Attorney Jeffrey M. Messina has joined the Labor and Employment Group and Attorney L. Raymond Sun has joined the Litigation and Regulated Entities Groups at the northern New England law firm of Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC. Both associates have prior experience at the firm and both will work from the firm’s Burlington Office.
In the time our two new associates have worked here, we’ve come to appreciate their legal skills and potential for growth, and I am delighted to welcome them to our full-time legal staff,” said Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer Paul H. Ode, Jr. “Likewise, Jeff and Ray have contributed nicely to the culture of the firm, and I am pleased that we are able to promote from within.”
Messina began working at DRM in a temporary staff position in April 2010 and became a full-time, regular member of the staff the following October. He passed the Vermont Bar exam in May 2011 and was admitted to practice before the Vermont Bar on September 13.
Messina earned a bachelor’s degree in business management, with minors in economics and accounting, from Norwich University in 1997 and the law degree at Vermont Law School in 2004. At VLS he was a member of the VLS Trial Advocacy Team and a co-founder of the Sports and Entertainment Law Club. He studied international law and the European Union in Italy as part of an exchange program between VLS and its sister school, the University of Trento. He has extensive experience working in real estate and land development in Vermont and Massachusetts.
Sun received his law degree in May from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, where he was a research assistant for Prof. Leonard S. Rubinowitz. He was a summer associate at DRM in 2010, working from the firm’s Lebanon office. Sun holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago, where he earned distinction as the 2006 Academic Competition Federation Undergraduate National Champion – the highest level of collegiate quiz bowl, and later appeared on the television show Jeopardy!, where he was a daily champion. He also was founder and president of the Mixed Martial Arts Club.
Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC is a full-service law firm with more than 60 attorneys and six 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.