GRAVEL & SHEA - Key Persons
Alfonso Villegas is a litigation attorney at Gravel & Shea. He joined the firm in 2023. His practice focuses on all aspects of litigation in state and federal court.
Prior to joining the firm, he served as a trial attorney for over five and half years in the Washington County State's Attorney Office. He prosecuted felony level drug offenses, including trafficking, distribution, and death resulting cases, as well as felony level DUI cases. He has independently tried felony jury cases, successfully defended suppression motions, and argued before the Vermont Supreme Court. Also, he has taught legal education courses on Criminal Law, Treatment Court, and Implicit Bias for the Vermont Bar Association.
Villegas graduated from Dartmouth College in 2012 and Vermont Law and Graduate School in 2017. He is on the Board of Managers for the Vermont Bar Association. He is licensed in Vermont, the Vermont Federal District and New Hampshire.
Practice Areas
General Business Litigation
Alyssa has worked at Gravel & Shea in various administrative positions since she was in high school. She began working in her current position as a paralegal for Gravel & Shea in 2020. She assists the firm litigation team in general litigation and cases involving sexual abuse survivors.
Amanda M. Hemley practices in all areas of litigation, with an emphasis on family law and criminal defense. Amanda is a former prosecutor who served as an Assistant State Attorney in Miami, representing the State of Florida in more than twenty-five jury trials and dozens of bench trials. She also represented the state in matters addressing serious mental health issues and supervised more than sixty incoming Assistant State Attorneys. Amanda worked closely with hundreds of victims, including victims of domestic violence, helping people in difficult and emotional situations with her hands-on, personalized approach. After completing her service as an Assistant State Attorney, Amanda moved to private practice, representing clients in personal injury and products liability cases. At Gravel & Shea, Amanda handles family law, criminal defense, and plaintiff's matters. Amanda also serves as a member of the Foundation Board for Burlington City Arts.
Annie Harb joined Gravel & Shea as an associate in 2022 after graduating from Vermont Law School. She is a member of the firm's employment and labor department, where she advises businesses in all aspects of the employment relationship. Her services range from the defense of employment-related claims in legal and administrative proceedings to counseling management on compliance issues and best practices. Prior to joining Gravel & Shea, Annie worked with a New Hampshire firm helping clients with employment law matters, including wrongful termination, workplace harassment, unlawful discrimination and retaliation.
While attending law school, Annie worked in the office of in-house counsel for Hawaiian Electric Co., the public utility that provides electricity to almost the entire state of Hawaii. She also interned at Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services.
Practice Areas
Employment Discrimination
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant to Catherine a. Burke, Petra V.Z. Davenport and Cassandra LaRae - Perez
Job Titles:
- Marketing / Recruiting Assistant
Job Titles:
- Office Finance & Operations Manager
Cassie has been a paralegal since 2004. She began her career focusing on State criminal defense cases and since that time has gained extensive experience in Federal and State criminal defense, personal injury, civil litigation, and divorce and family cases. She also has experience preparing for and assisting in multiple Federal and State criminal and civil trials. Cassie joined Gravel & Shea as a paralegal in January 2023.
Practice Areas
Business Formation and Representation
Cathy's paralegal career began in 2000 at a small law firm in Essex Junction, Vermont where she focused on real estate transactions. In 2008 she joined a mid-size South Burlington, Vermont law firm where she continued her focus on real estate transactions and also studied as a registered law clerk. She joined Gravel & Shea in 2017 and assists the real estate team in the analysis and review of municipal land records, as well as the analysis and review of municipal and state permitting documents as part of conducting commercial and residential title searches.
Celeste Laramie is a litigation attorney at Gravel & Shea. Prior to joining the firm, she served as a trial attorney in the Committee for Public Counsel Services, Public Defender Division in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Since joining the firm in 2017, she has applied her litigation skills in a number of practice areas in the Vermont Superior Court, the Vermont Supreme Court and in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont. Celeste most frequently represents survivors of domestic and sexual abuse in personal injury actions against their abusers and those who enabled their abusers. She treats each client as an individual, seeking to achieve a broad range of goals and needs through the civil justice system. Celeste was co-lead counsel with Jerry O'Neill in a 2019 child sexual assault jury trial that resulted in a verdict in favor of the survivor. The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed the verdict in 2021. In 2022, Celeste won a case in federal court, in which the jury awarded $5.25M to a client whose physician used his own sperm to inseminate her.
