(Burlington, Vt.) Attorneys Grant M. Binder, Kathryn M. Foley and William L. “Trey” Martin have been named directors of the northern New England law firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC.
They were elected at the firm’s annual meeting in December and became directors of the firm on January 1. Binder and Foley are resident in the firm’s Burlington office. Martin practices from the firm’s Montpelier office.
“This is an exceptionally talented group of lawyers,” said Peter B. Kunin, managing partner and chief executive officer at DRM. “They are recognized as leaders in their particular areas of practice. Each has secured the trust and confidence of significant clients with diverse legal and governmental affairs needs in the region and beyond. We are very happy to have elected them as directors in the firm.”
Binder joined DRM in September 2017. Since joining the firm, he has worked in the Business Law Group on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, complex commercial agreements and a broad range of financing transactions. Binder advises clients on transactions both inside and outside of Vermont and has extensive experience advising clients on cross-border transactions, particularly in Latin America.
Before joining DRM, Binder was counsel in the New York office of the international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. He attended the University of Iowa, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Russian with honors. He graduated cum laude from New York University School of Law in 2003, is fluent in Spanish and maintains bar admissions in New York and Vermont. Binder is listed as a “Notable Practitioner” in M&A, capital markets and private equity by International Financial Law Review (2019). Binder lives in Burlington with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two children.
Foley joined DRM in January of 2014. Since joining the firm, she has been an outstanding contributor to the Intellectual Property Group on licensing and other transactional intellectual property matters and to the Business Law Group on mergers and acquisitions. She earned bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in pharmacy at the University of Connecticut, and then attended the University of Connecticut Law School, where she was first in her class of 170.
After law school, Foley clerked for the Federal District Court in Orlando, Florida for two years and then worked for two years at Ropes & Gray in Boston. Foley has been listed as a Rising Star since 2014 by the New England Super Lawyers organization. She serves on the board of the Vermont Technology Alliance and lives in Colchester with her husband, Marc.
Martin practiced at DRM earlier in his career and rejoined the firm in 2017 after nearly five years in state government. Beginning in 2012, he rose from senior counsel at the Agency of Natural Resources to deputy secretary. He served as secretary of the Agency of Administration during the final months of the Shumlin Administration, overseeing the transfer of the control of state government from Shumlin to Governor-elect Phil Scott. Since returning to DRM in 2017, Martin has concentrated in environmental law and government affairs.
Martin earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the 1990s from Middlebury College, and a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership and Administration from St. Mary’s College in California. After teaching English and working as a school administrator for nearly a decade, he graduated magna cum laude from Vermont Law School in 2008 and began work as an associate at DRM in the Business Law and Regulated Entities groups, concentrating on a combination of business law, telecommunications, and governmental affairs. Martin and his wife Roberta live in Calais with their four children.