December 2012: Shelby L. Wilson was quoted in an article on estate planning in the December edition of New Haven Magazine. In the article, entitled “The Greatest Gift,” Shelby comments on how charitable giving as part of an estate plan is not just for the wealthy, but can be a legacy for those of modest means. Shelby advises individuals, families and closely held businesses on estate and tax planning.
December 2012: Richard J. Buturla and Warren L. Holcomb successfully defended Stratford police officers and the Town of Stratford in a federal jury trial on claims stemming from arrests in a 2007 melee at the former Harborside Bar in Stratford. The trial in U.S. District Court in Hartford exonerated the officers and the Town of Stratford in a civil rights lawsuit that ensued in the incident.
November 2012: Shelby L. Wilson and Joshua A. Weinshank gave a presentation on “The State of Your Estate” on November 17, 2012, at the Westport Center for Senior Activities. Topics included lifetime planning issues such as durable and springing powers of attorney, health care instructions and living wills, as well as the current state of the federal and state gift and estate tax regimes.
November 2012: Ira W. Bloom published an article in the October/November 2012 edition of Connecticut Lawyer, a publication by the Connecticut Bar Association. The article discusses a recent case, Piquet v Town of Chester, which outlines standards for appealing a decision of the local zoning enforcement officer.
Mario F. Coppola, left, and Shelby L. Wilson were honored by the Connecticut Law Tribune as New Leaders in the Law at a dinner November 9, 2012. The dinner was attended by 300 people, including Governor Dannel P. Malloy. Mario and Shelby were among a select group of Connecticut attorneys age 40 and under who received the award.
October 2012: Joshua A. Weinshank has joined the firm as an associate. Joshua focuses his practice in the area of trusts & estates. He serves the needs of clients in the areas of strategic estate planning and gifting plans. He has represented fiduciaries and beneficiaries in probate hearings and the administration of estates, and has also created Medicaid planning strategies for clients.
October 2012: The firm helped collect more than 400 toys for the Yale-New Haven Hospital Toy Closet as part of a drive connected with the October 20th Yale-Penn football game at the Yale Bowl. The firm joined with the Walter Camp Football Foundation in sponsoring the toy drive and a tailgate party attended by 250 people prior to the Ivy League game. The Toy Closet program provides new, age-appropriate and educational toys for pediatric patients in Yale-New Haven’s Children’s Hospital. “The event was a great success, and we are proud to have been part of a toy drive that benefits hospitalized children,” said Mario F. Coppola, a partner at Berchem Moses who also serves on the Board of Governors of the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
The firm helped collect more than 400 toys for pediatric patients at the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital during the October 20th Yale-Penn football game. The toys were displayed during a tailgate party sponsored by the firm and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Left to right are Mario F. Coppola, partner; Brian A. Lema, partner; Floyd J. Dugas, senior partner; Ira W. Bloom, senior partner; Jonathan D. Berchem senior partner; David DeGrasse, paralegal; and Douglas E. LoMonte, partner.
Effective October 1, 2012, the firm has been selected to represent the Town of New Canaan for all legal matters. Partner Ira Bloom will be the designated Town Attorney. In addition to general municipal matters, the firm will also serve as labor and employment counsel to the Town.
October 2012: Attorney Marsha Belman Moses was a presenter at the CABE Workshop entitled “New Legal Issues for a New School Year: Teacher Evaluation, Bullying and School Climate” which took place on October 1, 2012 at the Sheraton Hartford South Hotel. She presented on “Bullying and School Climate: How to Help Your District Deal with These Issues”
Attorney Carolyn Mazanec Dugas wrote an article for the August 6, 2012, Municipal and Education Law issue of the Connecticut Law Tribune. The article, “State Adopts Model Educator Evaluation Guidelines,” describes the state’s newly adopted pilot guidelines, which will inform a new statewide system of evaluating teachers and administrators beginning in the 2013-2014 school year. The article explores the various steps that will be taken through 2014 to implement a new evaluation process, which is intended to result in improvements in the quality of public education in Connecticut.
Attorneys Carolyn Mazanec Dugas wrote an article for the August 6, 2012, Municipal and Education Law issue of the Connecticut Law Tribune. The article, entitled “New Definitions for Excused and Unexcused Absences,” discusses how the Connecticut State Board of Education has developed standardized definitions for excused and unexcused absences in order to allow for consistency in determining what constitutes truancy in the state’s schools. The definitions will apply across all school districts for reporting purposes on school attendance and will help the state properly report data on school attendance.
August 2012: Attorney Michelle C. Laubin was quoted in an article that appeared on the website Special Ed Connection. The article, entitled “Timely investigate students’ unexcused absences,” discusses the need for school officials to thoroughly assess what might be causing a special education student’s unexplained absences or disruptive behavior. Not doing so opens a district to litigation that could result in having to pay for compensatory services for the student.
July 2012: Attorney Shelby L. Wilson has been named partner of the firm. Her practice focuses on estate planning, estate administration and tax law. She advises individuals, families and closely held businesses on issues dealing with estate and generation-skipping tax planning, income tax planning, tax compliance, business succession planning, estate settlement and trust administration.
July 2012: Attorney Michelle C. Laubin was quoted in an article that appeared on the website Special Ed Connection. The article, entitled “Take these precautions if making two or more placement offers,” deals with the dilemmas school districts face when they offer more than one option to parents who are placing their disabled children in special education programs outside of their public schools.
July 2012: Attorney Ryan P. Driscoll is helping the United Way of Milford as a volunteer “Leader on Loan.” Ryan will take part in a campaign to raise funds for various United Way programs. This is the second year Ryan has been involved in Leaders on Loan. He will be working with attorneys from other firms in Milford in the fund-raising campaign.
The firm hosted a legislative breakfast recently with 4 th District U.S. Rep. Jim Himes at the Westport Public Library. Congressman Himes, center, was introduced by Robert L. Berchem, senior partner in the Milford office, at right, and Ira W. Bloom, senior partner in the Westport office. Attorneys from the firm and their clients had the opportunity to question Congressman Himes about a broad range of issues, from education to finance to energy policy.
Ira W. Bloom, senior partner in the Westport office, spoke June 22, 2012, at a seminar sponsored by the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association at the Mark Twain Museum Center in Hartford. Ira spoke on the new court rules regarding e-filing of records in administrative appeals. About 100 planners from across the state attended the seminar.
Ira W. Bloom, senior partner in the firm’s Westport office, discusses the LexisNexis database service that is offered at the Westport Public Library through the firm’s financial support. With Ira are reference librarian Margie Freilich-Den, foreground, and business librarian Sylvia Schulman. The LexisNexis program has been used by library patrons seeking data for a variety of reasons, including job searches. BMD has supported LexisNexis at the Westport Library since 2009, and recently gave the library a donation to continue providing this valuable service.
Attorney Michelle discussed labor and employment law developments at the Milford Chamber of Commerce’s May 4, 2012, Good Morning Milford seminar. Michelle gave an overview of laws affecting how small business owners hire, manage and compensate employees. Among the topics Michelle addressed was Connecticut’s new credit score law and how it affects hiring decisions. She also talked about pre-hire medical inquiries, the independent contractor-versus-employee test, and incentives for hiring veterans.
Attorney Floyd J. Dugas won a state arbitration award for the Town of Westport in a dispute with the town’s public works union. Under the decision, the town for the first time will implement a defined contribution plan for newly hired employees. The plan, similar to a 401(k) plan, will replace the existing defined benefit pension plan for the new hires of the Department of Public Works. The decision also reduced the maximum pension a public works employee would be eligible for from 81.25 percent of the employee’s final year salary to 65 percent, a change that represents an actuarial savings of $1 million to the pension plan. The Westport Representative Town Meeting approved the state arbitration panel decision at its April 3, 2012, meeting.
Attorneys Marsha Belman Moses and Michelle C. Laubin took part in a two-day seminar on special education topics March 29-30, 2012, in Cromwell. The seminar, which was attended by school administrators from across the state, was co-sponsored by the Connecticut Council of Administrators of Special Education (ConnCASE) and the State Education Resource Center (SERC). Marsha and Michelle both addressed the board of education perspective on restraint and seclusion in schools.
April 2012: Attorney Michelle C. Laubin obtained an AV® Preeminent TM rating from Martindale-Hubbell’s Peer Review Ratings. AV® Preeminent TM is the highest rating given in the peer review process conducted by Martindale-Hubbell and attests to an attorney’s high ethical standards and legal ability.
Marsha Belman Moses made a presentation to the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) April 11, 2012, in West Hartford. The program, entitled “Facebook Me: Policy and Legal Implications of Technology in the 21 st Century,” addressed the legal landscape created by technology, particularly the use of social networking by administrators, teachers and students. Topics included cyber-bullying, sexting and texting, and the interface of student and teacher First Amendment rights. Marsha offered strategies and potential solutions for issues that arise for school districts in the use of social networking and other technologies.
Attorneys Marsha Belman Moses and Michelle C. Laubin took part in a two-day seminar on special education topics March 29-30, 2012, in Cromwell. The seminar, which was attended by school administrators from across the state, was co-sponsored by the Connecticut Council of Administrators of Special Education (ConnCASE) and the State Education Resource Center (SERC). Marsha and Michelle both addressed the board of education perspective on restraint and seclusion in schools.
Attorney Michelle C. Laubin made a presentation on March 22, 2012, to the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) in West Hartford. Michelle’s presentation focused on the Connecticut Board of Education’s proposed revisions to special education regulations. Topics included restraint and seclusion in schools, and the impact of the new bullying law on services for special needs students.
Attorney Ira W. Bloom moderated and spoke at a Connecticut Bar Association Planning & Zoning seminar March 16, 2012, on the new court rules for land use appeals. These rules significantly change the manner in which zoning and other land use appeals will be handled by the courts. The seminar was one of the first to be presented in a webcast by the bar association. Ira chairs the Planning & Zoning Section of the bar association. Ira also wrote an article that was published in the March 2012 issue of the Connecticut Lawyer magazine entitled “Forget the Large Boxes: A New Rule for Filing Records in Administrative Appeals,” which explains the new rules in zoning cases.
An article by Attorney Shelby L. Wilson on current provisions in federal law affecting estate and gift planning was published in the March 5, 2012, issue of the Fairfield County Business Journal. The piece explores certain tax advantages unique in 2012 for bestowing lifetime gifts or transferring assets at death.
Attorney Shelby L. Wilson served as a panelist in a presentation entitled “Estate Planning Gone Awry” at the 2012 Mid-Year Meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA) Tax Section in San Diego, California, on February 17, 2012. The panel discussed strategies for family estate and tax planning designed to minimize state and federal taxes.
January 2012: Mario F. Coppola, an attorney in the Westport office, was promoted to partner. Mario practices in the areas of municipal law, land use and zoning, property tax assessment appeals, real estate transactions and general civil litigation.