Practice Areas
civil rights, employment, family/matrimonial, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, torts, workers compensation
Admissions
Vermont, United States District Court for the District of Vermont
Education
UC Davis School of Law, J.D., 1997
University of California, Berkeley, A.B., 1985
Max has operated his Middlebury, Vermont-based firm since 2008. Max’s main practice focus is on doing research and writing for other lawyers. As a freelance lawyer, Max has worked on a wide variety of practice areas, including (among others) civil claims for childhood sexual abuse, family law (property division, alimony modification, custody modification), civil rights and criminal law at both the trial court and appellate levels. Max also assists lawyers with fact development and archival research (i.e., interviewing witnesses, combing through public records, and digging up the old paper that changes the case). Max’s direct client representation includes handling matters related to labor and employment law, professional liability and professional discipline, and assisting claimants with Social Security disability claims.
Before starting his own practice, Max was a litigation associate with Alan P. Biederman, PLC in Rutland, Vermont from 2005 to 2008, where he handled a variety of matters, including cases involving civil sexual abuse claims by both children and adults, employment discrimination claims, professional liability claims against lawyers, condominium-related litigation, and civil rights claims. Max followed Alan Biederman to Biederman Law Office from the Rutland, Vermont-based firm of Reiber, Kenlan, Schwiebert, Hall & Facey, P.C., where he was a litigation associate from 2000 through 2005, handling professional liability claims, the defense of civil rights claims against judges, the defense of employment discrimination/sexual harassment claims, insurance defense matters, and complex product liability litigation. In 1999, Max worked for the Springfield, Vermont firm of Boylan and Bowen as a litigation associate, where he was primarily engaged with the preparation of plaintiffs’ personal injury claims (medical malpractice, general negligence) for trial.
In law school, Max was inducted into Gibson Inn of Phi Delta Phi. In his last semester, he served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Lawrence K. Karlton, Chief Judge Emeritus, United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.
Before law school, Max was active as a composer and recording artist. His CD, Cheshire Tree Suite (recorded 1990–1996), was released on the Heidelberg-based QuiXote-Music.de label in 2001 and received favorable reviews in ten countries and seven languages. He also appears on the Barry Cleveland’s 2004 CD release, “Volcano.” His article, “Of Bowhammers and Palmharps, Conundrums and Kabalis: Mike Masley’s Urboriginal Innovations,” appeared in the September 1993 issue of Experimental Musical Instruments Quarterly. He also contributed electronic musical product reviews to Onstage Magazine.
Max lives in Brandon, Vermont with his wife, Beth, and their two children.