Gerald R. "Jerry" Velarde

Art Melendres concentrates his practice primarily in administrative, education, commercial and municipal finance law. For more than thirty-five years, clients have sought Art’s expertise when faced with disputes involving education, administrative law, commercial law or public financing. For more than twenty-five years, Art has served as general counsel for the Albuquerque Public Schools, a school district of more than 90,000 students and 11,000 employees. He regularly advises the Schoo...

Donald F. Kochersberger is a Member of the firm and has been with BLSW since 2005. His practice emphasizes complex litigation matters, including shareholder, member and partner disputes, contracts, business tort, unfair practices, restrictive covenant and non-compete agreements, employee theft and misconduct cases, and customer and vendor disputes. Mr. Kochersberger has served as counsel for a number of local, regional and national companies, as well as individuals engaged in business dispute...

Kathleen (Kathy) Love, partner at New Mexico-based McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry P.A., has practiced as an attorney for over two decades. She focuses on representing individuals against for-profit and government entities. Throughout her career as an attorney, she has tried a number of high-profile criminal and civil cases, most recently including the Torres v. APD case involving a police shooting incident. For her accomplishments, Kathy Love holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV-Preeminent rankin...

Cliff Atkinson has practiced for more than 44 years in the areas of complex commercial and tort litigation in a broad spectrum of difficult cases. He, with his good friend and now retired colleague John Thal, founded the Firm in 1992 on the principle that a small, directed, hard hitting litigation firm can deliver the highest quality of personalized services to its clients. In his many years of practice, Cliff has litigated and tried cases to verdict, judgment, or other successful resolution ...

Tomas Garcia is a shareholder in Modrall Sperling’s Litigation group, and serves on the Executive Committee. He is also chair of the firm’s Recruiting Committee. His practice includes a variety of commercial, healthcare, torts/personal injury, and transportation litigation. He has experience representing business professionals in corporate disputes, health care facilities and medical professionals in negligence and regulatory matters, manufacturers and distributors in product defe...

Doug Vadnais has more than 30 years of transaction and litigation experience in diverse business matters, real estate, and the protection and exercise of creditors’ rights. He has represented the entire spectrum of clients from individuals to Fortune 500 companies, and brings to each a pragmatic, practical approach to problem solving, with the aim of effecting an efficient and advantageous resolution for the client. Clients include both buyers and sellers of commercial and residential r...

Lynn Slade serves clients’ needs addressing Federal Indian law and Native American law, energy, natural resources, environmental law, project development, complex litigation and transactions for over 30 years. In his Indian law practice, Lynn advises and counsels natural resource and energy developers, financial institutions, utilities, and other businesses in transactions and project development, including extensive involvement with renewable energy projects. He also leads litigation t...

Katie Curry is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs. Katie, who practices law in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been recognized since 2018. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Katie is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Andrew J. Simons began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge William W. Bivins of the New Mexico Court of Appeals from 1992 to 1993. He then joined Sutin, Thayer & Browne APC, where he continues to practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His work focuses on Litigation – Bankruptcy, with an emphasis on commercial litigation, creditors’ rights, consumer law, and real estate matters. Mr. Simons has represented clients in a wide range of state and federal litigation, including: (...

Thirty years of experience in high stakes litigation. Proven track record of successes in and out of the courtroom. Crafts litigation strategies to support business goals. When the stakes are high and the litigation is complex, companies turn to Eric. He is respected for both his willingness to address issues aggressively and his success in the courtroom. For more than three decades, Eric has represented high-profile clients in the healthcare, financial services, real estate and other highly ...