News
New Attorneys Join Dinse
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew is pleased to announce that James P. Langan and Kelli Rockandel joined the firm in September as associate attorneys.
Mr. Langan is a member of the firm’s business group. He came to the firm from The University of Vermont, where he served as a contract analyst in the Division of Finance. Prior to returning to his home state of Vermont, he worked in Boston as an associate attorney in the administrative law department of Foley Hoag LLP and the real estate department of Sullivan & Worcester LLP. Mr. Langan is a graduate of William and Mary Law School and Harvard College.
Ms. Rockandel is a member of the firm’s litigation group, with a focus on civil litigation, as well as the firm’s business group. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Rockandel worked as an extern at the law firm BakerHostetler in its Los Angeles office. While there, she aided the litigation group in a variety of state and federal environmental matters, including a CERCLA cost-recovery action. In 2013, she was a Summer Law Clerk for the Burlington law firm Dunkiel Saunders Elliott Raubvogel & Hand. Ms. Rockandel is a graduate of Vermont Law School and The University of Arizona.
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.
American College of Trial Lawyers Names Ritchie E. Berger to its Board of Regents
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, P.C. is pleased to announce that the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) has appointed Ritchie E. Berger to its Board of Regents, the first lawyer from Vermont to be chosen. ACTL is composed of the best trial lawyers from the United States and Canada.
Mr. Berger is a Director of the firm and head of its Litigation Section. His practice concentrates on the defense of complex civil litigation throughout Vermont and New England.
Mr. Berger also regularly lectures and conducts seminars on trial topics, is co-author of Vermont Jury Instructions, and serves on the U.S. District Court of Vermont’s Civil Jury Instruction Committee.
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.
Best Lawyers Recognizes Five Dinse Attorneys as Burlington Best Lawyers – Lawyer of the Year
Best Lawyers has named each of the following Dinse attorneys as “Lawyer of the Year” in their respective practice areas for 2015 in the Burlington area. Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is being honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.” Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys through exhaustive peer-review assessments they conduct with thousands of leading lawyers each year.
Ritchie E. Berger
Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
Mr. Berger is head of the Litigation Section of the firm and is considered one of Vermont’s premier trial lawyers. He concentrates on the defense of complex civil litigation throughout Vermont and New England. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Past-Vermont State Chair, and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Past-President of Vermont Chapter.
Mark A. Langan
Tax Law
Mr. Langan is head of the firm’s trust and estates practice. Mr. Langan’s practice involves the restructuring of estates and companies to reduce estate, gift, and income taxes at the federal and state levels and to provide creditor protection for clients in high risk occupations. His work also includes tax planning for business reorganizations including mergers, consolidations and recapitalizations, and tax planning for partnerships including formation, distributions and dissolutions.
Karen McAndrew
Commercial Litigation
Ms. McAndrew is one of Vermont’s leading trial lawyers. She headed the firm’s litigation practice for many years, and was named a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1997. She has successfully tried many complex civil cases in state and federal courts, and handled numerous appeals in the Vermont Supreme Court and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. She has a particular concentration in higher education law.
Amy M. McLaughlin
Litigation – Labor and Employment
Ms. McLaughlin leads the firm’s Employment Law Group. In her practice, she regularly provides guidance on compliance issues, assists employers with the development and implementation of workplace policies and procedures, performs workplace investigations, conducts employment law trainings, and defends employers in connection with administrative charges, governmental audits and civil litigation.
Brian R. Murphy
Corporate Law
Mr. Murphy is a corporate and tax attorney concentrating in counseling closely-held businesses and their owners and nonprofit organizations. He is active in counseling clients on formation and structuring issues (including decisions with respect to the selection of the proper entity for effecting business and investment transactions), executive compensation and 409A compliance, tax planning, and representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Tax Court.
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.
Vermont Supreme Court Heightens Duty Owed in Certain Premises Liability Cases
The Vermont Supreme Court recently established a new rule in Demag v. Better Power Equipment, Inc., 2014 VT 78, — Vt. —-, — A.3d —-, that a landowner or occupier owes a duty of reasonable care to all “lawful entrants” to his property, thereby abolishing a decades-old distinction between “invitees” and “licensees” in which the latter was owed a lower standard of care. With the Demag ruling, Vermont joins the slight majority of states who have abolished the licensee-invitee distinction. The Court explicitly limited its holding to “lawful entrants,” and did not address the question of whether the duty of care owed to trespassers would also be heightened to a reasonable standard of care.
Dinse Attorney Leigh Cole Joins California-Based Firm as Immigration Counsel
Leigh Cole, Esq., a director and shareholder at Vermont-based Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, P.C. and Chair of the firm’s Immigration Group, also will serve as immigration counsel to Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP, a California-based employment law firm. “The Employment Law Alliance, and Hirschfeld Kraemer and Dinse in particular, have always been forward-thinking, innovative organizations. I am excited to extend my practice and synergistically combine Dinse’s resources with HK’s via this transcontinental partnership,” said Cole. “Strengthening ties between our member firms is a shared objective and one that will no doubt prove beneficial to clients on both sides of the country.”
Cole, chair of Dinse’s Immigration Group, has extensive experience with employment-based immigration matters and advises on immigration compliance, best practices, audits and self-audits, applications for immigration benefits and international student and scholar services for educational institutions. Her clients include general counsels, human resources directors, international education advisors, recruiters and others responsible for immigration compliance for institutions, organizations and businesses.
