The law firm of Robinson & Cole LLP elected six attorneys to partnership, including James D. Gotz and Gregory P. Varga. This brings the firm's current total to 85 partners among its 210 attorneys in eight Northeast and Florida locations.
Varga practice primarily in the Hartford office and previously practiced in the Boston office, while Gotz practices in the Boston office.
Gotz is a trial lawyer who since 1994 has focused his practice on representing catastrophically injured plaintiffs in complex products liability (including pharmaceutical mass tort) and medical negligence cases. He is a founding member of the firm's Mass Tort/Complex Litigation Group.
Varga practices in the field of complex commercial litigation, with particular emphasis on the representation of property insurance companies in coverage disputes and actions involving claims of extracontractual liability. He has successfully litigated cases in New England, New York, the South and Midwest. Additionally, he represents insurance company clients in arbitrations, appraisals and statutory reference proceedings
Dean P. Nicastro joined Pierce & Mandell, P.C. in an of counsel position. Bringing more than 20 years experience in health law and related areas, Nicastro will bolster the firm's already thriving health care practice and enable the practice area to continue to grow.
Nicastro most recently served as vice president and general counsel of the Massachusetts Medical Society, having been with that organization for nearly 19 years working on health care law and nonprofit legal matters. In this position, Nicastro was principal legal advisor for the society's patient and physician focused health care policy and programmatic initiatives, and counseled the society on corporate organizational matters and in its membership and publishing activities, including the New England Journal of Medicine.
Previously, Nicastro was city solicitor of the city of Quincy, and a Massachusetts assistant attorney general. He is a past president of the American Society of Medical Association Counsel and a former vice chair of the American Medical Association/State Medical Societies Litigation Center Executive Committee. He also has served as a director of the Professional Liability Foundation, Ltd.
Beth Anne Wolfson, who has served as chair of the MBA ADR Committee and is former chair of the Labor & Employment Section Council, has co-authored the updated edition of The Law of Sex Discrimination, a textbook published by Wadsworth Publishing Co.
Wolfson, who has a practice in Dedham, is a labor and employment arbitrator, mediator and neutral fact-finder. She is also an adjunct assistant professor in the law department at Bentley College and member of the Supreme Judicial Court/Trial Court Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution.
Several lawyers have been honored for their participation in Trial Lawyers Care, the largest free representation program ever undertaken, which took the cases of the Sept. 11 victim families before the federal government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund without charge. Several of those attorneys were honored recently during the annual convention of the Association of Trial Lawyers of American in Boston. Among those attorneys and Massachusetts Bar Association members who participated in Trial Lawyers Care are: Peter Ainsworth, Boston; Marylin Beck, Dedham; Peter Black, Boston; Michael Bogdanow, Boston; Leo Boyle, Boston; John Carroll, Boston; Charles Casartello, Springfield; Michael Chieco, Springfield; Peter G. Degelleke, Concord; Rodney Dowell, Boston; Paul Epstein, Hanover; Warren F. Fitzgerald, Boston; Michael Gardener, Boston; George Gormley, Boston; Stanley Helinski, Boston; Bradley Henry, Boston; Paul Kenney, Braintree; Alex MacDonald, Boston; Michael Mone, Boston; Sherry Mulloy, Boston; Jeffrey Petrucelly, Boston; Mark Reilly, Boston; Paul Robertson, Boston; Frank Saia, Springfield; Ralph Sbrogna, Worcester; Paul F. Schneider, Springfield; Anthony Tarricone, Boston; Paige Tobin, Boston; Gerald Tutor, Boston; Kimberly Winter, Weston; James Wittorff, Milford.
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