Our Team – BarrSternberg
Neil Moss

Neil Moss

Shortly after graduating from NYU Law School, Neil Moss was appointed by Governor Davis to serve as State’s Attorney. He was the youngest to hold that position in Vermont’s history. He went on to be elected to two additional terms. During that time, Moss worked to establish 204 Depot Street, a group home for local juvenile offenders, which is an alternative to juvenile criminal facilities or adult prisons, that continues today. In 1980, Moss brought together Pat Barr and Rolf Sternberg to found Barr Sternberg & Moss, one of the largest and most successful law firms in Southern Vermont. Moss was counsel on the landmark negligent entrustment case of Vince v. Wilson, now one of the standard law school text examples on torts. He has successfully argued before the Vermont Supreme Court and has had several of his cases earn the national media spotlight. Since founding BarrSternberg in 1980, Moss leads a firm that has served more than 4900 individual Vermonters, and he remains one of the most well-regarded and trusted attorneys in the state, earning a Martindale-Hubbell AV Peer Review Rating of “A”.

EDUCATION

Middlebury College, B.A., 1964 • New York University, LL.B., 1967

BAR ADMISSION

Vermont, 1967 • U.S. District Court, District of Vermont, 1969

PRACTICE AREAS

Moss advises on personal injury and wrongful death litigation and is the firm’s senior managing partner.

David Silver

David Silver

Named by Super Lawyers one of New England’s Best Lawyers, David Silver has built his career crafting defenses for some of the most challenging cases and in many of the nation’s toughest districts. A passionate advocate for justice as a process, Silver began in the Bronx office of the Legal Aid Society of New York. He was later promoted to trial attorney for the Federal Defender Office in the Southern District of New York, where he successfully went head-to-head and toe-to-toe with the country’s best and brightest attorneys. Silver relocated to Vermont, working as a public defender and two years later entered private practice with BarrSternberg. It was at BarrSternberg he helped to build a criminal defense team reputed as one of the best in the state. Silver has since grown his practice beyond defense, leading many personal injury, wrongful death, and employment law cases that have helped individual Vermonters recoup damages from powerful business and insurance interests. Silver is a Director of the Vermont Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, and on the Board of Directors for the Vermont Association for Justice, Vermont’s trial lawyer organization. He is Board Certified in Criminal Trial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Silver was one of the co-founders of the Bennington Meals on Wheels program and serves on the Board of Directors for the affordable housing Shires of Bennington and Arlington.

EDUCATION

Boston University, B.A., 1979 • Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, J.D., 1983

BAR ADMISSION

First Department, New York, 1984 • Vermont, 1990

PRACTICE AREAS

Criminal defense, Personal Injury, Employment

Michael Munson

Michael Munson

Attorney Michael Munson has a reputation for excellence in both litigation and transactional legal matters. His practice areas include estate planning and probate, small business and nonprofit administration, civil litigation, landlord/tenant, and employment. In addition, Michael is a certified and experienced mediator, and has completed intensive mediation training at Champlain College (May 2018). Prior to joining the firm, Munson was a Deputy State’s Attorney in Bennington County and has extensive jury trial experience. An active member of the Bennington community, Munson was past President of the Bennington County Bar Association, and served on the Board of Directors for the Bennington Project Independence and Southwest Tech. Michael is currently Trustee and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bennington Free Library. He is a member of the Vermont Association for Justice and the Bennington County Bar Association. Michael Munson lives in Shaftsbury, Vermont with his wife, two children, and numerous animals. He enjoys hiking, skiing, reading, cooking and spending time with his family.

EDUCATION

University of Virginia, B.A., 2001 • University of Texas School of Law, J.D., 2004

BAR ADMISSION

Virginia, 2004 • Vermont, 2008 • U.S. District Court, District of Vermont, 2010

PRACTICE AREAS

Estate planning and probate, small business and nonprofit administration, civil litigation, landlord/tenant, and employment.

