About DangerLaw

What Makes Us Different?

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Thorough, accurate legal advice.

You are the expert about your own needs. We take what we have learned over the years, educate you, and then guide you to make smart choices about life decisions.

Competitive pricing.

We periodically survey the pricing of other attorneys. While decisions about legal representation should not be driven exclusively by price, DangerLaw, LLC’s rates are comparable.

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Flexible office hours.

Mornings, evenings, weekends or holidays. What’s most convenient for you?

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Ordinary English vs “legalese.”

Your documents and results should be effective, binding, and also easy to understand. We review your documents with you, so you understand how they work and how to use them.

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Collaboration with people you trust.

DangerLaw, LLC takes a team approach to its cases. Therefore, sometimes more than one attorney may participate in a call, meeting, hearing, or task so that our clients benefit from ideas, perspectives, and solutions offered from more than one vantage point.

We are who we serve.

If you are in an under-served community or category, such as LGBTQ+, unmarried couple, recently divorced, woman-headed household, solo ager, enjoying polyamorous a relationship, or a strong and independent woman, we want to hear from you.

Meet Our Team

Our team plays to win…and to enjoy. From expert legal counsel to business development and marketing savvy, and the occasional squirrel chase.

Attorney Deborah Danger

View bio page here >

Professional Experience

  • Deborah concentrates on Wills, Trusts, Gifting, Closely Held Business Succession Planning, and the Preservation of Family Assets and Vacation Homes. Deborah’s practice also includes protecting people whose capacity and capabilities are decreasing and who need help transitioning to living with more support. She does this through family mediation, and by acting as an agent, trustee or fiduciary for clients who prefer for a trusted professional to oversee the management of their affairs, rather than a friend or family member.
  • Prior to forming DangerLaw, LLC, Deborah co-founded a multi-state law practice with another attorney. Now, at DangerLaw, Deborah’s practice is contained within Massachusetts and her primary focus is asset protection within the realm of Estate and Estate Tax Planning.
  • Deborah loves to travel and has been to China, Russia, The Netherlands, Curaçao, Chile, Argentina, Canada, England, Wales, Germany, Belgium, Panama, Mexico, Belize, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.  She has visited some of these places for pleasure and others to study cross-cultural impacts on entrepreneurship.  These experiences help her to look at things less conventionally and to break down obstacles that prevent forward momentum.  The more unconventional the problem or proposal, the more eager she is to dissect and identify solutions to it.
  • Before practicing law, Deborah leveraged her interest in entrepreneurship to develop an expertise in tax advantaged real estate.  She advised developers, banks, investors and city and town governments in structuring low-income housing developments.  Deborah also studied tax law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. with authors of tax laws, policies and regulations that she now considers when preparing Estate Plans and Divorce Settlement agreements.
  • Deborah is a tax attorney who focuses on maximizing the benefits her clients can enjoy from their hard-won assets.  She also wants you to know she has a sense of humor.  She discounts her fee by 5% for any and all clients who make her laugh…and that’s not hard to do.

Accomplishments

Admitted to Practice

  • Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  • District of Columbia (Inactive)
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Federal Claims
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Tax Court

Outside of DangerLaw

  • Deborah believes in giving back to the community.  She was the volunteer coordinator for the National Lawyers’ Guild and the Massachusetts Bail Fund.  Most recently, she galvanized attorneys to travel to police precincts where Black Lives Matters protesters were being held– ensuring their release and providing them with masks, snacks and water.
  • Deborah likes trying new things.  She has taken surfing lessons, attempted to learn Mandarin, ridden her bike from Boston to Provincetown in the PanMass Challenge, and enjoys Ballroom Dancing. Her latest passion is playing the ukulele.  Despite these adventures, she prefers walking her dog along Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester, hanging with friends and listening to crime focused podcasts.
  • If Deborah weren’t a lawyer, she would… organize closets.  “No neglected nook would neutralize my notion that nearly every napkin and knee sock navigates more easily in neighborly neatness than nefarious neglect,” says Deborah. “I follow the same steps to clean my house as I do to navigate a successful legal transaction.  Each needs time to identify the chores, thought to organize the tasks into an efficient and effective order and finally, effort to execute the plan, usually with input from those who are impacted by the outcome.  In between, occasional tidying is required to prevent total chaos from taking over.  It takes a bit of work, but helping clients keep their legal affairs clean, tidy, up to date and effective almost smells lemony fresh, and I find that rewarding.”

Education

  • Georgetown University, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (B.S.B.A.)
  • Babson College F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)
  • Suffolk University Law School, Juris Doctor (J.D.)
  • Georgetown University Law Center, Master of Laws in Taxation (LL.M.)

