NH Constitution and the Courts

a free program for high school teachers, curriculum directors, and administrators

October 2, 2026

NH Supreme Court, Concord, NH

Six professional development hours will be awarded

Featuring:

NH high school teacher Pamala Custer
Superior Court Judge William Delker
Professor Lawrence Friedman
Timothy Gudas, Clerk of Court
The Justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court

In response to the new 306 rule requiring high school instruction of NH government and the NH Constitution, educators are invited to spend a day at the NH Supreme Court for a refresher on these topics. The program will also highlight how the Court and educators have collaborated to prepare students for NH Supreme Court oral arguments. The program is free, with breakfast and lunch provided. Space is limited to 40 participants.

Through this professional development program, participants will

learn from context experts about the origins, structure, and unique provisions of the New Hampshire Constitution in support of civics education,
apply the New Hampshire Constitution to a Supreme Court case,
learn about the structure of the New Hampshire court system, with a special focus on the New Hampshire Supreme Court,
meet the New Hampshire Supreme Court Justices as they participate in a panel discussion, and
learn how to prepare students for a field trip to the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments

Contact: Martha Madsen, civicslawoutreach@nhbar.org

The NH Constitution and the Courts

October 2, 2026

8:30 am – 3:30 pm

The NH Supreme Court, Concord, NH

Schedule:

8:30 am: Registration, Breakfast, and Introductions: Martha Madsen, Civics & Law Outreach Coordinator, NH Bar Association

9:00 am: The NH Constitution: Its History and Importance. Judge William Delker and Professor Lawrence Friedman.

10:30 am: Break

10:45 am: An Overview of the NH Court System and Tour of the NH Supreme Court building. Timothy Gudas, Clerk of Court and Malia Ebel, Librarian.

12:00 pm: Lunch

12:45 pm: Applying the NH Constitution to a case: State of New Hampshire v Jeremy D. Mack. Discussion led by Samuel Gonyea and Tom Barnard.

1:45 pm: Panel: NH Supreme Court Justices: Introductions by Timothy Gudas

2:30 pm: How to prepare your students for an oral argument: Pamala Custer of Hanover High School and Luke Webster, Clerk of Court

3:10 pm: Reflection and evaluation. Martha Madsen

3:30 pm: Adjourn

Featured Speakers:

A member of the NH Bar since 2014, Thomas Barnard has advanced through the public defender system, currently serving as Deputy Chief Appellate Defender. His practice currently focuses on statewide appeals, complex constitutional litigation, and post-conviction relief before the NH Supreme Court. He represented Logan Clegg, the man convicted of murdering a couple in Concord in 2022, in an appeal post-conviction. He also was the defendant’s attorney in State of NH v. Jeremy Mack.

Pamala Custer is a veteran educator with more than 25 years of experience teaching social studies in New Hampshire. She teaches at Hanover High School, where she especially enjoys Constitutional Law, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Sociology. Each course incorporates real-world applications through interactions with career experts and field trips. She introduces students to careers in law, public policy, diplomacy, intelligence, criminal justice, and the Foreign Service. By connecting classroom learning to current issues, she helps students see social studies as a dynamic pathway to vital professions at the center of our democracy. Ms. Custer was a semi-finalist for 2026 NH Teacher of the Year and spoke at the NH Bar Foundation Dinner in 2025. She holds a MA degree in history from Northern Arizona University

Judge William Delker is an associate justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court, appointed in August 2011. He has served in Rockingham County Superior Court and Hillsborough Superior Court-North in Manchester and is active on several judicial and legal committees, including the N.H. Judicial Conduct Committee and the N.H. Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules. Judge Delker is also deeply involved in civics education through Law Day programs, courthouse visits by civics classes, and a constitutional law program he helped develop with Exeter High School and the American Independence Museum. He has taught as an adjunct professor at New England Law-Boston, the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, and Massachusetts School of Law. Before joining the bench, he spent 13 years as a prosecutor in the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. He earned his J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law and his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Malia Ebel, JD, MLS is the director of the John W. King Law Library at the NH Supreme Court in Concord. She is an experienced librarian, having worked previously at the Abbott Library in Sunapee and the Susan Colgate Cleveland Library at Colby-Sawyer College. Ms. Ebel is a graduate of Brandeis University and the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law; she practiced law for ten years. Ms. Ebel earned her Master of Library Science degree from Simmons University.

Professor Lawrence Friedman, author of a constitutional law casebook and co-author of the leading state constitutional law casebook, is a recognized expert in issues that test the boundaries of federal and state constitutional law in the digital age. Professor Friedman was recently selected by Oxford University Press to edit its series on the American state constitutions. He frequently serves as a constitutional law expert for WHDH-TV Boston. Before joining the New England Law faculty, Professor Friedman was a visiting assistant professor at Boston College Law School and a lecturer at Harvard Law School. Before teaching, he was an associate with Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable John T. Broderick, Jr., of the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

Samuel Gonyea is the Assistant Attorney General for the New Hampshire Department of Justice as well as Chief of the Criminal Appeals Unit. He primarily handles appellate litigation. Prior to his service at the Department of Justice, Mr. Gonyea worked as a law clerk at the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He graduated from Suffolk University Law School in 2019.