Celeste also represents individuals and companies in commercial and contract disputes, including employment disputes. She handles real property related matters, including partitions of property, tax assessment appeals, and appeals relating to local and state permitting of land development. In that capacity, she represents clients before municipal panels and the Vermont Superior Court, Civil and Environmental Divisions.
Charles T. Shea joined Mr. Gravel in 1967. After earning his J.D. from Georgetown University and then an LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University, Mr. Shea served as an attorney with the Internal Revenue Service in Boston from 1956-1961. He subsequently returned to Vermont and served as the Vermont Commissioner of Taxes until 1967.
Clarke Albert Gravel (1916-2002) opened his private practice. Prior to opening his practice, Mr. Gravel was Chittenden County State's Attorney until he became Judge of Probate Court for the District of Chittenden in 1947.
David Williams has practiced law since 1985. Attorney Williams joined Gravel & Shea, PC in January 2023. Attorney Williams held his first position at the New York Legal Society's criminal appeals bureau. After moving to Vermont in 1988, Attorney Williams worked at the Office of the Defender General with a focus on drug cases in the state's trial and appellate courts prior to entering private practice in St. Johnsbury in 1991. Attorney Williams has represented hundreds of clients in Federal and State criminal defense and civil litigation cases. Attorney Williams has also argued appeals in the Vermont Supreme Court, the New York Court of Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
In Attorney Williams' criminal law practice, he has an extensive track record of favorable outcomes for his clients, including protection and preservation of his clients' freedom and constitutional rights. Attorney Williams is dedicated to vigorously advocating for protection of his clients' rights.
Attorney Williams has extensive civil litigation experience. In his complex civil litigation, personal injury, and wrongful death practice, Attorney Williams has a distinguished reputation for aggressive advocacy and a track record of significant monetary results.
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant to Zachary R. Berger, Timothy M. Eustace and Jeffrey O. Polubinski
E. "Kendall" Enersen-Watts joined Gravel & Shea as an associate in 2023 after graduating from Vermont Law School. She is a member of the firm's real estate department, where she assists real estate clients in acquisition, financing, permitting, development management, leasing and sale of commercial, residential and industrial properties. Kendall assists clients in the development and management of condominiums and other common interest ownership regimes.
Liz's paralegal career began in 1983 in New Jersey where she focused on defense medical malpractice. She returned to Vermont in 1986 and has since served as a litigation paralegal at Gravel & Shea. She assists the firm litigation team in the fields of personal injury, general litigation, and family law, and has extensive specialized experience in medical malpractice cases.
Heather Rider Hammond joined Gravel & Shea as an associate in 2001 after graduating from Vermont Law School. She represents the firm's corporate clients in all aspects of the employment relationship. Her services range from the defense of employment-related claims in legal and administrative proceedings to counseling management on compliance issues and best practices. Additionally, Heather speaks frequently on a wide variety of employment topics to various employer groups, including on-site management and supervisory training for the firm's clients.
Practice Areas
General Management Advice
Hethba Fatnassi joined Gravel & Shea in 2022 to practice in the Trusts, Estates, and Probate department. She was admitted to the Vermont Bar in January of 2018.
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant
- Legal Assistant to Brooks G. McArthur
Jeff Polubinski's practice focuses primarily on real estate, environmental and land use law.
Jeff represents real estate clients in the acquisition, financing, permitting, development, management, leasing and sale of commercial, residential and industrial properties. He assists clients in the development and management of condominiums and other common interest ownership regimes.
Jeff's environmental practice is generalized, though he devotes a substantial part assisting clients with transactional due diligence and environmental issues that arise in the context of merger and acquisition transactions. Jeff regularly counsels clients through permitting and regulatory compliance work, including helping innocent land owners and prospective purchasers with Vermont's Brownfields Reuse and Environmental Liability Limitation ("BRELLA") Program.
