UNH Today

Carol Ann Conboy, the 105th justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, will be the speaker at the University of New Hampshire School of Law's commencement May 16.

Conboy clerked for Shane Devine, the former chief judge of the New Hampshire Federal District Court. She was a partner in the New Hampshire law firm of McLane, Graf, Raulerson and Middleton and practiced as a trial lawyer with a concentration in employment law.

Appointed to the New Hampshire Superior Court in 1992 by Governor Judd Gregg, Conboy was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2009 by Governor John Lynch. She has served as chair of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics and as chair of the Superior Court Sentence Review Board. She currently serves as chair of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Judicial Performance Evaluation. During the Vietnam War, Conboy served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force.

In addition to giving the commencement address at this year's ceremony, Conboy '78 will receive an honorary degree at the ceremony. UNH Law will also award two other honorary degrees to attorneys Cathy Green '77 and Sherilyn Young '82. All three graduated from Franklin Pierce Law Center and were active members of its board of trustees and champions of the school's transition to UNH Law.

Green was one of the first 100 women admitted to the New Hampshire Bar, and since 1996 she has been a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an invitation extended to no more than one percent of the total lawyers in the state.

Green began her career as one of three public defenders in the state of New Hampshire. In 1981, she entered private practice and is now a partner in Green & Utter, P.A., where she focuses on criminal defense in both federal and state courts. She is past president of the New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and serves on the board of directors of the New Hampshire Public Defender Program. She is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Young is a founder and president of Rath, Young and Pignatelli, P.C., a 60-person law firm based in Concord. She also heads the firm's Environmental Practice Group and assists clients on federal and state environmental matters, real estate transactions and public and private financing transactions. Young was the first woman to chair the State Capital Global Law Firm Group, a network of more than 100 independent law firms in 50 U.S. state capitals and in business markets and financial centers worldwide.

Young served as legislative counsel to former N.H. Governor Judd Gregg. She is currently on the board of trustees of Eastern Bank, is president of the New Hampshire Supreme Court Society, and is a director of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.