Manchester, N.H. (August 22, 2023) – The law firm of McLane Middleton congratulates attorneys Steven M. Burke (Tax Law), Patrick C. Closson (Mergers & Acquisitions Law), Michael A. Delaney (Education Law), Viggo C. Fish (Environmental Law), Joseph A. Foster (Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law), Thomas B. Getz (Energy Law), Wilbur A. Glahn III (Appellate Practice), Ralph F. Holmes (Litigation – Trusts and Estates), Michael J. Quinn (Environmental Law), and Mark A. Wright (Trademark Law) for being named a 2024 Lawyer of the Year in their respective field by The Best Lawyers in America©.
Best Lawyers is a respected peer review publication within the legal profession. Recognition in Best Lawyers is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a significant honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers. For more than three decades, its publications have earned the respect of the profession, the media, and the public, as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals anywhere.
Steve has been a member of the firm’s Tax, Trusts & Estates and Corporate Departments for over three decades. Using his expertise as a licensed CPA as well as an attorney, Steve advises high net worth individuals and families on estate and income tax planning and administration, and wealth preservation strategies. He also serves as Trustee of many significant family trusts; working closely with beneficiaries, family offices, and advisors regarding fiduciary, legal, tax and trust administration issues. Steve also specializes in advising family business owners and entrepreneurs on pre- and post-transaction tax savings strategies. He can be reached at the firm’s Manchester office at (603) 628-1454 or steve.burke@mclane.com.
Patrick Closson is a corporate and transactional lawyer who helps clients form, grow, and sell their businesses, and works with his clients to solve challenging problems with practical solutions. Patrick works with clients in five main areas: general corporate law, healthcare law matters, mergers and acquisitions, complex contracts, and succession planning. Throughout his career, Patrick has represented private companies and their owners on a wide variety of corporate law matters including entity formation, private security offerings, negotiation of complex contracts and general corporate governance. He continues to serve as outside general counsel for private companies throughout New England. He can be reached in the firm’s Manchester and Portsmouth offices at (603) 628-1457 or patrick.closson@mclane.com.
Michael Delaney is highly regarded in and out of government for his strategic judgment and skills as a lawyer, having served as Attorney General of New Hampshire (2009 – 2013), legal counsel to Governor John H. Lynch (2006-2009), Deputy Attorney General (2004-2006), and Chief of the State’s Homicide Prosecution Unit (1999-2004). He advises schools, colleges and universities on Title IX issues, responses to faculty and student misconduct and compliance issues. He conducts and oversees internal investigations and provides counsel to organizations on crisis management. He also represents organizations and individuals with government and internal investigations and complex civil and criminal litigation. Michael can be reached in the firm’s Manchester and Woburn offices at (603) 628-1248 or michael.delaney@mclane.com.
Viggo Fish is a member of the firm’s Administrative Law Department where he maintains a diverse environmental and energy regulatory and litigation practice. His practice involves representation of clients in energy and environmental permitting, including permitting of energy facilities before the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee, environmental enforcement and litigation and compliance counseling involving the broad range of State, federal and local environmental laws. Viggo has experience representing clients before State agencies, boards, commissions, the State environmental appeals councils, and in both State and federal courts. He successfully represented a major solid waste management company in an appeal of its solid waste facility permit before the New Hampshire Waste Management Council. Viggo has experience with per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants of concern in regulatory and litigation cases. Viggo also represents clients before State licensing boards. He can be reached in the firm’s Concord office at (603) 230-4412 or viggo.fish@mclane.com.
Joe Foster is chair of our Bankruptcy Practice Group. He represents creditors ranging from small private lenders to nationally recognized banks and finance companies in out-of-court restructurings and chapter 11 reorganizations. Joe works with businesses and individuals in all aspects of insolvency matters ranging from prosecuting and defending litigation arising in bankruptcy courts, to counseling buyers of assets from businesses in bankruptcy, to assisting financially troubled businesses in loan restructuring and workouts. Joe also works with lenders and businesses in complex commercial finance matters. He served as Attorney General for the State of New Hampshire from 2013-2017. He can be reached in the firm’s Manchester office at (603) 628-1175 or joseph.foster@mclane.com.
