Nancy Richards

Nancy Richards-Stower was inducted into the prestigious College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in 2003 and is a former member and chair of New Hampshire's anti-discrimination agency, the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights from 1979 to 1985, during which time she was an associate, then partner, of Robert H. Rines, founder of Franklin Pierce Law Center. She has operated her plaintiffs' employment law practice in Merrimack, NH since 1989, and litigates before the State and Federal Courts and agencies in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. A frequent panelist at employment law seminars, including the annual advanced Annual Employment Law Update of the New Hampshire Bar Association and the author of numerous articles on employment law, Nancy has been active in the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)(www.nela.org), and its Massachusetts chapter and she founded the New Hampshire Chapter of NELA and served as its president from 1993 to 1995. She has co-chaired and presented at national and regional NELA conventions. From 1998 to 2002, she hosted a weekly radio program, "The Law Show" on WSMN AM-1590. In July 1994, she was recognized in New Hampshire Editions magazine as one of NH's leading plaintiffs' employment lawyers. She graduated from George Washington University in 1973 and was in the first graduating class of Franklin Pierce Law Center in 1976. She returned to D.C. for a law school internship with the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, chaired by Sen William Proxmire. There she met young Sen. Joseph Biden, the chair of the subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, her assigned internship. Their work focused on banking regulations and consumer credit issues. After graduating from law school in 1973, Nancy passed the Virginia bar (she later passed the NH and Massachusetts bars) and accepted an associate's position with the Washington, D.C. civil rights employment law firm of Robert B. Fitzpatrick, for whom she worked until 1978, when she returned to New Hampshire, where her practice has been located ever since. From 1978-1985 during her association with Dr. Robert H. Rines, she joined in his patent/trademark/copyright litigation/ inventors' entrepreneurial practice and also in support of his scientific and commercial ventures, including the establishment of New Hampshire's first commercial Atlantic salmon fish farm (as well as Dr. Rines' annual sonar searches for the Loch Ness Monster). During most of those same years, she served on the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights (a volunteer position in New Hampshire, whereby the Commissioners have the power of superior court judges in discrimination cases and can award lost pay, reinstatement, attorney fees and (now) compensatory damages). Nancy has been a member of the faculty each year from 2001 through the present at the seminar for advanced employment law attorneys, "The New Hampshire Bar Association's Annual Labor and Employment Law Update." Nancy is a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association, as well as the NHBA's Labor and Employment Law Section and is also a member of the Massachusetts and Virginia bars. She is married to Rev. Richard Stower, of First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, Scituate, Massachusetts and has an adult son, Jonathan. Her passion is political advocacy (click on Politics and Legislative Advocacy button). Her hobbies are skiing, gardening, her cats, and her Bernese Mountain dog, Gimli (below). Awards and Honors Honors Inducted into College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, 2003 - Present Granite State Advocate Award from the N.H. Association of Justice, 2015

• Sole Practitioner

• U.S. Senate Comm. Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs, Legal Intern, 1976
• Law Offices of Robert B. Fitzpatrick, Associate, 1976 - 1977

• Annual Labor & Employment Update, NH Bar Association, 2001 - 2008

• In re Montplaisir
• Citation: 147 NH 297
• Court: NH Supreme Court
• Year: 2001

• Virginia, 1976
• Massachusetts, 1992
• New Hampshire, 1978
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of Virginia, 1976
• U.S. District Court Western District of Virginia, 1976
• U.S. District Court District of New Hampshire, 1978
• U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, 1992
• U.S. District Court Northern District of California, 1981
• U.S. Court of Appeals 1st Circuit, 2007

• National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), 1992 - Present (Member)
• National Employment Lawyers Association, Massachusetts Chapter, 1992 - Present (Member)
• Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association, 1992 - Present (Member)
• National Employment Lawyers Association (NH NELA), N.H. Chapter, 1993 (Founder)
• National Employment Lawyers Association (NH NELA), N.H. Chapter, 1993 - 1995 (President)
• National Employment Lawyers Association (NH NELA), N.H. Chapter, 1993 - Present (Member)
• N.H. Bar Association, Labor & Employment Section, 1993 - Present (Member)
• New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights, 1979 - 1985 (Former Member and Chair)