DRM started its life over fifty years ago as a two-lawyer office in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Today, as the largest firm in Vermont, with six offices in Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York, DRM represents clients nationally and internationally. Despite its growth, DRM continues to be nourished by its rural roots and strives to project historic Vermont values: integrity, reliability, hard work.
-Robert D. Rachlin, Senior Director
The foundation for DRM was established in 1950, when Sterry R. Waterman and John H. Downs founded Waterman and Downs, a St. Johnsbury, Vt., law firm practicing business law and litigation with associated work in government affairs. Five years later, Waterman was appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower to serve as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Waterman read law before being admitted to practice. He served as a circuit court judge for 15 years before assuming senior status in 1970.
Downs worked as a sole practitioner until 1960, when Robert D. Rachlin joined him after having graduated from the University of Chicago Law School. Allen Martin, who had served as a law clerk for Judge Waterman in 1965 - 1966 and spent three years practicing law in Boston, joined the firm in 1969. Like Downs, Martin earned his law degree at Harvard Law School. The number of employees at the St. Johnsbury office quickly expanded to 15. In 1976, Rachlin opened a second office in Burlington, and Martin followed in 1980.
Today, Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC has offices in Burlington, St. Johnsbury, Brattleboro, and Montpelier, Vt.; Lebanon, N.H.; and Plattsburgh, N.Y. The firm has more than 140 employees, including approximately 80 attorneys and legal professionals. It is the largest law firm in Vermont and one of the largest full-service law firms in northern New England.
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