Legal Secretary Brenda Perron Ham of Sheffield has been named the winner of the coveted Diane Lynch Distinguished Service Award at the northern New England law firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC. The award was recently presented at the firm’s annual holiday celebration at the Stoweflake Resort in Stowe.
A citation presented to Ham at the time of the award reads, in part, “You exemplify the excellence your peers aspire to as legal professionals, both in your demeanor and proficiency. You are a model legal secretary…You are described as a rock star, a really good person, kind, caring, respectful and a joy to work with.”
Ham was working for the Burlington Electric Department as a senior executive staff secretary when she was hired by DRM after the ice storm of 1998. At DRM she has worked with nearly all of the attorneys, paralegals and staff involved in serving the regulated utility, energy and telecommunications sector. She has often been called upon to provide staff support for attorneys, paralegals and outside counsel during technical hearings before the Vermont Public Service Board in Montpelier and is greatly appreciated for her organizational skills.
A native of El Paso, Texas, Ham attended the University of Texas at El Paso before joining the El Paso Electric Company as a stenographer and head librarian. She moved to Vermont in 1978 where she started as a receptionist for Burlington Electric, and was promoted several times before joining DRM.
The Diane R. Lynch Distinguished Service Award is given annually to a former or current employee who has demonstrated loyalty, dedication, energy, drive, selflessness, good nature, humor and commitment. It is named for a former employee who spent most of her career at DRM, advancing through positions to become personnel and administrative manager in 1983. In 1994 Lynch was diagnosed with breast cancer. She passed away in November, 2000, shortly before the first Diane R. Lynch Distinguished Service Award was presented.
DRM is the region’s largest law firm, with offices in Burlington, Montpelier, St. Johnsbury and Brattleboro, Vt. and in Lebanon, N.H. Its areas of practice include business law, intellectual property law, employment law, trusts and estates, captive insurance, renewable energy and telecommunications, health law, litigation, real estate and land use, government and public affairs, environmental and tax law. DRM is the exclusive member firm in Vermont for Lex Mundi, the world’s leading network of independent law firms.