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Prior to forming Michienzie & Sawin LLC in June 2000, the founding partners spent many years at prominent Boston law firms. Paul Michienzie was previously a litigation partner at the Boston-based firm of Gaffin & Krattenmaker. Richard A. Sawin, Jr. had been a partner at Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen, P.C., a medium-sized Boston firm specializing in the area of civil litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. In addition to the founding partners, the practice consists of 9 - 10 attorneys and our support staff. We are committed to a policy of controlled growth, are highly selective when we hire, and are able to provide associates with close supervision.
Paul Michienzie
Paul Michienzie is a founding partner of Michienzie & Sawin. He engages in litigation of a broad range of cases, including complex products liability, bankruptcy, commercial litigation, and lender liability. He also spends considerable time managing and monitoring litigation for clients nationwide.
Mr. Michienzie attended Boston College where he received his B.A., magna cum laude, in 1983, and his JD in 1986. While at Boston College Law School, Mr. Michienzie served as a staff writer and as an associate editor of the U.C.C. Reporter Digest.
After graduating from law school, Mr. Michienzie worked for six months with Robinson,
Donovan, Madden & Barry in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he had a general practice with an emphasis on insurance defense, and then for one year at the Boston law firm of Morrison, Mahoney & Miller, specializing in insurance defense matters. After leaving that firm, Mr. Michienzie went to work for General Cinema, as in-house counsel. In that position, he gained considerable experience in supervising litigation of outside counsel, in antitrust law and in general commercial matters. In 1989, Mr. Michienzie joined Gaffin & Krattenmaker as a litigator, becoming a shareholder in 1995. In June 2000, he founded Michienzie & Sawin with co-founder Rick Sawin.
Email: pm@masatlaw.com
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Richard A. Sawin, Jr.
Rick Sawin is a founding partner of Michienzie & Sawin. He practices in tort defense, with a specialty in product liability litigation.
Mr. Sawin attended Boston College, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1982, and then received his JD in 1985. At Boston College Law School, he was President of the Student Body from 1984 to 1985.
After graduating from law school, Mr. Sawin clerked in the Superior Court of Exeter, NH, from 1985 to 1986. He then was a litigation associate at Morrison, Mahoney & Miller. Mr. Sawin moved to Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak and Cohen, and became a partner at Sugarman in 1992. In June 2000, he founded Michienize & Sawin with co-founder Paul Michienzie.
Email: rs@masatlaw.com
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John C. Barker
John Barker was associated with the San Francisco office of Adams, Duque & Hazeltine and with the Boston-area office of Zelle & Larson, at which he practiced in complex litigation, including insurance coverage, products liability, commercial, intellectual property, and employment matters. Between his associations with these two larger firms, John practiced with the California Anti-SLAPP Project (“CASP”) in Oakland, California, and with Wood & Associates, for whom he served as the Northern California representative, handling employment and commercial cases. For CASP, John practiced in the areas of First Amendment law, defamation defense, and SLAPP-suit defense.
Mr. Barker started at the Boston firm of Gaffin & Krattenmaker in 1999 as a litigator, then moved to Michienzie & Sawin in 2000 at its inception. He currently handles insurance coverage, bad faith defense, commercial litigation, products liability, employment law, First Amendment (speech, petition, religion), and other cases.
John was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He received his BA degree from Williams College, cum laude, in 1978, and his JD from the University of California (Hastings College of Law) in 1992. At Hastings, he received an American Jurisprudence Award in legal writing and research and was the Senior Articles Editor for the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. He is a member of the Boston, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and California Bars. He is also admitted to practice before the federal courts in Massachusetts, California, and New Hampshire.
Email: jb@masatlaw.com
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Harry Castleman
Harry Castleman is of counsel to Michienzie & Sawin. He is supervisor of the foreclosure department, overseeing the firm’s work for several national mortgage companies. His current practice also involves considerable work in general corporate and transactional matters, including representing clients in the buying and selling of businesses, drafting and negotiation of distribution, purchasing, loan, employment, non-competition, stockholder and various other forms of agreements. Mr. Castleman is a specialist in issues relating to trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights. In addition, he handles real estate matters, provides estate planning services, and prepares federal and state estate tax returns.
