Pierce Atwood LLP named top firm for Land Use & Zoning Law in 2025 Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” report
For the fourth consecutive year, Pierce Atwood has received a Best Lawyers in America“Best Law Firms” National Tier One ranking for its Land Use & Zoning Law practice, which advises regional and national developers, retailers, utilities, and property owners on complex, sophisticated issues related to their real estate development projects.
The firm also received national rankings for its environmental litigation, patent, real estate, class actions, energy law, and oil and gas law practices, as well as for environmental litigation (new this year). In addition to its national rankings, the firm received these Metropolitan rankings for its New Hampshire-based practices: Corporate Law, Elder Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Law, Real Estate Law, Securities/Capital Markets Law and Trusts & Estates Law.
Overall, the firm received a total of eight national and 74 metropolitan recognitions in 45 practices across all firm offices.
Hannah K. Neumiller
Ward Law Group expands with a new attorney hire
Ward Law Group announced that Hannah K. Neumiller, Esq. joined as a new attorney effective October 31, 2024.
Attorney Neumiller has been with the firm since January as a Law Clerk, while finishing up her final year of law school. “What started as an internship with our firm soon became a paid position. Hannah’s eye for detail and eagerness to learn did not go unnoticed. She worked very well with our other Attorneys and the whole team – we couldn’t be happier with her new role as Attorney at our firm.” says Founder and Managing Attorney, John Ward. Hannah was sworn in to her new role on October 29, 2024.
Attorney Neumiller is from the Black Hills of South Dakota and earned her B.S. in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from Black Hills State University in 2021. She immediately enrolled at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, where she graduated with her Juris Doctor, cum laude, in May 2024. At UNH Law, she was involved in many committees and activities including serving as a Senior Editor for The University of New Hampshire Law Review and on the leadership boards for Diversity Coalition and Lambda.
Additionally, some of Attorney Neumiller’s noteworthy experiences include interning at Gill & Sculimbrene in Nashua, NH, with the U.S. Department of Justice Environmental and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section, and participating in the Criminal Practice Clinic at UNH Law. Throughout high school and college, she volunteered with restorative justice programs that inspired her passion for working with clients and advocating for her community.
Attorney Neumiller’s practice areas at Ward Law Group include Criminal Defense, Workers’ Compensation, Personal Injury, Estate Planning, Probate, and Civil Litigation.
Attorney General Formella, Bipartisan Coalition seek changes to Google business practices to end search engine monopoly
Attorney General John M. Formella announces that he along with a bipartisan coalition of his fellow state attorneys general, and the United States Department of Justice are proposing a robust package of remedies to end Google’s unlawful monopoly over internet search engines and to restore competition to benefit consumers.
“This proposal marks an important step toward restoring fairness and competition in the digital marketplace. For too long, Google has wielded its monopoly power to stifle innovation and limit consumer choice,” said Attorney General Formella. “As attorneys general, we are committed to ensuring that no company, regardless of its size or influence, can violate the law by illegally dominating a market at the expense of consumers. The remedies being put forward would level the playing field, better protect privacy, and ensure that consumers have more options when it comes to internet search and related services.”
In December of 2020, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office joined a bipartisan coalition of 38 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit alleging that Google illegally maintains its monopoly power over general search engines through anticompetitive contracts and conduct. The multistate lawsuit was a companion to an earlier federal antitrust lawsuit the Justice Department filed in October 2020.
In a landmark decision in August 2024, a D.C. federal district court judge ruled that Google violated federal antitrust laws by illegally maintaining a monopoly in online search and search text ads. At issue now are the remedies the court will impose to end Google’s improper conduct that has stifled competition and harmed consumers, and the steps necessary to restore competition for the benefit of consumers.
The proposed final judgment, or PFJ, filed with the court seeks to end Google’s illegal monopoly and restore competition in several ways. The PFJ ends Google’s search distribution contracts and revenue sharing agreements by prohibiting Google from paying to be the initial default search engine on any phone, device, or browser. Google is also required to share its data and information—unlawfully obtained through its monopoly power—with rivals to improve the competitive choices available to consumers. This data will be shared in a manner that safeguards personal privacy and security.
Additionally, the PFJ seeks the divestiture of Chrome, the Google browser through which a significant percentage of all Google searches are made. Coupled with that request will be provisions for additional divestitures, including the Android operating system, if Google fails to comply with specific remedies or if the remedies prove ineffective.
Moreover, the PFJ prohibits Google from foreclosing competition or self-preferencing through its ownership or control of other products—including Android. Google cannot make Google Search or Google AI mandatory on Android devices, interfere with rival distribution, degrade rival quality, or leverage distributors to preference Google. Google must also give publishers the ability to opt out of having their data collected by Google for training Google’s AI models or used in Generative AI answers.
The states alone also propose a public education campaign funded by Google to inform consumers what Google did, why it is illegal, and what choices they actually have in search engines. The campaign may include reasonable, short-term payments from Google to users who try non-Google search engines.
The final order establishes a five-member technical committee to implement, monitor, and enforce the remedies for ten years.
A hearing on the proposed remedies is currently scheduled to begin on April 22, 2025, and conclude by May 2.
Plaintiff states include: New Hampshire, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. — Attorney General press release
