Gary joined our firm as Senior Counsel in April 2021 after practicing in New York and Vermont for the past 27 years. Gary is a member of the Florida, New York and Vermont Bars, as well as the Bar of various Federal District and Appellate Courts.
Professional Summary
Gary von Stange is a Partner in the firm’s St. Petersburg office. Gary started practicing law in 1994. His first seventeen years of practice were primarily spent at large New York City firms where he specialized in complex commercial litigation representing Fortune 500 companies, investment banking firms, accounting firms, law firms, insurance companies, commercial banks, lending institutions, public and private companies, brokers, agents, joint venture partnerships, unions and individuals, small, mid-sized and large businesses, trustees and individuals. Gary’s experience also includes business transactions, corporate law, construction contracting and disputes, bankruptcy and licensing. He has clerked for two federal judges, the Honorable Jacob Mishler, the former Chief District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York, and the Honorable Cecelia B. Morris, Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York.
After working in New York City, Gary moved to Vermont where he started his own firm and represented clients in numerous venues and proceedings before federal and state courts, administrative agencies, tribunals and courts as a civil and criminal litigator in employment, contractual, securities, criminal, shareholder, bankruptcy and business disputes. He also assisted companies and individuals in matters involving partnerships, LLC formation and documentation, membership issues, municipal law, regulations, and finances.
Gary is also a published legal author. His writings have addressed corporate and social responsibility, family and adoption law, guardianship and bankruptcy, and have been cited to as authoritative by various entities including the highest court in New York State, the New York Court of Appeals, and ACCA, the largest and most rapidly growing international accounting body.
Before becoming an attorney, Mr. von Stange worked as a public school teacher, a high school varsity baseball coach, a newspaper writer, a performing musician, Director of Sales and Marketing at two major real estate projects, and as a business owner. Gary is experienced in working with real estate projects, including marketing, sales, documentation, construction and financial analysis.
Gary believes in community service and has been quite active in local municipal government including serving on a municipal planning commission where he was involved with rewriting municipal zoning bylaws. Starting in 2009, Gary was elected three times, each time for three years, to the Shelburne, Vermont Selectboard, and then elected as Chairperson of the Board for the last four of those years. The Selectboard is the highest legislative body in Vermont town government.
Areas of Experience
Gary has extensive Business and Commercial Litigation, Arbitration and Mediation experience including matters of Insurance, Corporate Law, Dealer/Franchise Law, Accounting and Legal Malpractice, Banking, Real Estate, Securities Law, Trade Regulation, Employment, Construction, Creditor Rights, Defamation, Contract Law, Torts and Negligence, Appellate Practice, Administrative Law and More. In addition to his litigation practice, Gary advises business clients regarding complex legal issues and problems associated with selling and buying business, opening and operating a new business, financing, and regulatory matters.
Education
Juris Doctor, Hofstra Univ. School of Law, with Distinction, Dean’s Scholarship 1994
Master of Music, Bowling Green State University, Graduate Assistant 1980
Bachelor of Education, Regent Scholar, Ithaca College 1978
Admissions
- Florida State
- New York State
- Vermont State
- United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- United States District Court, Middle District of Florida
- United States District Court, Eastern District of New York
- United States District Court, Southern District of New York
- United States District Court, District of Vermont
Memberships
- Florida Bar Association
- New York State Bar Association
- Vermont State Bar Association
- St. Petersburg Bar Association
Should Children Be Penalized Because Their Parents Didn’t Marry? A Constitutional Analysis, Toledo Law Rev., Vol. 26.4, 1996. Co-authored with Allan E. Mayefsky. Cited by the N.Y. Court of Appeals in Clara C. v. Williams L., 96 N.Y.2d 244, 252, 750 N.E.2d 1068, 1074, 727 N.Y.S.2d 20, 26 (2001).
Corporate Social Responsibility Through Constituency Statutes: Legend or Lie? Hofstra Lab. L.J., Vol. 11.2, 1995. Cited extensively including as the lead footnote in the 2003 ACCA booklet Corporate Social Responsibility: Is There a Business Case? The ACCA is the largest and fastest-growing international accounting body in the world.
Guardianship Reform in New York: The Evolution of Article 81, Hofstra L. Rev., Vol. 21.3, 1994. Co-authored with Nora von Stange.