“This unique partnership with Leigh is made possible through the Employment Law Alliance and enables Hirschfeld Kraemer to provide top-drawer and seamless assistance to its clients with all aspects of immigration and global migration law,” said Stephen J. Hirschfeld, co-managing partner of Hirschfeld Kraemer. “As immigration law is a federal domain, the firm was able to be geographically agnostic in looking to bolster its resources in this area.” Hirschfeld added, “Given the close working relationship between our firms as both of us are members of the ELA, this strategic relationship seemed to be a natural fit for us.”
Active in the legal community, Cole frequently speaks before groups including the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA), the Association of International Educators (NAFSA) and as part of the annual University of Vermont Legal Issues in Higher Education Conference. Notably, she has previously co-presented two courses on immigration law for NACUA. In addition to an active conference schedule, Cole is also a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and has served as editor of that organization’s Immigration and Nationality Law Handbook since 1999.
About Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, P.C.
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, P.C. is a Vermont-based law firm with extensive experience in employment law and education law. Dinse is the exclusive Vermont member of the Employment Law Alliance. Dinse lawyers represent employers and human resource professionals with employment law issues for management, and colleges and universities, private secondary schools and public school systems in the legal issues affecting educational institutions. Dinse prepares a monthly newsletter, The Vermont Employment Law Letter, published for each state by M. Lee Smith Publishers. The firm serves as select counsel in Vermont to United Educators Risk Retention Group.
About Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP
Hirschfeld Kraemer is a California-based labor and employment firm with offices in Northern and Southern California and Reno, Nevada. It is the exclusive California and Northern Nevada member of the Employment Law Alliance – the world’s largest network of labor and employment lawyers. The firm’s clients include cities, counties and institutions of higher education in addition to Fortune 500 companies. In higher education alone, the firm represents more than 140 colleges and universities, both in the United States and abroad. The firm’s driving principle is to deliver practical, no-nonsense employment and labor counsel. On the Web at: www.HKemploymentlaw.com.
New Litigation Attorney Joins Dinse
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew is pleased to announce that Justin B. Barnard joined the firm in July as an associate attorney.
Mr. Barnard is a member of the firm’s litigation group with a focus on civil litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Barnard served as a lead litigator for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in the Maine Attorney General’s Office. Mr. Barnard represented the State of Maine in both federal and state courts, including class actions and lawsuits involving complex issues of constitutional and federal law. In 2013, Mr. Barnard successfully briefed and argued an appeal in an equal protection class action before the First Circuit, obtaining dismissal of the case. Mr. Barnard is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Dartmouth College.
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, P.C., with offices in Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York, is one of the largest law firms serving Vermont and the northern tier of New York.
New Real Estate Paralegal Joins Dinse
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew is pleased to announce that Sarah L. Cromie joined the firm in June as a paralegal.
Ms. Cromie is a member of the firm’s real estate group with a focus on residential and commercial real estate transactions. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Cromie worked at Paul Frank + Collins as a Legal Administrative Assistant in the real estate practice group. Ms. Cromie has eleven years of experience in the real estate industry, seven of which have been in law and primarily focused on residential and commercial real estate transactions. Ms. Cromie attended Champlain College.
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, P.C., with offices in Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York, is one of the largest law firms serving Vermont and the northern tier of New York.
Benchmark Litigation Recognizes Karen McAndrew as one of the Top 250 Women in Litigation
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew is pleased to announce that Karen McAndrew has been included among Benchmark Litigation’s Top 250 Women in Litigation. This distinction is given based primarily on targeted research completed during the US Benchmark Litigation review process and is dedicated to honoring America’s leading female trial lawyers. Important elements during this research were peer review and overall depth of their litigation careers. Top 250 Women in Litigation features female litigators from all 50 states.
Karen McAndrew has had an active litigation practice for more than 30 years, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She has tried numerous cases to verdict in both state and federal courts, has handled appeals to the Vermont Supreme Court as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and has represented clients in arbitrations and mediations.
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, P.C., with offices in Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York, is one of the largest law firms serving Vermont and the northern tier of New York.
Dinse Receives Top Rankings in Chambers USA 2014
The 2014 edition of Chambers USA, a leading directory of American lawyers and law firms, recognized 11 Dinse attorneys in their practice areas. The new guide, released May 23, also recognizes the firm as among Vermont’s best in every category of practice.
The firm’s Labor & Employment group was described as a “Deep bench with a broad range of technical expertise, covering all employment law bases”, with Chambers’ sources describing Dinse as “extremely well qualified, responsive and high caliber across the board.”
The firm’s Litigation group received the highest possible rating and clients agreed that Dinse’s Litigation group is “outstanding; thorough, completely proactive, able to be reactive when dealing with immediate matters, open and direct.”
The firm’s Real Estate group also received the highest ranking and was described by Chambers as a “Standout practice representing developers of solar, wind, and biomass energy in permitting and real estate matters.”
And the firm’s Corporate/Commercial group was top-ranked, Chambers’ sources saying Dinse is “a top firm. They have a group of people with knowledge in different areas so they are comfortable no matter what the concern.”
Corporate/Commercial (Band 1)
Afi Ahmadi (Band 3)
David Gurtman (Up and Coming)
Brian R. Murphy (Band 1)
Jeffrey J. McMahan (Band 1)
Intellectual Property
Jeffrey J. McMahan (Band 2)
Labor & Employment (Band 1)
Amy M. McLaughlin (Band 2)
Jeffrey J. Nolan (Band 2)
Karen McAndrew (Band 1)
Sophie Zdatny (Associate to Watch)
Litigation: General Commercial (Band 1)
Ritchie Berger (Band 1)
Ritchie Berger (Spotlight Table)
Karen McAndrew (Band 1)
Real Estate (Band 1)
Austin Hart (Band 1)
Molly Langan (Band 1)
Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, P.C., with offices in Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York, is one of the largest law firms serving Vermont and the northern tier of New York.