Legal Briefs: News From Around New Hampshire

Robinson, Eastman join Shaheen & Gordon

Lyndsey Robinson

Attorneys Lyndsay Robinson and Morgan Eastman have joined the Family Law Group at Shaheen & Gordon. Robinson will be based in the firm’s Nashua location and Eastman will be based in Concord. Robinson previously was an associate at a firm in Nashua, where she represented families in complex divorce and parenting matters. In addition,

Morgan Eastman

Robinson assisted families with their estate planning needs to ensure their goals and wishes were met. Eastman previously gained experience at the Manchester Office of the City Solicitor, where she worked on cases in the domestic violence, criminal and civil units. She also assisted in providing legal services to survivors of sexual assault at the Victim Rights Law Center.

Bernstein Shur expands leadership team

Rebecca Asen, former associate general counsel at IDEXX, has joined the senior leadership team of Bernstein Shur as director of attorney recruiting and professional development. The firm said this is the first time the firm will have a full-time recruiter as part of its professional staff. Bernstein Shur CEO Joan Fortin was previously the firm’s director of attorney recruiting while also practicing law as a shareholder of the firm.

Asen spent the past three years as part of the in-house legal team at IDEXX. Prior to IDEXX, Asen worked as a corporate and securities attorney at Sidley Austin in New York City and later in Portland, Maine.

Eric Chojnicki joins McLane

The law firm of McLane Middleton has announced that Eric A. Chojnicki has joined the firm as head of trust services, responsible for overseeing the operational, financial and client service functions of the firm’s Trust Services Group.

Eric Chojnicki

Prior to joining the firm, Chojnicki served as president of the Trust and Wealth Management Department at Midland States Bank in Illinois and was president of Midland Trust Company.

DEI services group formed at Nixon Peabody

Nixon Peabody has launched a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategic services group has launched a diversity, equity and inclusion strategic services group that will offer advice and other direction to organizations looking to expand their own DEI offerings.

“Our firm has been doing this type of work for a long time, and forming this group came about organically over the past 18 months as a direct response to needs we see with clients and in the marketplace more generally,” said Stacie Collier, Nixon Peabody’s chief talent officer and a labor and employment partner at the firm who co-leads the new group. “Even clients with well-established internal DEI teams are looking for advisors who understand best practices, trends, and larger-scale issues impacting various industries.”

She said a wide range of industries and organizations are facing complex challenges. For example, she said, the healthcare industry is addressing its history of disparity in medical services and treatment with various minority communities; banking institutions are focused on seeing through their commitments to fund minority-owned businesses; and publicly traded companies are seeking guidance on diversifying their boards.

New Hampshire bankruptcies jump in March

Bankruptcy filings shot up last month after repeated record lows, but it’s too early to tell whether they have bottomed out and a new trend is just beginning, or if it’s just a statistical fluke.

Some 64 individuals and businesses filed for bankruptcy in March, a 53 percent increase over the 42 that were filed in February, which was one shy of the modern record set in January.

The March total is still over 30 percent better than March of 2021, when there were 92 filings, so New Hampshire at this point is still on track for another record low year.

There were four business-related filings in March, compared to one in January, but two were filed by individuals with business debt. The other two businesses filed directly. They were:

Michelin’s Auto Body & Sales Inc., Manchester, filed March 17, Chapter 7. Assets: $0. Liabilities: $248,098.

J&B Pizza LLC, dba Juliano’s Italian Pizzeria, Londonderry, filed March 18, Chapter 7. Assets: $0. Liabilities: $404,614.