Bernstein Shur's Andru Volinsky Honored as One of New Hampshire's Most Influentual Residents

NH Public Radio features leading attorney on "25 in 25", a year-long series of interviews of Granite State's "top movers and shakers"

Attorney Andru H. Volinsky of Bernstein Shur has been named one of New Hampshire’s most influential residents over the past quarter century as part of a program airing on New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR).
Volinsky joins a list of other prominent Granite Staters who have been featured on NHPR’s “25 in 25”, a year-long series of interviews featuring 25 people “who have topped our headlines, shaped our state or made us think over the past 25 years that New Hampshire Public Radio has been on the air.”

Volinsky, who is among the region’s leading litigators, is well known in New Hampshire for his work as lead counsel for the Claremont school funding cases. A Concord resident, he manages Bernstein Shur’s Manchester office.

In addition to Volinsky, the list of interviewees so far has included former White House Chief of Staff and New Hampshire Governor John H. Sununu; Union Leader Publisher Joe McQuaid; two-term Republican Sen. Warren Rudman; and New Hampshire’s first woman governor, Jeanne Shaheen.

Volinsky’s interview first aired Monday, June 11. An audio link to the interview can be heard at http://www.nhpr.org/node/13096.

“This is a great honor for Andy as it confirms the important role he has played in the difficult battle over school funding,” said Charlie Miller, managing shareholder of Bernstein Shur in Portland, Maine. “Andy is passionate about the legal profession and cares deeply about his state.”

During the interview, Volinsky commented on the changes he has seen in the economy, education and political leadership since arriving in New Hampshire with his family 25 years ago.

He also commented on changes in the legal profession. “The legal universe no longer respects boundaries of time or space,” he said. “New Hampshire lawyers compete for business all over the world. The traditional in-state law firms have been joined by a number of regional firms, including mine.”

Volinsky added that the implementation of the fair school funding system is vitally important to the state’s future.

Volinsky, 51, has 27 years in law, during which he has built a reputation among his peers throughout the region as a skilled litigator and top labor and employment attorney.

He is included in Best Lawyers in America, a guide to legal excellence in the United States, in three practice areas – business litigation, criminal defense, and labor and employment law. He is also recognized in Chambers USA, “the definitive independent directory of America’s leading business attorneys,” for his litigation practice. Finally, he has received the highest rating by Martindale-Hubbell, the leading rating agency for the legal profession in the U.S. The AV rating “identifies a lawyer with very high to preeminent legal ability.”

Volinsky is a 1980 graduate of the National Law Center at George Washington University and began practicing law in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1982, he moved to New Hampshire to join the NH Public Defender Office.

Volinsky has handled a number of death penalty appeals nationally over the years, and in 1987 won a decision before the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the death penalty.

Volinsky filed the Claremont school funding lawsuit in 1991 and continues to serves as lead counsel in the ongoing litigation. In 2004, he joined Bernstein Shur to manage the firm’s rapidly expanding regional office in Manchester.

Bernstein Shur is one of northern New England’s largest multi-service law firms, with close to 90 attorneys in Portland and Augusta, Maine and Manchester, New Hampshire. Established in 1915, the firm provides practical legal counsel to a diverse group of public and private clients throughout the region and around the world. Bernstein Shur’s commercial, litigation, and municipal practices are complemented by the services of the firm’s affiliates, which include Bernstein Shur Government Solutions LLC, a government consulting firm; Stratex LLC, an environmental and engineering consultancy; and Monument Title Company. For more information, visit bernsteinshur.com.

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