Mr. Castleman received his B.S. degree from Northwestern University in 1974, after which he spent several years working in media campaign relations for the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., and for Florida Governor Reubin Askew. He then received his JD, cum laude, from Boston University in 1982. After graduation, he worked at the Jacksonville, Florida firm of Smith and Hulsey where he concentrated in general corporate and securities matters.
In 1985, Mr. Castleman became associated with Gaffin & Krattenmaker in Boston, working in its corporate department. While there, he concentrated on projects for several international manufacturing and consumer products conglomerates concerning a wide range of transactional matters and was the lead attorney in both the buying and selling of several businesses. He also specialized in multi-state corporate organization and holding companies, and he directed and prepared legal audits of national manufacturing companies. He became Senior Business Counsel at Gaffin & Krattenmaker in 1996 and a shareholder in 2001, before moving to Michienzie & Sawin in 2003.
Mr. Castleman is a member of both the Massachusetts and Florida bars. In addition to his legal pursuits, Mr. Castleman has co-authored eight books on the evolution of popular culture, with a particular focus on the history of television. One of his recent books, Going to Law School?, was written for people who are considering applying to law schools. Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television was published in the Fall of 2003 by Syracuse University Press.
Email: hc@masatlaw.com
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Erin C. Birmingham
Erin C. Birmingham joined Michienzie & Sawin in 2008. Ms. Birmingham graduated cum laude with a B.A. in International Affairs from Northeastern University in 2002 and graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2008.
While in law school Ms. Birmingham worked in the Family Violence and Child Abuse Bureau of the New York County District Attorney's Office. She also worked as a summer associate for the General Counsel's Office of the New York City Department of Correction. Upon graduation, the faculty at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law awarded Ms. Birmingham the Jacob Burns Medal for Outstanding Moot Court Achievement of the Class of 2008.
Ms. Birmingham is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, and her admission is pending in New York.
Email: ecb@masatlaw.com
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John B. Racicot
John Racicot joined Michienzie & Sawin in 2001. He is currently concentrating in the defense of civil insurance matters with emphasis on complex cases and construction cases. Mr. Racicot graduated from Boston University in 1973, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with Distinctions in his major. He graduated from Boston College Law School in 1976.
After receiving his law degree, he joined the law firm of S. Peter Gorshel in the general practice of law, with emphasis on municipal matters. In 1979, Mr. Racicot joined the Law Offices of Holland Hazen, which was the in-house law firm for the Sentry Group of Insurers in Concord, Massachusetts. In that position, Mr. Racicot was exclusively engaged in the defense of civil insurance and worker’s compensation claims.
In 1985 Mr. Racicot returned to private practice and handled civil insurance defense cases for a number of insurers, including The American International Group, Safety Insurance, and the New Hampshire Insurance Company. He also represented Yankee Bank on residential real estate matters. He was a title insurance agent for Title USA and Chicago Title Insurance Companies.
He joined the American International Insurance Company in 1987, and was almost immediately promoted to Senior Attorney/Team Leader position. Thereafter he was promoted to Managing Attorney of the Boston law office in 1989 and to Regional Managing Attorney in 1991. While at AIG, John was responsible for handling or supervising the handling of a wide range of significant commercial litigation cases, and professional liability cases involving medical malpractice, travel agent liability, and accounting malpractice. He was designated the Regional Managing Attorney responsible for the defense of all professional liability cases handled by the staff counsel offices nationwide, and was similarly responsible for all mass-marketing auto cases nationwide, before leaving to join Michienzie & Sawin in 2001.
Email: jr@masatlaw.com
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Christopher J. DeCosta
Christopher J. DeCosta was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 19, 1967. He received his B.S. in Political Science and Economics from Florida State University. He graduated from the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, in 1999. Prior to his education, Chris was a Hawk Missile Crewmember in the U.S. Army, from 1990 to 1993.