Christopher J. Montgomery

Christopher J. Montgomery

An experienced trial and defense attorney, Christopher Montgomery joined BarrSternberg in July 2015, adding to their distinguished defense team. A passionate trial litigator, Montgomery has practiced extensively in Windham County successfully defending scores of accused individuals from all walks of life. He continues his criminal defense work throughout Vermont, working with clients from Bennington, Windham and Rutland Counties. An aggressive advocate for strong criminal defense and fair trials, Montgomery is reputed for his tireless research of techniques, witness statements, evidence recovery, and missed angles. Prior to relocating to Vermont in 1996, Montgomery worked for several years in Texas where he focused on corporate, civil, criminal and immigration law.

EDUCATION

B.A., Rice University • J.D., Cleveland Marshall College of Law

BAR ADMISSION

Texas, 1985 • Vermont, 1997

Rachel Strecker

Rachel Strecker

Rachel Margulies Strecker joined BarrSternberg in May 2017. Strecker draws from many areas of legal experience including family law, environmental law, civil law, and estate planning. Prior to entering full-time practice, Strecker taught and counseled students at Vermont Law School and Dartmouth College. At Vermont Law School she was selected as a Dean’s Fellow, teaching first-year students legal writing. Vermont Law School later hired her to represent the school as part of its admissions team. Strecker also managed a team of research assistants in the editing of, “Computing Governance: An Analytic White Paper;” put out by Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. While at Dartmouth, Strecker advised pre-law undergraduates. In 2011, she interned at Vermont’s only environmental court where she researched Act 250 regulations and municipal zoning ordinances. Before joining BarrSternberg, Strecker was an attorney with firms in Rutland and Poultney, Vermont where she focused on civil and probate litigation, estate planning, and pre-trial mediations. She graduated with honors from Vermont Law School in 2012 and was admitted to the Vermont Bar Association in 2012 and the New York Bar Association in 2013.

EDUCATION

Flagler College, B.A. • Vermont Law School, J.D.

BAR ADMISSION

Vermont, 2012 • New York, 2013

PRACTICE AREAS

Family Law, Estate Planning, Civil Litigation

Alexander Dean

Alexander Dean

Alexander “Al” M. Dean joined BarrSternberg in the Fall of 2018. He currently serves as President of the Bennington County Bar Association, as a Director of the Vermont Bar Foundation, and as President and trustee of the Samuel Blackmer Law Library Fund. Dean draws from many areas of legal experience, and clerked for the late Honorable Kathy C. Qasim in the New Jersey Superior Court’s Chancery Division. In 2017, he provided legal aid to clients throughout the Northeast as part of the South Royalton Legal Clinic. In law school, Dean served as the Senior Managing Editor of the Vermont Law Review and an active member of the National Moot Court Team. He taught workshops for legal writing and constitutional law. At BarrSternberg, Dean’s practice areas include personal injury, appellate practice, contract disputes, debtor’s and consumer’s rights, landlord-tenant matters, and general civil litigation. He also serves on the board of SPEAK, Inc., a Vermont 501(c)(3) providing public speaking and debate workshops to students and incarcerated individuals. Dean was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in 2017 and the Vermont Bar Association in 2018. He graduated with honors from Vermont Law School in 2017 and earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Stony Brook University in 2014.

EDUCATION

B.E., Stony Brook University, 2014 • J.D., Vermont Law School, 2017

BAR ADMISSION

New York, 2017 • Vermont, 2018 • U.S. District Court, District of Vermont, 2019

Jane A. Bromirski

Jane A. Bromirski has been employed by BarrSternberg for more than 20 years. She works extensively with attorneys on family law and estate planning cases. She is a graduate of Maria College in Albany, New York.

Maureen Carknard

Maureen Carknard has worked with BarrSternberg for more than 15 years. Although she has experience legally assisting in a number of areas of practice, Maureen now focuses her work in the areas of criminal defense.

Tracee A. Boynton

A native Vermonter, Tracee A. Boynton began her legal career in 1990, working with a focus on real estate. She has been a part of BarrSternberg for more than a decade, as office manager and paralegal.

Didi Gingue

Didi Gingue came to BarrSternberg in 2013, following several years as a private practice paralegal in Southern Vermont. Her focus includes estate planning, bankruptcy and general litigation. She is a graduate of MCLA.