Professional Experience
I am a “second career” attorney. After graduating from Marietta College in Ohio, I followed a family tradition and became a healthcare professional, a licensed nursing home administrator. I worked for others in Nashua and Derry and eventually became an owner/administrator of a small nursing home in Manchester called Northwood Nursing Home. That led to the acquisition of a nursing home in Keene, then one in Peterborough, one in Winchester and two in Milford. I loved working with the residents and their families but I had always dreamed of being an attorney. In 1992, I enrolled in law school while maintaining the nursing homes and, in 1996, I graduated with a Juris Doctor from Massachusetts Law School in Andover Massachusetts.
Perhaps due to my background and my empathy for the residents, I soon found myself concentrating in issues confronting my older clients and their families. I became a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and worked hard to understand the issues facing us as we age. One of my strengths is estate planning- wills, trusts, Medicaid issues, etc.
In addition to my elder law practice, I also practice in the area of small business law. Small Business law is near and dear to me as for 25 years I operated a small business starting with a few employees and ending with over seven hundred employees. I understand the small business entrepreneur in ways that the lawyer who has spent his life in a large law firm would find difficult to understand. I have firsthand experience with: labor issues, staffing issues, marketing, meeting a payroll, and making a mortgage payment. I provide counsel to small businesses from start-up to exit.
I also had the honor of serving on a committee tasked with re-writing the New Hampshire statutes on limited liability companies. It was an enormously enjoyable experience and educational…at times it seemed akin to taking a Master’s degree course in corporate law!
