RODEY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- of Counsel
- Attorney in the Albuquerque
B.W. Stone is an attorney in the Albuquerque office. He is a member of the Firm's Litigation Department. His practice is currently focused on products and general liability. Prior to joining the Rodey Law Firm, Mr. Stone's experience included extensive trial practice, primarily as a criminal defense attorney. He has also litigated a wide variety of civil matters, from property disputes and debt collection defense to business and contract disputes. He is authorized to practice in all New Mexico courts and the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Stone, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, served ten years as an active duty U.S. Navy fighter pilot, and an additional six years as a reservist.
Job Titles:
- of Counsel
- Attorney in the Albuquerque
Benjamin E. Thomas is an attorney in the Albuquerque office. Ben is a member of the Firm's Litigation Department, primarily in commercial litigation with a focus on employment and banking matters.
Mr. Thomas' practice focuses on representation of employers and businesses in employment law matters, commercial and tort litigation, and governmental investigations. Mr. Thomas has extensive experience with employment law. He advises businesses with respect to employment relations and represents companies before the Human Rights Commission, the EEOC and in employment discrimination, sexual harassment and civil rights lawsuits. In addition, he conducts workplace investigations, prepares policies and employment contracts, and provides anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training seminars for his employer clients.
Mr. Thomas has achieved the highest Martindale-Hubbell rating. He has been recognized for his experience and expertise in Banking and Finance Law, Commercial Litigation, and Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law in Best Lawyers in America, listed in Chambers USA-Client's Guide to America's Leading Lawyers for Business, listed in Benchmark Litigation in the following categories: Litigation Star, Bankruptcy, General Commercial Litigation, Employment, and Real Estate, and recognized in Southwest Super Lawyers in both General Litigation and Employment & Labor.
Mr. Thomas was recognized by the Albuquerque Journal as the 2019 Top Legal CEO.
Practice Areas
Environment and Natural Resources
Job Titles:
- of Counsel
- Attorney in the Albuquerque
Dooley Gilchrist is an attorney in the Albuquerque office. He is a member of the Firm's Litigation Department, practicing with the Labor and Employment Law Group. Mr. Gilchrist's practice focuses on representation of employers in employment law matters, handling legal malpractice claims, general business and tort litigation, and governmental investigations. Mr. Gilchrist also advises employers on day-to-day employment issues, such as employment discipline and response, and he assists employers with larger projects, such as contracts or policies.
Mr. Gilchrist has successfully represented employers in proceedings before the New Mexico Department of Labor, the New Mexico Human Rights Division, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and state and federal courts in and outside of New Mexico. He has handled employment litigation for employers in administrative proceedings and state and federal courts in New Mexico as well as in other states under the New Mexico Human Rights Act, Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the False Claims Act, and state common law tort and contract matters.
He has won both jury and bench trials on behalf of employers, and he has also won administrative proceedings for employers. He also has represented companies in breach of contract, attorneys' fees, shareholder, and other business disputes, including obtaining multi-million dollar judgments on behalf of companies. Between 2016 and 2020, Dooley and his firm recovered approximately $14,000,000 in contract damages for behavioral health providers against the State of New Mexico.
Mr. Gilchrist also has extensive experience representing parties in legal and other professional malpractice matters.
Mr. Gilchrist is listed in Southwest Super Lawyers for his experience and expertise in Labor and Employment Law.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director in the Albuquerque
Jocelyn Drennan is a director in the Albuquerque office and the Leader of the firm's Appellate Practice Group. Ms. Drennan primarily practices appellate law. Ms. Drennan has handled appeals in state and federal courts in a wide range of legal areas, including employment law, products liability law, workers' compensation, torts, contracts, medical malpractice, medical peer review, land use, constitutional law, administrative law, and arbitration.
Ms. Drennan's practice also includes handling complex litigation matters at the trial court level. Ms. Drennan has drafted dispositive motions, prepared and argued jury instructions, and drafted post-trial motions addressing a wide variety of issues. Ms. Drennan also has monitored trials to assist with issue preservation.
Ms. Drennan is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Southwest Super Lawyers for her expertise and experience in appellate law. She is also listed in Benchmark Litigation - The Definitive Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys for her experience and expertise in appellate law.
Ms. Drennan was named Albuquerque Appellate Practice Lawyer of the Year-2017 by The Best Lawyers in America.