Timothy A. Gudas became the Clerk of Court for the New Hampshire Supreme Court in January 2020, following nine years as the deputy clerk. From 1997 to 2011, he practiced civil and appellate litigation at Sulloway & Hollis, PLLC. From 1996 to 1997, Tim served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Sherman D. Horton, Jr. of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He earned his B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1989 and his J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1994. He is a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Committee on Cooperation with the Courts and its Appellate Law Section.

Martha Madsen is the Civics & Law Outreach Coordinator at the New Hampshire Bar Association. Before joining the Bar Association, she served as executive director of NH Civics. In this role she worked with K-12 educators to develop civics curricula, led educator training programs, initiated the NH Kid Governor and Mikva Challenge programs, created an online searchable curriculum library, and started the NH Civic Learning Coalition which was instrumental in the passage of SB 216: More Time on Civics. Earlier in her career, Ms. Madsen worked for two decades as a public school teacher and counselor. She holds a Master of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a Master of Social Work from Simmons College, and a graduate certificate in curriculum and instructional leadership from the University of New Hampshire.

Abigail Smith Magnusso attended Hanover High School where she took Pamela Custer’s Constitutional Law class in 2013. That class sparked her passion for the law and desire to become a lawyer. During college and throughout law school she focused her studies and efforts on indigent criminal defense, interning at the New Hampshire Public Defender and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender’s Post Conviction Division. As a student attorney at American University, Abby represented and secured the release of two individuals serving life sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles. Ms. Smith Magnusso now serves Assistant General Counsel for Suffolk Construction headquartered in Boston. Prior to her role in-house, she practiced as a Litigation Associate at a firm in Boston and spent two years as a Judicial Law Clerk for the New Hampshire Superior Court primarily supporting the Hillsborough County South Superior Court.

Luke Webster is a graduate of Manchester Central High School, Colby College, and the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. He is a parent of a child with a disability and has had a distinguished military career, most recently as Judge Advocate General in the NH National Guard. He has experience as a public defender and currently works as an attorney at Drummond Woodsum. Mr. Webster’s areas of practice include school and education law, disability and special education, and employment law.

Justices of the New Hampshire Supreme Court

Chief Justice Gordon J. MacDonald attended public schools in Hanover, NH and graduated from Dartmouth College. He attended Cornell Law School and served as a law clerk to the Hon. Norman H. Stahl of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Concord, NH. Justice MacDonald practiced law at Nixon Peabody LLP, and served as NH’s attorney general from 2017-2021. He was sworn in as the 37^th Chief Justice of the NH Supreme Court on March 4, 2021.

Senior Associate Justice Patrick E. Donovan is a Salem High School, Dartmouth College, and Boston College Law School graduate. Justice Donovan practiced law for 18 years from Salem, NH. His experience includes positions as Assistant Attorney General with the Department of Justice in the Criminal Bureau and Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Homicide Unit. He also served as Counsel to the NH House of Representatives. Justice Donovan was sworn in as Justice on May 8, 2018.

Associate Justice Melissa B. Countway graduated from Alton High School and earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of New Hampshire. She taught middle school math and science for five years before attending law school at the University of North Carolina. After returning to New Hampshire, she clerked for Justice Brock at the NH Supreme Court and then practiced at Orr & Reno, Alton Law Offices, and as a police prosecutor for the Alton Police Department. She served for six years as Belknap County Attorney. Justice Countway was sworn in to the Circuit Court in 2017 and joined the NH Supreme Court in 2024. Justice Countway is the fourth woman to serve on the NH Supreme Court.

Associate Justice Bryan K. Gould was sworn in a Justice of the Supreme Court on September 18, 2025. Prior to his appointment, Justice Gould practiced law in New Hampshire for more than 35 years, primarily in the field of civil litigation. He also represented clients before the New Hampshire legislature with respect to legislation affecting their interests. Justice Gould previously served as special counsel both to New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson and to the New Hampshire Executive Council. Justice Gould received his Bachelor of Science degree from Utah State University in 1980 and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Utah College of Law in 1984.

Associate Justice Daniel E. Will graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and from Boston College Law School. He clerked for Judge Morton Brody of the US District Court in Maine, then for Judge Norman Stahl of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Justice Will spent 21 years in private practice as an attorney at the firm of Devine, Millimet & Branch, then became the first Solicitor General for the State of New Hampshire, representing the state in civil and criminal proceedings at the trial and appellate levels. He served as a judge on the NH Superior Court for 5 years, beginning in 2021. Justice Will was sworn in as Justice of the Supreme Court on March 4, 2026.