MANCHESTER, NH – Mayor Ted Gatsas announced on July 10 his nomination of former U.S. Attorney for the New Hampshire District Emily Gray Rice as Interim City Solicitor:
“I am pleased to announce my nomination of Emily Gray Rice for Interim City Solicitor for the City of Manchester. Ms. Rice comes with impeccable credentials having served most recently as the U.S. Attorney for the New Hampshire District,” Gatsas said in a news release issued Monday.
The nomination comes after a shake-up in the city solicitor’s office in which long-time City Solicitor Tom Clark announced his retirement as the department was cited by the Attorney General’s office for incompetence in handling a number of domestic violence cases. A few days later, Deputy City Solicitor Tom Arnold announced his retirement at the end of August.
“Ms. Rice has the prosecutorial and management experience Manchester needs to lead the transition of the City Solicitor’s Office. She is an accomplished litigator and trial attorney having practiced at the Manchester office of Bernstein Shur in the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group and Business Law Practice Group, at Orr & Reno in Concord, NH and as Senior Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Bureau of Civil Law.”
Gatsas referred to Rice as a “highly regarded attorney in the New Hampshire legal community” who served as former chair of the New Hampshire Bar Foundation, former co-chair for the New Hampshire Judicial Selection Committee, and former co-chair for New Hampshire’s Campaign for Legal Services.
“The city is very fortunate to have a Solicitor of this caliber and I know that she can be entrusted to ensure the mission of the City Solicitor’s Office is carried out, and that justice will be served.”
Ms. Rice will begin in her official capacity as Interim City Solicitor pending the outcome of a phone poll of the Board of Aldermen being conducted Monday by the City Clerk.
Below is the Mayor’s letter of nomination and a brief biography for Rice. A press conference is scheduled for 2 p.m. outside City Hall:
