Andru Volinsky

Volinsky has continued to defend against the death penalty for the remainder of his career. In 1986, when he was 30, he argued the case of Gray v. Mississippi before the United States Supreme Court and won the reversal of Mr. Gray's sentence of death.[3] Volinsky current represents Jimmy Fletcher Meders in a death penalty case that originated in Georgia.[4] He was part of the effort to repeal the death penalty in New Hampshire. The repeal effort required an override of a gubernatorial veto.[5]

Significant cases litigated by Volinsky include his representation of the New Hampshire Secretary of State in the Secretary's effort to fairly regulate self-insured public risk pools under N.H.R.S.A. 5-B. The work of Volinsky's legal team resulted in the return of more than $50 million in overpaid premiums from the Local Government Center Risk Pools to New Hampshire municipalities and school districts. Volinsky and his team negotiated additional refunds of almost $30 million from two other risk pools located in New Hampshire.[6]

In 2014, Volinsky represented four large public unions who sought to challenge the State's effort to shift increased pension costs to existing employees. The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld the cost shift even though its judicial members enjoyed constitutional protections against the very same cost-shifting.[7]

Volinsky served as lead counsel in a series of cases known as Claremont School District v. Governor of New Hampshire in which the petitioners, who were school children, taxpayers and school districts, successfully challenged the way in which New Hampshire funds its schools. The litigation established that children in New Hampshire are entitled to a state-funded public education as a fundamental constitutional right.[8] The principle decisions were issued in 1993 and 1997. The fundamental rights established in the Claremont cases have never been completely implemented, resulting in the NH Court deciding again in 2019 that the state failed to meet its constitutional obligation.[9] In 2018, Volinsky and his Claremont litigation colleague, John Tobin, began a lengthy process of informing voters about the New Hampshire school funding system through a series of forums called, "Education Funding 101."[10] Volinsky also represented the Dover School District in 2016 and won a return of more than $1.5 million in unconstitutionally withheld school aid.[11]