Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Kate Fitz Gibbon obtained her law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law where she received the Helen S. Carter Prize and the Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Property Law. She has a Master's degree from St. John's College and Bachelor of Arts from Skidmore College. She was honored to serve on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee to the President for both Presidents William Clinton and George W. Bush. She received the George Wittenborn Memorial Award from ARLIS in 1997 and was named a Cotsen Scholar at the Textile Museum, Washington DC in 2002.

Kate Fitz Gibbon's local practice focuses on estate planning, using powerful tools that include wills, trusts, and advance health and financial planning. She also serves clients who need help in probate and with guardianship, conservatorship and special needs trusts.

Quality, responsibility, and respect are the hallmarks of Kate Fitz Gibbon's work. Her law office provides legal services to all New Mexicans without discrimination. She believe that everyone should have access to the best legal help to ensure their family's future. Conscientious, thoughtful estate planning with personal attention to each client's needs can provide that security.

Nationally and internationally, she works in art law and cultural heritage issues as well as the legal management of private collections. She is an authority on Asian art and author and contributor to eight books covering both art and art law. Her articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and in numerous magazines and she is a frequent lecturer at museums and conferences.

She has worked all over the world and traveled widely, from Turkmenistan to Borneo, but the most important things in her life are much closer to home - her husband of thirty-five years and their two daughters, now in college.

Chris Graeser, a graduate of Southampton College and the University of New Mexico Law School, has over ten years of experience in local government, land use and real estate law. He counsels and represents local governments, state agencies, individuals and neighborhood groups, development applicants and small businesses. Mr. Graeser has extensive administrative law experience, having practiced in front of all local land use boards and numerous state agencies and serving as counsel to county property tax valuation protests boards throughout New Mexico. Mr. Graeser’s work for builders and developers focuses on clients engaging in sustainable, responsible development and green building. His work in this area has included drafting covenants and design standards for the first community in the state to require all new homes to meet Build Green New Mexico® gold level certification. He is a member of the First Judicial District, New Mexico, Federal District Court of New Mexico and 10th Circuit Court of Appeals bars, and holds a BV® Distinguished™ rating. Chris takes seriously the commitment to cost-effective representation that he makes to all his clients, private and public sector alike.

I have been the practice of law since 1983 and provide legal services in the Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque and Los Vegas environs. I am licensed in NY and NM. I am a general civil practitioner in the area of among other things, real estate law (I am a licensed broker), guardianship, family law, trusts and estates, wills, business formation and business law,collections and mediation

Jim's first job (at 25 cents an hour) was working at Kentch's Rexall Drugstore for his father and grandfather in a small Pennsylvania town. At an early age he learned the importance of recognizing what the customer needs and how best to provide it.

Between college and law school, when the Shah still ruled, Jim taught English as a foreign language on an Army base in Iran.

The first year out of law school Jim worked for a nonprofit organization, The Center for Law and Health Care Policy, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He headed North to Alaska in 1980, where he practiced law for over 18 years as a VISTA lawyer for Legal Services, an Assistant Attorney General in Alaska for the Consumer Protection Division, an Assistant Public Defender, the Assistant Director of the Alaska Public Offices Commission, and in private practice. He taught advanced Constitutional Law for two years at the University of Alaska at Anchorage. For almost four years he stayed home fulltime with his two children, and he regards this as his best and most worthwhile job.

While in Alaska Jim was on a team of lawyers that settled an antitrust case against the North Slope Borough for over seven million dollars. With another lawyer Jim represented a 12 year old boy who unfortunately lost both legs when a train ran over him. This case against the Alaska Railroad and the Municipality of Anchorage settled for $500,000.

Jim settled in Santa Fe (23 Alaskan winters were enough!) in 2003. In 2007-2008 he worked for the New Mexico Environment Department helping to keep the Land of Enchantment clean. He opened his current law office in March 2009.

Personal

An avid outdoorsman, Jim hikes, snowboards, cross-country skis and bicycles regularly. He also enjoys reading. Languages are a special interest of Jim's, and he knows--to one degree or another--seven languages. He is especially proud and fond of his two sons. Gavin currently attends law school at the University of Michigan. Dylan is an elite wilderness racer, placing second in the 2002 Iditasport Classic while 17 years old.

Reported Cases

Alaska v. Planned Parenthood, 35 P.3d 30 (Alaska 2001); Cooperating Attorney, Alaska Civil Liberties Union Foundation

Alaska v. Beans, 965 P.2d 725 (Alaska 1998)

LaVigne v. State, 788 P.2d 52 (Alaska App. 1990)

A.B.M. v. M.H., 651 P.2d 1170 (Alaska 1982)

Coverage and defense in the areas of construction, employment, liability, risk and workers' compensation for individuals, commercial and governmental interests.

Thomas W. Banner provides counseling and litigation services to clients throughout New Mexico. Based in Santa Fe, his practice areas include business and corporate law, collections law, contract law, wills and trusts, foreclosures, homeowners and condominium association law, residential and commercial real estate, construction law and criminal defense.

Prior to joining Cassutt, Hays & Friedman, P.A. in 2009, Mr. Banner served as an attorney in the Office of the First Judicial District Attorney. In that role, Mr. Banner gained extensive experience representing the state in cases pending before judges and juries throughout Northern New Mexico.
Today, Mr. Banner draws on his civil and criminal trial court experiences to provide comprehensive advice and representation to each of his clients.

Mr. Banner was awarded a Juris Doctorate from the University of Baltimore, School of Law. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, the courts of the District of Columbia and the courts of the State of New Mexico. Mr. Banner is a member of the American Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, the State Bar of New Mexico and the First Judicial District Bar Association.

Mr. Banner's regular office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, but evening and weekend consultations are also available by appointment. Schedule an initial consultation with Thomas W. Banner by calling 505-989-1434.