Jeff has represented property owners and developers in Act 250 and municipal zoning proceedings as part of residential, commercial and industrial projects throughout Vermont.
Practice Areas
Acquisitions and Sales of Commercial and Residential Properties
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant to Michelle N. Farkas and Robert H. Rushford
Jerry O'Neill was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1971. After a period of service in 1971-1972 as an active duty U.S. Army Officer, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Sylvia Bacon, a Judge of the District of Columbia Superior Court in 1972. He then clerked for Vermont U.S. District Court Judge Albert W. Coffrin in 1972-73. In 1973 he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont in Rutland as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. He became the First Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1975, moving to Burlington to open the office there in 1976. He served as First Assistant U.S. Attorney until May 1981 when the U.S. District Court Judges for the District of Vermont appointed him U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont. Since 1981 he has been in private practice in Burlington and was the senior partner of O'Neill Kellner & Green for 26 years. He teaches on trial advocacy topics for the American Association for Justice throughout the United States.
Jerry has obtained multi-million dollar verdicts for clients, including sexual assault survivors. The highest verdict was $32 million dollars.
Job Titles:
- Office Assistant
- Receptionist
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant to Peter S. Erly, Heather Rider Hammond, Annie N. Harb and William a. Mason, IV
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant to Hethba Fatnassi
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant to Matthew B. Byrne, Zachary M. Dayno, Robert B. Hemley, Navah C. Spero and David J. Williams
Michelle Farkas joined Gravel & Shea in 1999 after practicing at Goodwin Procter in Boston. At Gravel & Shea, Michelle focuses on complex commercial real estate transactions, representing developers and non-institutional investors in real estate acquisition, development, financing, zoning and land use matters. Michelle has extensive experience in assisting developers with establishing and managing condominium and planned unit developments, assisting both local and national landlords and tenants with commercial and retail leasing. Her clients include retail developers, residential and mixed-use developers, ski industry developers, wireless service providers, industrial and manufacturing clients as well as small business owners. Michelle is a member of the emerging technologies group focusing on applying blockchain technology to real estate transactions.
Navah Spero joined Gravel & Shea as a litigation associate in 2011, after completing a clerkship with the Honorable John M. Campbell of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Her practice focuses on all aspects of litigation in state and federal court.
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant to Amanda M. Hemley and Alfonso Villegas
Peter Erly moved to Vermont in 1987 from Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced securities law. He has been with Gravel & Shea since that time.
Petra v.Z. Davenport joined the corporate department of Gravel & Shea as Special Counsel in 2021. Prior to this position she practiced at boutique law firms in New York City and as a solo practitioner. In those roles, she worked primarily with broker-dealers and investment advisers advising on business formation, acquisitions, operations, and regulatory compliance issues.
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant to Celeste E. Laramie
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant to Heather R. Hammond ( Employment Litigation ), Jerome F. O'Neill and David P. Blatman
Bob Hemley was admitted to the bar in 1971 in New York. After working for a Wall Street firm and serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, he joined the firm in 1976.
Practice Areas
Medical Malpractice & Legal Malpractice
Bob Rushford was admitted to the Vermont bar in 1988. After serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Albert W. Coffrin, U.S. District Court Judge, District of Vermont, from 1988-1989, he practiced in a general practice firm which had a strong concentration in land use development and real estate law. He joined Gravel & Shea in 1996 and became a partner in 2000.
Practice Areas
Acquisitions and Sales of Commercial and Residential Properties
Rory joined Gravel & Shea as a paralegal in the summer of 2021 after administering a state-wide probate and foreclosure practice for almost three years. She assists the firm's real estate team, where she helps to complete much of the firm's title research. Rory is often traveling all over the State to different town offices to examine and analyze real property titles in the land records.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant
- Librarian
Practice Areas
Acquisitions and Sales of Commercial and Residential Properties
Practice Areas
Business Formation and Representation
Practice Areas
Acquisitions and Sales of Commercial and Residential Properties