Thomas Z. Carlson

Partner

Tom’s practice concentrates on family law, commercial litigation and commercial transactions. His combined experience in both transactions and litigation has evolved into a particular interest in resolving problems involving small business partnerships, professional practices, and business joint ventures of all kinds, including in family court and in complex divorces. Tom also has a growing practice as a mediator. Whether as client advocate or as a mediator, he believes that the best outcomes are controlled by clients rather than the courts.

Tom has presented continuing legal education programs on property division, business valuation and mediation in family court. He has been an adjunct professor of business law at St. Michael's College and on the faculty of the semiannual Program on Mediation sponsored by Harvard Law School (2009-2011). He has been selected for Best Lawyers in America® in commercial litigation since 2009. He was elected to the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation in 2011. Tom joined the firm in 1984 after clerking for the Hon. Albert W. Coffrin, U.S. District Court, District of Vermont.

Tom and his wife live in the small town of St. George, where he is past chair of the Planning Commission (1988-1992), Selectboard (1992-2010), and now moderator of Town Meeting. Tom is now co-chair of the Vermont Bar Association’s efforts to improve funding for legal services, and serves on the board of the St. George Historic and Conservation Trust. He is past president of the Boards of the Vermont Youth Orchestra and the Vermont Young Writers Project and a past director of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation. Tom loves skiing, skating, biking, hiking and working in the woods at the family cabin in the Adirondacks, and traveling to see his sons in the mountains east and west.