Chris practices in civil litigation, including commercial and bankruptcy matters. He represents businesses and individuals in a variety of matters, including mortgage lenders litigation, construction disputes, bankruptcy, commercial disputes, products liability, and personal injury cases. Chris is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Florida, and New York. In addition, he is admitted to the Federal District of Massachusetts, the Federal District of Rhode Island, and the Middle District of Florida.
Email: cd@masatlaw.com
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Richard C. Demerle
Richard C. Demerle joined Michienzie & Sawin, LLC in 2004. Mr. Demerle specializes in bankruptcy litigation and commercial litigation, at both the trial and appellate levels, as well as the representation of secured and unsecured creditors, debtors, and trustees. He is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Mr. Demerle is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and the Boston Bar Association.
Mr. Demerle is an alumnus of both Dartmouth College (A.B., 1992) and Boston University School of Law (J.D., 2001). At Dartmouth, he wrote for Aporia, the Dartmouth undergraduate journal of philosophy. At Boston University School of Law, he was managing editor of the Public Interest Law Journal.
Prior to law school, Mr. Demerle served as a legislative aide to the Massachusetts House Ways & Means Committee and spearheaded the Haverhill Land Bank campaign, dedicated to preserving open space in the City of Haverhill. Mr. Demerle also worked for four years as a reporter for two of the largest daily newspapers in Massachusetts, The Lowell Sun and The Eagle-Tribune.
Email: rd@masatlaw.com
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Richard E. Bennett
Richard Bennett joined Michienzie & Sawin in 2007. The focus of Mr. Bennett’s practice is complex civil litigation at trial and appellate levels. Mr. Bennett is admitted to practice in the Massachusetts state and federal courts as well as the United States Court of Appeal for the First and Federal Circuits.
From 1979 to 2006, Mr. Bennett practiced with the Boston firm of Willcox, Pirozzolo & McCarthy, where the focus of his practice was complex business disputes, particularly insurance, business antitrust and patent issues, and included numerous trials and appeals.
Mr. Bennett is a graduate of Boston College (A.B., cum laude) and Boston College Law School (J.D.). While at Boston College Law School, Mr. Bennett was a staff writer and Annotations Editor for Willier & Hart’s Uniform Commercial Code Reporter-Digest.
Email: rb@masatlaw.com
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Amy Rothfeld Fiorino
Amy Rothfeld Fiorino joined the firm in 2007 and is the Foreclosure Department Manager overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Foreclosure Department.
Prior to joining the firm Ms. Fiorino served as Underwriting Counsel for First American Title Insurance Company and Stewart Title Guaranty Company, handling both residential and commercial underwriting matters. Before that, Amy worked for Adelson, Golden, Loria & Simons in Boston, supervising their foreclosure department. Prior to working in Massachusetts, she practiced law in New York with The Dime Savings Bank and in private practice.
Ms. Fiorino attended American University in Washington, D.C. where she received a B.S., with honors, and she received a JD from Hofstra University Law School, in Hempstead, NY. She is a member of both the New York and the Massachusetts Bars.
Email: arf@masatlaw.com
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David E. Maglio
After graduating from Suffolk University in 1986, cum laude, Mr. Maglio became affiliated with Morrison, Mahoney & Miller, specializing in insurance defense matters along with the founding partners of Michienzie & Sawin. Virtually a native of Rhode Island, Dave returned there to practice law with Morrison, Mahoney & Miller in its newly-created Providence, Rhode Island branch office in 1993. Leaving to practice on his own in 1997, Mr. Maglio became a partner at Duffy & Sweeney, LLP, where he not only concentrated in insurance defense matters, but also in complex commercial litigation and intellectual property litigation. Mr. Maglio opened his own practice in 1998, continues to serve in this capacity, and has re-affiliated with his colleagues Paul Michienzie and Rick Sawin to serve as local counsel to Michienzie & Sawin’s clients with a need for Rhode Island representation.
Email: dmaglio@magliolaw.com
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