General News

  • Parnell, Michels & McKay Announces Opening of Employment Law Division

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    PMM Law is pleased to announce that Julia Hawthorne has opened our Employment Law Division. Julia can assist with wrongful termination, wrongful demotion, discriminatory employment actions, and employer violations of Federal law. In New Hampshire, we simultaneously file employment actions in the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights, and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employment claims are challenging and have strict time limitations, therefore, employees who feel they have been wrongfully terminated should consider the assistance of an experienced attorney. Julia is a graduate from University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, and the Daniel Webster Scholar program. He is now also a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association’s New Hampshire branch. Julia has handled numerous employment actions already and is…

  • Paid Time Off “Loan” Systems, are they allowed in New Hampshire?

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    Imagine the following situation. As a benefit of an employee’s contract, the employee earns Paid Time Off (PTO) at a fixed rate per month. For example, for every month an employee works, they earn 8 hours of PTO. However, many employers have a policy where despite the rate employees earn their PTO, they can take additional unearned time in advance. For example, in February the employee has 2 days’ worth of PTO accumulated but wants to take 3 days off. Many employers have a policy that allows them to take the full 3 days off because they will earn that additional time off in a month.  For the purposes of this blog, we will call this a ‘PTO loan’ system. The second critical part about…

  • Rory J. Parnell named 2024 L. Jonathan Ross Award Winner

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    Rory J. Parnell of Parnell, Michels & McKay has been named the L. Jonathan Ross Award Recipient by 603 Legal Aid. Attorney Parnell will receive the L. Jonathan Ross Award at the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Mid-Year Meeting. The L. Jonathan Ross Award is awarded to an attorney who demonstrated an outstanding commitment to legal aid and services to the poor. The award recognizes an attorney that demonstrates mobilization of bar leadership in civil legal services to the poor. The award is named after L. Jonathan Ross who provided decades of leadership with the Bar Association to support the efforts of pro bono and legal aid in the State of New Hampshire. We at Parnell, Michels & McKay are proud of the work Rory Parnell…

  • PMMLaw Volunteers to help the NH Bar Association’s LawLine

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    Lawline is a free service provided by the New Hampshire Bar Association every second Wednesday of each month from 6pm-8pm. Callers can contact the bar association and speak with a volunteer attorney to get general advice, and be directed to necessary resources to help them solve their legal problems. Lawline is a volunteer service that requires law firms and attorneys to volunteer their time for free to help others. On March 8th, the partners of PMM law, Cathy McKay, Rory Parnell, David Stamatis, and associate, Julia Hawthorne, volunteered for Lawline to provide free advice and connect folks to helpful resources. At PMM Law, we care very much about the community and consistently volunteer to take pro bono cases from 603 Legal Aid that qualify. PMM…

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    I Asked for a Divorce, Now What?

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    This article was written by Cathy McKay and originally published at Collaborative Divorce New Hampshire. Many clients who come in to see me for a divorce ask me this very question: “I’ve told my spouse that I want a divorce, but now what do we do?” The answer is that once you have made the decision to get divorced, you need to decide how to proceed. This means that you need to decide what type of divorce process you want. One option, and the one most known, is the option to file a Petition for Divorce with the Court. This will open a case with the Court and will require the parties to then follow all Court rules, participate in several hearings, and ultimately, a…

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    Need a lawyer for an Appeal? PMM Law Announces Opening of Appellate Law Division

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    PMM Law is excited to announce that David Stamatis will be spearheading the opening our Appellate Law Division. At PMM law we will be able to take on appeals of most types of cases in New Hampshire. In New Hampshire, we have one appellate division of the Courts called the New Hampshire Supreme Courts. Typically, appeals involve issues of law decided at the lower court level that may have been decided incorrectly. Appeals are difficult and time consuming, and almost always require the assistance of experienced counsel. David is a former UNH Law grad, and Daniel Webster Scholar. David has been responsible for supervising and reviewing complex issues of law already, and is now moving part of his practice to handle most types of appeals….

  • Pro Bono Month: Top Five Reasons We Do Pro Bono at Parnell, Michels & McKay

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    October is Pro Bono Month, and National Pro Bono Week is from October 23-29. In honor of Pro Bono service, we have compiled our top five reasons for providing Pro Bono representation. Helping the Less Fortunate – The simplest answer. As attorneys, we have the unique skill and ability to help those in legal crisis. Our firm believes in helping our community by giving back to it. Lawyers are uniquely qualified to assist those that are less fortunate because attorneys understand the law and can assist these folks with crisis they cannot comprehend. Many members of our community cannot afford an attorney, and the Pro Bono system, through 603 Legal Aid, helps connect the less fortunate to attorneys that can assist them through their legal…

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    3 Tips on How To Reduce Credit Card Debit

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    If you are dealing with credit card debt, you may feel overwhelmed with no idea how to start your path toward financial relief. To help you achieve financial freedom, our bankruptcy attorneys have put together a few tips to help you reduce credit card debt: Tip 1: Make a plan to pay off your credit card balances. First, you must stop making additional charges on cards that you already cannot pay. Next, take all your credit card bills and stack them in order from the highest interest rate card to the lowest interest rate card and add all the minimum monthly payments together. Next, review your budget and figure out how much more money you can pay toward getting control of your credit card debt…

  • Rory J. Parnell Named Top 40 Under 40

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    Attorney Rory J. Parnell is named to the 2021 Class of 40 Under Forty! Check out the full list of honorees by visiting UnionLeader.com/2021class. A Little History The idea for the annual Union Leader 40 Under Forty came from witnessing similar programs in Boston, and, with the support of local businesses like Citizens Bank, the recognition program has grown. The Union Leader 40 Under Forty program recognizes acclaimed writers, innovative educators, extraordinary volunteers, citizen legislators, immigrant entrepreneurs with many having added to their accomplishments and contributions to the public good. At Parnell, Michels & McKay we specialize in personal injury law such as motor vehicle accidents, falls, dog bites, workers compensation, social security disability, and other injuries. We also practice family law, including divorce, post-divorce,…

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    Social Media and Litigation: Why You Need To Be Wary of Posting Online?

    ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices Hours

    It is common for most of our society to be on social media. At this point, even most of our grandparents have a Facebook page. While this is a great way to connect to people online, it also presents potential problems for those of us engaged in potential or ongoing litigation. As many people like to say, beware of what you post on social media! This is good general advice, but also good legal advice. Social media requests have become commonplace in litigation discovery requests, and courts are not as reluctant to order that information released.The most common requests are for Facebook posts. While most Courts will not allow complete access to a Facebook page of a party, they will look into specific posts related…