Ms. Drennan is a co-author of the New Mexico practice chapter of the Appellate Practice Compendium, published by the American Bar association Council of Appellate Lawyers, 2012.
Jack Burton is Of Counsel in the Santa Fe office. He has a state-wide, multi-disciplined, commercial practice involving transactions, alternative dispute resolution and litigation in federal and state courts.
In August of 2019 Mr. Burton was honored by the State Bar of New Mexico with the Distinguished Bar Service Award. The award was presented to Mr. Burton for years of valuable service and contributions to the legal profession and the State Bar of New Mexico.
Mr. Burton has achieved the highest Martindale-Hubbell rating.
Mr. Burton was selected as Santa Fe Arbitration Lawyer of the Year in 2016 by Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Burton was selected as Santa Fe Mediation Lawyer of the Year in 2013 by Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Burton was selected as Santa Fe Real Estate Lawyer of the Year in 2011 by Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Burton was selected as Business Lawyer of the Year in 2004 by the New Mexico State Bar Association Business Law Section.
Mr. Burton is listed in Best Lawyers in America in nine categories of law: Administrative/Regulatory Law, Arbitration, Banking and Finance Law, Corporate Law, Financial Services Regulation Law, Gaming Law, Mediation, Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law, and Real Estate Law.
In 2006, Mr. Burton completed the Harvard Mediation Project.
Mr. Burton's pro bono activities include service with the Uniform Law Commission, the American Law Institute, the American Bar Association, the American Bar Foundation, the New Mexico State Bar Association, and the New Mexico Bar Foundation.
Mr. Marquez is a Director in the Albuquerque office and serves as the group leader of the Professional Liability section. He practices in the Litigation Department where he is a member of the professional liability practice group, with an emphasis on medical malpractice defense. He also practices in the areas of product liability defense, tort and wrongful death defense, and general liability defense.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- President
Ms. McCarthy Apodaca practices in the Albuquerque office as a member of the firm's Complex and Commercial Litigation Practice Group. Her practice emphasizes complex litigation matters and business disputes. Ms. McCarthy Apodaca regularly serves as defense counsel in class action matters involving antitrust, unfair trade practices, and unfair debt collection practices. She has extensive experience in cases involving bad faith insurance practices, business torts and the performance of computer operating systems and software.
Bilingual in Spanish, she has represented United States-based manufacturing companies in developing twin plants under Mexico's "maquiladora" program and has experience in representing United States companies seeking to do business in Mexico.
Ms. McCarthy Apodaca also has substantial appellate experience in state and federal courts, and is licensed to practice law in Arizona. She has achieved the highest Martindale-Hubbell rating and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for her expertise in commercial litigation. Ms. McCarthy Apodaca is also listed in Southwest Super Lawyers for her expertise and experience in business litigation. Southwest Super Lawyers named Ms. McCarthy Apodaca one of the Top 25 Lawyers in New Mexico in 2019, 2022, and 2023.
Ms. McCarthy Apodaca has been selected as one of only 3500 fellows nationwide in Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only honorary society that seeks to recognize highly accomplished trial lawyers.
Stephanie Demers is Of Counsel in the Albuquerque office. She is a member of the Litigation Department where she practices primarily with the Products and General Liability group. Ms. Demers also handles complex oil field and other industrial injury cases, often involving heavy equipment and fires/explosions, as well as wrongful death and a variety of other tort claims. Ms. Demers has served on trial teams defending catastrophic injuries in New Mexico and California, she has successfully briefed and argued dispositive motions in multiple states, she has negotiated settlements and voluntary dismissals, and she has experience representing clients in business matters and in cases before the New Mexico Court of Appeals.
Prior to joining the Rodey Law Firm, Ms. Demers practiced for ten years with a leading national firm specializing in the investigation and defense of fire and explosion cases. Before that, she served for more than a decade as a federal judicial law clerk to The Honorable John E. Conway in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico.
In law school, Ms. Demers was a member of UNM's Moot Court Team in the American Bar Association's Nation Moot Court competition and was awarded Second Place Best Advocate and Third Place Best Brief in the Southwest Region. She also served as a faculty research and writing assistant to Robert L. Schwartz in his publication of the bioethics chapter of a leading health law textbook and upon graduation she received a Dean's Award for significant contribution to the law school.
Ms. Demers is a member of the New Mexico State Bar and the Federal Bar in both New Mexico and Colorado. In the course of her career, she has been admitted pro hac vice in multiple states including California, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Utah.