Project Manager, has been with the Judiciary since 2011 in a variety of roles including Family Case Manager, Court Operations Manager, Odyssey Project Team Leader and now Application Services Manager overseeing training, support and configuration of the Odyssey Case Management system. He has a JD from Vermont Law School and an MSW from Marywood University.

 

Chasity Stoots-Fonberg is a 2007 graduate of Vermont Law and has worked at the Judiciary since 2009 in various capacities including Court Operations Manager, Odyssey Project Team Leader, and now as Manager of Centralized Clerk Review and Efile Support.  

 

Andy Strauss

Andy Strauss is Licensing Counsel for the Vermont Office of Attorney Licensing.  He administers the bar exam twice a year and is the primary liaison and attorney for the Board of Bar Examiners, the Character and Fitness Committee, and Board of Mandatory Continuing Legal Education.  He also serves as Screening Counsel, screening disciplinary complaints against attorneys for Vermont’s Professional Responsibility Program.  Prior to becoming Licensing Counsel in 2017, Andy spent fourteen years as a litigator in Vermont, including three years in private practice and nine years as a Deputy State’s Attorney in Chittenden County.  Andy lives in Shelburne with his wife, son, two cats, and a dog.

 

Hon. Helen Toor

Judge Helen M. Toor was appointed as a Superior Court Judge by Governor Howard Dean in June of 1999. She is currently sitting in the Chittenden Civil Division. She was both Chair of the Civil Division Oversight Committee and a member of the Civil Rules Committee for many years. She has been a member of numerous committees and boards including the Judicial Conduct Board, the Governor’s Cabinet on Children and Youth, the Vermont Supreme Court’s Jury Communication Committee, the Court’s Technology Committee, the U.S. District Court Advisory Committee, the U. S. District Court Civil Justice Reform Advisory Group, and the Second Circuit Task Force on Gender, Racial & Ethnic Fairness in the Courts.
 
Prior to being appointed a judge, Judge Toor was the Chief of the Civil Division at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont for ten years. Before that, she was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, also in the Civil Division. Prior to that she was an associate in the litigation department at a large New York City law firm, Rosenman & Colin.
 
Judge Toor attended the University of Chicago Law School, graduating in 1982. She received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont in 1978. She has been a presenter at many educational programs, including Vermont Judicial College, numerous Vermont Bar Association programs, the state Judicial College, the Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute at the Department of Justice, and the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School.

 

Patty Turley

Patricia K. Turley, Esq.

Patty Turley is General Counsel for the Vermont State Colleges, providing a wide range of legal services for the Chancellor’s office and the state colleges. Before joining VSC in 2020, Patty spent more than twenty years in private practice with Zalinger Cameron & Lambek in Montpelier, in general civil practice. Patty worked as a paralegal for fifteen years at the same firm and successfully sat for the Vermont Bar examination after her four-year clerkship in 1999. She is always thankful for the support of the attorneys and staff at the firm, and especially for the sponsors of her law office study experience, Nancy Creswell and Bernie Lambek.  Patty is Chair of the Vermont Board of Bar Examiners and a member of the Central Vermont Chapter of the American Inns of Court. She is a native of Montpelier, where she still lives with her husband.  

 

Laura Wilson

Laura Wilson, Young & Wilson, PC. After earning her undergraduate degree from Yale University, she went on to complete Vermont’s unique 4-yr Law Office Clerkship. She began her clerkship with the Essex County State’s Attorney’s office and then worked as a law clerk for Sleigh & Williams, and Jarvis, McArthur & Williams, two of Vermont’s most renowned and respected criminal defense and civil litigation law firms.

Ms. Wilson is a trial attorney and litigator who focuses on criminal defense, general civil litigation, tenant-landlord law, family/juvenile law, employment discrimination and labor law, and represents several municipalities in the Northeast Kingdom in matters ranging from tax appeals to tax sales, to road dedication and acceptance. She is passionately committed to the idea that every person charged with a crime—no matter how serious—deserves an aggressive defense and believes equally passionately in the American civil justice system, (“torts”) particularly for ordinary citizens from all walks of life. During her clerkship and after admission to the Vermont bar, Ms. Wilson has become skilled in legal research and writing and developed a no-nonsense but compassionate approach to evaluating cases. Finally, she has experience in researching, drafting and arguing appeals to the Vermont Supreme Court and/or the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ms. Wilson has lived and worked in the Northeast Kingdom since 2004. She is the President of the Caledonia County Bar Association, the former Town Clerk-Treasurer of her home town (hence her interest in municipal law!) and serves as an alternate Act 250 Commissioner for District 7 of the Natural Resources Board. Ms. Wilson is admitted to practice in the state courts of Vermont as well as federal court for the District of Vermont. She speaks Spanish fluently.