Tom Getz has over 30 years of experience in energy and public utility matters in New Hampshire, New York, New England, Washington D.C., and Canada, including a decade as Chairman of the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, where he served as administrative head of the agency and presided over Commission proceedings concerning electric, natural gas, telecommunications and water utilities. He also served as Chairman of the Nuclear Decommissioning Finance Committee (responsible for the Seabrook decommissioning fund), and Vice Chair of the Site Evaluation Committee (presiding over the Lempster, Granite Reliable and Groton wind farm cases). He can be reached in the firm’s Concord office at (603) 230-4403 or thomas.getz@mclane.com.
Bill Glahn has practiced at the firm for more than 40 years. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and in his nearly 50 years of litigation experience has handled nearly all aspects of commercial, business, and administrative litigation in the state and federal courts. He is an experienced appellate lawyer and has argued dozens of cases in the New Hampshire Supreme Court as well as several cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. In recent years Bill’s practice has focused on corporate and administrative litigation, including environmental issues, contract disputes, corporate governance, shareholder disputes, and tax litigation. He was previously the head of the Civil Division of the Office of the New Hampshire Attorney General and has extensive experience in constitutional litigation. He has consistently been ranked as one of the top five commercial trial lawyers in New Hampshire by Chambers USA. He can be reached in the firm Manchester office at (603) 628-1469 or bill.glahn@mclane.com.
Ralph Holmes has developed one of the region’s leading probate litigation practices and recovered multiple Probate Court seven-figure verdicts. He handles will and trust contests, fiduciary accounting claims, guardianships and conservatorships, and other cases. Reflecting their confidence in his abilities, lawyers within and outside the firm entrust their clients to Ralph when they need aggressive, responsive litigation representation. Mindful of the costs of litigation, Ralph delivers aggressive representation efficiently and strategically with careful attention to planning and budgeting. He can be reached in the firm’s Manchester and Woburn office at (603) 628-1409 or ralph.holmes@mclane.com.
Michael Quinn has 35 years of experience as a member of the firm’s Administrative Law and Litigation Departments. He represents clients in litigated matters in state and federal courts, as well as before administrative agencies. He has extensively litigated cost recovery and insurance claims litigation arising from legacy hazardous waste sites. He counsels businesses, municipalities, and individuals in a broad array of environmental matters including Superfund, hazardous and solid waste permitting and compliance, wetlands permitting, the Clean Water Act, and environmental due diligence in property acquisitions. He can be reached in the firm’s Portsmouth office at (603) 334-6925 or mike.quinn@mclane.com.
Mark Wright is Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group and widely recognized as a leading trademark lawyer. Mark has over 30 years of experience counseling clients and assisting them in protecting their intellectual property rights in the United States and foreign countries. In addition to his law degree, Mark has a Master of Intellectual Property Degree. Clients seek him out for his sophisticated expertise in trademark protection, management, and counselling services to help them strategically build and protect the value of their brands. His experience spans a wide range of intellectual property areas, including domestic and international trademarks, development agreements and licensing of software, trade secrets, domain name disputes and other Internet-related issues, copyrights, confidentiality agreements and litigation related to intellectual property rights. Mark is at the forefront of the US trademark profession with an extensive practice representing regional, national and international businesses. Mark has been consistently honored by a wide range of US and international publications, including Band 1 Chambers Global (Intellectual Property), Who’s Who Legal USA: Trademarks, Super Lawyers, recognized as top-rated IP attorney (since 2007), Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year (Litigation – Intellectual Property), Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly – Massachusetts Go-To Intellectual Property Lawyer, Boston’s Best Lawyers (Intellectual Property Law), and New Hampshire Union Leader’s “Forty Under 40” Business Leaders. He can be reached in the firm’s Manchester office at (603) 628-1311 or mark.wright@mclane.com.