October 29, 2009
(BURLINGTON) Three new associates have joined the northern New England law firm of Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC. Attorneys Alician A. Fabish and Merritt S. Schnipper began work in the firm’s Brattleboro office, and Jennifer (Kuntz) McDonald joined the Burlington office.
“We’re pleased that DRM continues to attract accomplished law school graduates who share the firm’s commitment to deliver value and responsive service to our clients,” said Managing Partner Paul Ode. “They bring fresh perspectives and tremendous energy to the firm.”
Fabish began on August 31 as an associate with the Labor and Employment Practice Group. She received the law degree in May 2009 from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where she was a member of the Women’s Law Student Association and the Public Interest Law Group. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and public relations from Central Connecticut State University.
Prior to entering law school, Fabish worked in UTC - Pratt & Whitney’s human resources department for four years. While in law school, she worked as a labor relations representative with UTC – Pratt & Whitney, as a summer associate with Tyler Cooper & Alcorn LLP in New Haven and Hartford, and as a legal intern at UTC – Otis Elevator.
Schnipper was a summer associate in DRM’s Brattleboro office in the summer of 2008, and returned as an associate in the Litigation Practice Group on August 31. He graduated magna cum laude from Western New England College School of Law in May, where he was awarded the Benjamin D. Novak Award by the law school faculty for producing the year’s outstanding student law review article and the Norman Prance Award, given by the faculty to the student who provided the greatest contribution to the academic life of the law school.
Schnipper’s team won the national championship in the 2009 August A. Rendigs National Products Liability Moot Court Competition. Earlier, he served as a judicial intern with the U.S. District Court under Judge Michael Ponsor in Springfield, Mass. A 1995 graduate of Swarthmore College, Schnipper received a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology.
The Litigation Practice Group welcomed McDonald as a new associate on September 8. She graduated magna cum laude in May 2009 from Vermont Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. She worked as a legal intern with the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, Trial Division, during the summer of 2008 and in the Non-Profits Division during the summer of 2007.
McDonald also holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Vermont. While at UVM, she participated in American University’s Washington Semester during summer 2003, serving as a public policy intern for a lobbying agency. She has been a member of the UVM Young Alumni Committee since 2004, and has participated twice in the Pan Mass Challenge, a 192-mile fundraising bike-a-thon across Massachusetts to fund research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
DRM is a full-service law firm with more than 60 attorneys and seven offices in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. DRM provides legal services to local, national and international clients in practice areas that include bankruptcy and business restructuring, business law, captive insurance, energy and telecommunications, family law, health law, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation, real estate and land use, environmental law, tax law and trusts and estates. The firm represents clients in legislative, regulatory and public affairs through the Government and Public Affairs group. DRM is the law firm member for Vermont of Lex Mundi, the world's leading association of independent law firms.
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