News
Leigh Cole elected to Board of Directors of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA)
Leigh Cole has been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA). NACUA is the premier organization in the field of higher education law and a primary source of information on legal developments facing colleges and universities.
Best Lawyers Recognizes Twelve Dinse Attorneys
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew announces that twelve of its attorneys were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in the The Best Lawyers in America® 2015 (Copyright 2012 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.) in eighteen different practice areas. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 36,000 leading attorneys cast almost 4.4 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”
The practice areas and the attorney(s) listed in each area are as follows:
Commercial Litigation: Ritchie E. Berger, Karen McAndrew
Corporate Compliance: David Gurtman
Corporate Governance Law: Brian Murphy
Corporate Law: Jeffrey J. McMahan, Brian R. Murphy
Employment Law – Management: Amy M. McLaughlin, Jeffrey J. Nolan
Immigration Law: Leigh Polk Cole
Litigation – Construction: Karen McAndrew
Litigation – Intellectual Property: Shapleigh Smith, Jr.
Litigation – Labor & Employment: Amy M. McLaughlin
Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants: Ritchie E. Berger
Mergers & Acquisitions Law: Brian R. Murphy
Non-Profit / Charities Law: Brian R. Murphy
Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants: Ritchie E. Berger, Karen McAndrew
Product Liability Litigation – Defendants: Shapleigh Smith, Jr.
Real Estate Law: Austin D. Hart, Molly K. Lebowitz
Tax Law: Mark A. Langan
Technology Law: Jeffrey J. McMahan
Trusts and Estates: Mark A. Langan
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew is one of the largest and most respected law firms in Vermont and northern New York. At Dinse, client service is our highest priority. For more information, please visit our website at www.dinse.com.
Dinse welcomes new attorney
Dinse, is pleased to announce that Daniel R. Sharpe joined the firm as Of Counsel in May. Mr. Sharpe will be working with the firm’s employment practice group, advising clients on employee benefit plan design, administration, and compliance, ERISA, and executive compensation.
Mr. Sharpe has considerable experience in all aspects of employee benefits law. Much of his recent work has been focused on fiduciary performance and risk management. He has advised management and administrative committees as well as union plans. Mr. Sharpe has provided advice and guidance in the adoption of investment policies and in reviewing fees for retirement plans, foundations and endowment funds. His employee benefit work covers executive compensation, qualified retirement plans, welfare benefit plans, federal and state income taxation of retirement benefits and ESOP plan design and administration. Mr. Sharpe has represented clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Department of Labor, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the US Tax Court and other Federal courts.
Looking ahead: Immigration & international programs under the Trump Administration
President Trump’s recent Executive Order 13769 (EO) on immigration caused tumult for many colleges and universities when it was implemented. With more than 20 lawsuits challenging the EO, on Feb. 9 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a national temporary restraining order (TRO) granted by U.S. District Court in Washington state. While this is a major victory for the rule of law and constitutional separation of powers, it’s only temporary. Additional court rulings and executive orders on immigration are expected, and the approach is difficult to predict.
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Dinse announces new Director and Shareholder of the firm
Dinse is pleased to announce that Andy MacIlwaine has been elected as a Director and Shareholder of the firm.
Andy joined the firm in 2008 and is a member of the firm’s litigation group. His practice is devoted to representing clients in all aspects of civil litigation in state and federal court. He regularly defends clients in matters involving first- and third-party insurance claims, commercial disputes, and real-estate and construction litigation. Andy also defends long-term care facilities and related providers in wrongful-death and healthcare malpractice suits. In addition to his trial practice, he represents clients in appeals before the Vermont Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Andy is the current President of the Vermont Chapter of the Tri-State Defense Lawyers Association and serves on the board of the Young Lawyers Division of the Vermont Bar Association.
US Supreme Court will review visa/travel ban next term; students, workers and family members abroad still protected from the ban
News reports are confusing about the US Supreme Court’s per curiam decision today to uphold *in part* the visa/travel ban Executive Order (EO). The decision actually is good news for colleges and universities, US employers, and individuals from the affected countries in the United States who have relatives abroad.
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari and will review the consolidated visa/travel ban EO cases in the October term. In the meantime the Court stayed *in part* the preliminary injunctions blocking implementation of the EO. The EO now may be applied to individuals who “lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” Eliminating the double negatives involved in staying an injunction barring implementation of an EO, this means the EO still does *not* apply to individuals with a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States, including intending refugees who have a qualifying relationship in the United States. The decision specifies that the following parties clearly have a qualifying relationship so *remain protected* by the preliminary injunctions: those with a close family relationship with an individual in the United States, giving spouse and mother-in-law as examples; students admitted to a US college or university; those who have accepted offers of employment in the United States; and those invited to give a lecture in the United States. Three dissenters, Justices Thomas (writing), Alito and Gorsuch, concurred in part and dissented only as to continuing the preliminary injunctions to protect individuals with qualifying relationships in the United States. The court asked the parties to brief the question whether the case is moot because the 90-day duration of the EO ended on June 16, 2017 even though the Trump Administration tried to extend the effective date to the date of a court decision lifting the preliminary injunctions.
New England Super Lawyers recognizes 12 Dinse Attorneys
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew announces that eleven attorneys have been selected for inclusion on the 2016 New England Super Lawyers list in six different practice areas, and one attorney has been selected for inclusion on the 2016 New England Rising Stars list. Attorneys are identified as “Super Lawyers” based on extensive nomination and polling among New England attorneys aimed at identifying New England’s top attorneys in each class. Attorneys are identified as being “Rising Stars” based on extensive nomination and polling among New England attorneys who are asked to nominate the best attorneys who are 40 or under, or who have been practicing for 10 years or less.
The practice areas and the attorney(s) listed in each area for the 2016 New England Super Lawyers list are as follows:
- Business Litigation: Ritchie Berger, Karen McAndrew
- Business/Corporate Law: Jeffrey McMahan, Brian Murphy, Afi Ahmadi, David Gurtman
- Employment & Labor Law: Jeffrey Nolan
- Estate Planning & Probate: Mark Langan
- Health Care Law: Linda Cohen
- Real Estate Law: Molly Langan, Austin Hart
The practice area and attorney listed for the 2016 New England Rising Stars list is as follows:
- Construction Litigation: Andy Macilwaine
Dinse Welcomes New Attorneys
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew is pleased to announce that Kienan D. Christianson, Malory S. Lea and Lauren Sampson joined the firm in September as associate attorneys.
Mr. Christianson is a member of the firm’s litigation group. Prior to joining the firm, he clerked for the Honorable Justice Robinson of the Vermont Supreme Court and the Honorable Joan M. Azrack of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He graduated from New York Law School where he served as an Articles Editor for the New York Law School Law Review and was a member of the law school’s Justice Action Center.
Nolan comments on US sexual assault trends for British higher education publication
Jeff Nolan of our Higher Education Practice Group recently provided commentary for the UK-based publication Times Higher Education. In an article published August 11, 2016 titled “Can UK learn from US on tackling sexual assault on campus?”, Nolan commented on trends in how colleges and universities in the U.S. are better educating students about sexual assault and reporting options, and tailoring sexual assault adjudication models to better meet the needs of involved students. Nolan also expressed his hope that more institutions would utilize campus threat assessment capacity to enhance safety when dating violence or stalking cases pursued through a disciplinary process may also implicate current and ongoing safety concerns. To read the full article, please click here.