Our Team

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Philip Vannucci is a California attorney, primarily serving counties throughout Northern California. He has handled a broad array of cases during his two-decade career, with a concentration in Family Law and Estate Planning & Litigation. Mr. Vannucci is the president of the Family Law Bar of Mendocino County, and offers his clients a comprehensive range of services, including counsel, mediation, collaboration, and litigation. He lives in Mendocino County, California with his beautiful wife, three spunky children and an old, black dog named Lucy.

Prior to opening his own law firm, Mr. Vannucci was a partner at Carter, Vannucci & Momsen; previous to that, he worked as an associate attorney at Brigham & Gaustad. Mr. Vannucci received his B.A. degree from UCLA in 1989 and JD degree from University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law in 1994. He has been a member of the California State Bar since 1994.

Mr. Vannucci's clients benefit from his years of experience in the trenches of the courtroom, and his knowledge evaluating, mediating, collaborating, settling and litigating thousands of cases. Over his career, Mr. Vannucci has represented individuals from all walks of life and all sorts of social, cultural and financial backgrounds, and has dealt with a vast, and often complex, variety of family-law and trust/estate issues. He has made thousands of court appearances for hearings and trials in courts throughout Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma Counties. He is also trained in mediation and collaborative law. He has served as settlement conference official and judge pro tem for the California Superior Court system.

Mr. Vannucci is committed to providing his clients with efficient and effective legal services. He is proud that many of his referrals come from his former clients, as well as his opponents. Because of his years of in-depth and varied experience, Mr. Vannucci's clients should expect to receive wise counsel, sound strategy, good communication, and vigorous advocacy, as well as candor and fairness regarding fees and costs.

Contact Phil: pvannucci@vmm-law.com

Brian Momsen was admitted to the California Bar in 1991.  He is a graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara (1988) and University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law (1991).  He initially engaged in insurance defense with the Bay Area firms of Gibbons, Lees & Conley, and Leach & English from 1992-1998.

Mr.  Momsen has practiced in Ukiah since 1999. He initially practiced in Ukiah with the firm of Rawles, Hinkle, Carter, Behnke, Ogelsby and Bacik, where he became a partner in 2002 and which was most recently known as Carter Momsen PC.  He left Momsen in 2020 to associate with colleagues Philip Vannucci and Colin Morrow.

Mr. Momsen prosecutes and defends complex civil litigation matters from their inception through trial and appeal.  He has tried over 100 case—including several jury trials—primarily in Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, and Humboldt Counties.  His areas of expertise include real estate disputes, administrative law (including state and local permitting and violation proceedings), and well as transactional work such as drafting contracts and leases.  Mr. Momsen is well versed in easement and water law and has litigated many such matters.   

Notable matters with which Mr. Momsen has been involved with include Affinito v. the City of Fort Bragg during which he represented an owner/developer against the City and the California Coastal Commission as to the construction of a multimillion dollar hotel;, Chehada v. County of Mendocino where he represented local business owners opposed to the construction of a Dollar General chain store, and Akopyan v. Bear Trucking where he represented the insured defendant in a multi-phase twelve week personal injury jury.  

On appeal, Mr. Momsen has obtained favorable published decisions Salazar v. Matejcek (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 634 (affirming a six-figure award of damages for timber trespass) and Gomes v. Mendocino City Community Services District (2019) 35 Cal.App.5th 249 (invalidating local groundwater ordinances).  Favorable unpublished opinions include Gitlin v. Cox (alleged failure to disclose contamination during real estate sale); Kumar v. Lord Ins. Agency (negligence) and Reiter v. Duran(alleged breach of contract).

Mr. Momsen’s past and present clients include the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, Frey Vineyards, the Anderson Valley Land Trust; State Farm Insurance Co.; Lost Coast Forestlands LLC; Trinity Timberlands LLC; Faizan Corporation; the Cottrell Ranch; Divine Assistants International; Branesky Sheet Metal; First American Title Company; Eagle Rock Ranchos Road Association; Redwood Valley Market; Abhayagiri (Sanghabala) Foundation and local real estate brokers such as Pamela Hudson and Anne Fashauer.  

Mr. Momsen is also certified as a civil mediator for civil matters and has served in that capacity for both Mendocino and Lake County Superior Courts.  He has also served as a judge pro tem for the Mendocino County Superior Court and Hearing Officer for the County of Mendocino Building & Planning Department.  Mr. Momsen has also mediated disputes between residential real estate buyers and sellers for local realtors. 

Outside of the office Mr. Momsen served as a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of Redwood Community Services for fourteen years. Mr. Momsen is married and recently became a grandfather.  He is avid freshwater fisherman who enjoys living and working in Mendocino County’s beautiful community.  

Contact Brian: bmomsen@vmm-law.com

Colin Morrow has been practicing law in Mendocino County since 2013. With a goal oriented outlook, Mr. Morrow strives to craft pragmatic resolutions and measured litigation stances for his clients in a variety of civil litigation, real estate, landlord-tenant, land use, commercial, and probate situations.   Mr. Morrow also assists with transactional and estate planning matters such as the drafting of purchase-sale agreements, leases, wills, trusts, and advanced care directives.  Mr. Morrow is graduate of the University of Maine School of Law (2012, J.D.) and Reed College (2006, B.A., Biology).  Mr. Morrow currently serves on the Board of Directors of Tapestry Family Services (a foster family agency in Mendocino County), and has previously served on the City of Ukiah Architectural Design Review Board, the Board of Directors of Legal Services of Northern California (a legal aid organization serving 23 Northern California Counties), and the City of Ukiah Main Street Program.  He is an attorney of record in the published appellate decision Gomes v. Mendocino City Community Services District (2019) 35 Cal.App.5th 249 concerning groundwater management and the unpublished Yamini v. Zarnes (2020) 2020 WL 1452948 concerning a commercial cannabis dispute.  When not at work, Mr. Morrow can be found walking his dog among the trails on Mendocino County.

Contact Colin: cmorrow@vmm-law.com

Stacey Vannucci; Valerie Hoffert; and Gretchen Anderson

Sharing between them 90 years of experience, our paralegal team has seen almost every legal situation, and they are a key component of our ability to assist our clients effectively.

Our staff credits teamwork as their winning attribute. Although each person specializes in a particular type of law, all of them support one another and the attorneys to create as seamless an experience for the client as possible.

Contact Stacey: stacey@vmm-law.com

Contact Valerie: val@vmm-law.com

Contact Gretchen: ganderson@vmm-law.com