Law Firm Overview

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).

Areas of Practice

• Sexual Harassment
• Wrongful Termination
• Age Harassment
• Age Discrimination and Retaliation
• Gender harassment
• Gender Discrimination
• Race Harassment
• Race Discrimination
• Sexual Orientation Harassment
• Sexual Orientation Discrimination
• Military Status Harassment
• Military Status Discrimination
• Marital Status Harassment
• Marital Status Discrimination
• Disability Harassment
• Disability Discrimination
• National Origin Harassment
• National Origin Discrimination
• Whistleblower Rights
• Wage Claims
• Employee Benefits
• Confidentiality Agreements
• Covenants Not To Compete
• Employee Discipline
• Employee Drug Testing
• Employee Privacy
• Employee Rights
• Employment Arbitration
• Employment at Will
• Employment Breach of Contract
• Employment Civil Rights
• Employment Claims
• Employment Class Actions
• Employment Contracts
• Employment Disability Discrimination
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment Law
• Employment Litigation
• Employment Mediation Employment Practices
• Employment Termination
• Equal Employment Opportunity Law
• Affirmative Action
• Fair Employment Practices
• Fair Labor Standards
• Family and Medical Leave Act
• Harassment
• Human Resources Law
• Labor Law
• Noncompete Litigation
• Noncompetition and Non-Solicitation Agreements
• Prevailing Wage Litigation
• Restrictive Covenants
• Retaliatory Discharge Sexual Harassment
• Title VII Discrimination
• Unfair Labor Practices
• Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
• Wage and Hour Law
• WARN Act
• Workplace Violence
• Pregnancy Discrimination

Honors and Awards

• Inducted into the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, 2003 - Present

Published Works

• The Supreme Court Confirms Employee Retaliation Rights Protection: This is the sixth Bar News "Debate" (with Debra Weiss Ford ), NHBA, March 13, 2008
• The Supreme Court Revs Up Employee Retaliation Rights Editor's note: This is the fifth NH Bar News "Debate" (with Debra Weiss Ford), NHBA, August 15, 2008
• Snelling v. City of Claremont: Supreme Court Analyzes First Amendment Claim Editor's note: This is the fourth NH Bar News "debate" (with Debra Weiss Ford), NHBA, November 9, 2007
• The topic is the New Hampshire Supreme Court decision in Snelling v. City of Claremont, NHBA, July 18, 2007
• The topic is the New Hampshire Supreme Court decision in Snelling v. City of Claremont, NHBA, September 10, 2007
• Employment Law: Two Views: The Death of the "Paycheck Rule" - Ledbetter v. ... Third Bar News "debate", NHBA, July 20, 2007
• Employment Law: Two Views: Constructive Wrongful Termination; the second debate - Lacasse v. Spaulding Youth Center (with Debra Weiss Ford), NHBA, January 5, 2007
• Employment Law Retaliation Under Title VII: Two Viewpoints (with Debra Weiss Ford), Employment Law Retaliation Under Title VII - NHBA, August 11, 2006
• Employment Law: Garcetti et al v. Ceballos: An Employee Advocate's Perspective Less Protection for Government Whistleblowers, NHBA, July 7, 2006
• "Defamation in the Workplace, What's a Whistleblower to Do?", Employee Rights Quarterly, Vol. 1, Number 3, Winter, 2001

Classes and Seminars

• Annual Labor & Employment Law Update, N.H. Bar Association, 2001 - 2008

Representative Cases

• In re Montplaisir, 147 NH 297 (NH Supreme Court 2001)

West Practice Categories

Alternative Dispute Resolution, Business & Commercial Law, Contracts, Civil Rights, Age Discrimination, Disability & Illness Discrimination, National Origin Discrimination, Race Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Constitutional Law, Affirmative Action, Discrimination, Freedom of Information, Employment Law -- Employee, Employment Contracts -- Employee, Employment Discrimination -- Employee, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) -- Employee, Pensions, Benefits & Compensations -- Employee, Wage & Hour Laws -- Employee, Whistleblower -- Employee, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act -- Employee, Wrongful Termination -- Employee, Employment Law -- Employer, Health & Health Care Law, Disability, Labor Law, Labor Arbitration, Class Actions, Military Law, Professional Malpractice Law, Land Use & Zoning, Federal Employees