Six years ago, Bernkopf Goodman’s Rachel Coakley set out on a mission to climb all the 4,000-foot peaks of the White Mountains. In 2015, she reached the summit of Mt. Jackson where she hand-fed a gray jay. In the winter of 2017, she climbed Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast. Since setting her goal, she’s climbed 21 of the 48 four-thousand-foot peaks. “I’ll seriously never forget the first time I climbed in the White Mountains and came out onto the summit to an insane view (Mt. Osceola). It was breathtaking. I knew I had found my passion at that point. Ever since, I’ve been planning hikes whenever possible and seeking new adventures,” said Coakley.
#TBT #beforebernkopf
#hiking #whitemountains #fourthousandfooters #climbing
Have you heard the one about the cash-strapped litigator who did stand-up during law school for a few extra pints? In 2006, Bernkopf Goodman attorney David Merritt performed at his first comedy night put on by one of the student law associations at the New England School of Law. Inside the now-shuttered comedy club Rumors (in front of a supportive crowd that included his future wife, Elizabeth), Merritt did a tight 10 on politicians, Miley Cyrus and Boston sports fans.
“I wasn’t too funny,” Merritt said. “But if you were an opening act you would get free beer as payment.”
Though Merritt keeps a flyer from one of the shows on his desk in memory of his comedy career, he has no plans to leave the very unfunny world of consumer finance litigation.
#TBT #beforebernkopf #comedy #Boston #litigation #mileycyrus #lagersforlaughs
Bernkopf Goodman's @cdmordas, @lingwithbling_13, Emily Melia and Rachel Baime embrace the '90s at @youthvillagesma_nh fundraiser "Rockin' for Janie." The event, along with a donation from Steven Tyler's Janie's Fund, raised more than $200,000 for the LifeSet program, which helps support young women who are aging out of foster care.
#bernkopf #janiesfund #charity #fundraising #90s
Brittany Ling, of Bernkopf Goodman, had been asking her parents for an Alex Bregman shirt for years. The Houston Astros all-star third baseman attended Louisiana State University — Ling’s alma mater — and is a favorite of Ling's parents, Tim and Stephanie, who are die-hard Astros fans.
So it was the first thing Stephanie bought when she and Tim attended an Astros game last month. After the game, which the Astros won 3-2 against the Texas Rangers, Ling's parents put the shirt in their mini-van and got ready for the hour-long drive to their Beaumont home. It was around 11 p.m., right when the first bands of Tropical Storm Imelda started to pummel the stretch of Interstate 10.
They pulled over to wait for the rain to subside. It never did.
As the water level rose, Ling’s parents turned the rescue effort over to Ling, who lives in Boston, hoping to preserve the battery life in their phones.
Ling called Beaumont police, who directed her to the sheriff’s department, which told her they couldn’t go out into the bad weather. By this time, water was moving in waves, crashing into the dashboard of her parents’ mini-van. “I was hysterical,” said Ling of the rescue effort. “I was calling for hours. At one point, the emergency lines just shut down.” So began a 14-hour adventure, which took Ling’s parents from the highway to the cabin of an 18-wheeler, to an abandoned gas station, a flooded out hotel and a highway underpass, where they hunkered down as rescue boats whizzed passed them. They finally got home after swimming to a built-up part of the highway, where they hitched a ride with a young man, who dropped them off at a park near their Beaumont home.
The mini-van was a total loss, but Stephanie saved the Bregman shirt by wrapping it in a plastic bag, along with a Michael Brantley bobblehead — a giveaway from the game they attended.
Stephanie proudly presented Ling with the shirt recently by mail. “I grew up watching the Astros with my dad,” said Ling, who is rooting for her hometown team in the World Series. “I love the shirt, but I am just glad they are OK." #houston #astros #boston #lsu #alexbregman #bernkopf
