John W. Geismar

Growing up working for his family’s flag and banner company, Arnie’s business education started at a young age. Today, he is a member of Bernstein Shur’s Succession Planning practice group, and provides counsel to small and mid-sized companies in business matters of all types, from formation issues and real estate deals to mergers and acquisitions. He’s particularly well-versed in financing, and works with both profit and nonprofit clients on a range of complex transac...

From startups to Fortune 500 companies, Matt Stein helps clients navigate, negotiate and close technology and intellectual property transactions involving software, SaaS, data processing, managed services, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. Matt understands the real world challenges and opportunities presented by these emerging technologies and provides clients with thoughtful, pragmatic advice to get complex deals done efficiently and responsibly. Matt focuses his practice on thre...

Bob Mittel is the senior member of the firm. Following two years of service in the Army during the late 1960’s, he practiced with Pine Tree Legal Assistance until 1976, devoting the majority of his efforts to welfare and civil rights litigation in both state and federal courts. Since 1977, the majority of his work has been in the fields of intellectual property, compliance & defense work for debt collectors, and business and probate litigation. Bob has argued cases in a variety of s...

Leah Rachin focuses her practice on municipal, land use, and employment law. Leah combines 20 years of practice experience with her practical, detail-oriented nature to deliver customized, workable solutions to help clients achieve their objectives. Leah serves as town attorney to several municipalities, and advises towns and other public sector clients on a broad range of issues such as zoning, planning, licensing/permitting, charter/ordinance drafting and interpretation, right-to-know law, ...

Abby clerked for the Honorable Samuel W. Collins, Jr. of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upon graduating from law school, and after practicing law with two large Portland law firms, formed LeBlanc & Young in 1995 with her partners, Dick LeBlanc and Jay Young. She has the highest rating (AV) with Martindale-Hubbell. Abby is a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, one of only two member attorneys in Maine. She is also a member of the Trusts and Estates, Elder Law, and Women...

Christopher P. Stief is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employment Law - Management, Labor Law - Management and Litigation - Labor and Employment. Christopher P., who practices law in Portland, Maine, has been recognized since 2019. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Christopher P. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Natalie practices municipal, environmental, land use and administrative law and represents both public and private clients. Before joining the firm, she served as Associate Corporation Counsel for the City of Portland for 10 years. Natalie graduated from Bowdoin College, with departmental honors in Romance Languages. She received her law degree from the University of Maine School of Law. She has made presentations on municipal and land use issues at seminars sponsored by the Maine State Bar A...

Ken Lehman is a shareholder in Bernstein Shur’s Litigation Group and he co-chairs the firm’s Health Care Group. Ken has practiced health care law for more than 35 years. He is a former Maine Assistant Attorney General where he had responsibility for cases before Maine’s professional licensure boards that license physicians and PAs, nurses and nurse practitioners, dentists, psychologists, social workers, professional counselors, chiropractors, and other health care providers....

Sam Anderson is a shareholder, co-chair of the firm’s Business Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group and member of the firm’s Board of Directors. Sam’s practice focuses primarily on representing businesses in chapter 11 reorganization proceedings, including recent cases before the Bankruptcy Courts for the Districts of Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Sam has a wide range of experience in representing businesses in chapter 11 proceedings, inclu...

Rebecca West Greenfield, partner at Pierce Atwood LLP, has a transactional commercial real estate practice involving acquisitions, dispositions, development, leasing, finance, and title and land use analysis. Rebecca has developed particular expertise in project finance for new and existing real estate developments. Rebecca has represented both regional real estate developers, educational institutions, lenders and other commercial entities in a wide array of development and lending transactio...