Pronouns
She/her/hers 

Contact

Office: 617-789-4511
deborah@dangerlaw.com

Read Deborah’s blog posts here >

Attorney Michael E. Balletto

View bio page here>

Professional Experience

Attorney Michael Balletto is a highly experienced litigator.  He has resided in Massachusetts for his entire life, and attended college and law school here. He has deep connections to the communities of Massachusetts, and understands the peculiarities and challenges of living here.  Michael practices in all areas of family law, including divorce, custody, paternity, support, and guardianship, as well as cases involving child welfare.

Throughout his lengthy and extensive practice, Michael has also represented clients in real estate, bankruptcy, criminal, personal injury, and genera civil litigation matters. He believes that this broad range of experience provides a unique perspective which benefits his clients.

Michael is able to navigate his clients though the often confusing and frustrating litigation process with his extensive knowledge and experience. He is able and willing to litigate the most highly contentious matters, while also recognizing and promoting the benefits of compromise and negotiation.

Admissions

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Federal District Court for the District to Massachusetts

Outside DangerLaw

Michael can often be found camping in the great outdoors. He reads extensively, and is never too far from a good book. He also enjoys trying to golf, and being an uncle to his several nieces and nephews.

Education

Stonehill College, Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in History and Political Science.

New England School of Law, Juris Doctorate (J.D.)

Kerry Reilly, Esq.

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Kerry has heard many people say “they didn’t believe they had sufficient assets to warrant getting an estate plan.”

Do you have a bank account, a pet, a car, a retirement account, a new house?  Congratulations, you have an estate!

There is no “required minimum” for creating an estate plan.  Money is just ONE asset that can be managed within an estate plan…it need not be the reason for the plan.

Kerry deeply believes in helping her clients “leave love behind, not logistics” (CBS Sunday Morning Quote – Amy Pickard, creator of Good to Go). Ultimately estate planning is just that – A PLAN!  Think of it like your “out of office memo.”   It’s a mechanism to ensure that people of YOUR CHOICE can act on your behalf (and/or your family’s behalf) when you can’t.  Money is just one aspect of this, others are health care decisions for you, making sure your business carries on, making sure your family can carry on financially and health-wise. 

Education:

  • Rosemont College, Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English
  • Suffolk University Sawyer School of Business (M.B.A.)
  • Suffolk University Law School (J.D.)

Admitted to Practice

  • Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Prior to Joining Danger Law

  • 15-year career at Fidelity Investments in a variety of client facing and operational roles
  • After law school Kerry worked in the securities industry as in-house counsel for several  bank and private wealth management mutual funds (writing prospectuses, etc.)
  • For the last 6+ years Kerry has her own firm – K. Reilly Law – where she focused her planning on the 99%.

Outside of Danger Law

  • Member of the Massachusetts Bar Association & its Probate Council
  • Speaker for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE New England)
  • Former member of the Boston Bar Association and former co-Chair of the Taxation Committee
  • Traveling (12 countries so far, not including the US)
  • A good book on the beach

Robbie Fontaine, Legal Assistant

View bio page here >

Education

  • Emmanuel College, Bachelor of Arts (B. A.) in Mathematics

Prior to DangerLaw

  • Prior to joining DangerLaw, Robbie honed their attention to detail and interpersonal skills as part of a shipping team for precision cutting tools.
  • With a passion for math and experience in customer service, Robbie is happy to help organize and maintain systems to increase efficiency both internally and externally.

Outside of DangerLaw

  • In their spare time, Robbie enjoys playing co-operative and competitive video games with friends.
  • Robbie also loves going to conventions, listening to podcasts, and supporting their friends’ creative endeavors.

Pronouns:  they/them/theirs

Bruce

View bio page here >

Education:

Studied Obedience under many qualified instructors and is self-taught in making people laugh and interrupting Zoom calls.

Prior to joining DangerLaw:

Bruce fulfilled numerous responsibilities at home. Primarily greeting the mailman who deposited treats in the slot along with letters and packages and barking at the UPS man who did not.  Bruce also spent time monitoring the perimeter of the yard for odiferous trespassers.  In his current role at DangerLaw, Bruce attends meetings and also makes house-calls as needed.

Outside of DangerLaw:

Bruce enjoys eating treats, hanging out with humans and sitting in the sun. Although it sounds like a cliché, he also enjoys long walks on the beach, watching the sunset while perched on a grassy knoll and indulging in marrow bones and socializing with other Australian Shepherds.

“If I wasn’t working here I’d… spend my time patrolling the Public Garden for squirrels.  Despite two years of dedicated squirrel chasing volunteer work, I have only caught two.  They were both very young and inexperienced.  I let them go unharmed because as everyone knows…the point of it all is to chase, not to catch.”

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