Attorney Edward "Ned" Gordon
email: egordon@newfoundlaw.net
Attorney Edward M. Gordon is well known in the Newfound area where everyone calls him Ned. He was born in Franklin and spent most of his childhood in South Alexandria, New Hampshire. He now lives in Bristol, where he has resided for over 40 years.
After graduating from the University of New Hampshire, he went to work for New England Telephone and AT&T, where he was employed for 15 years. During that time, he earned an MBA from Boston College, concentrating in finance and marketing. He accepted an early retirement offer from AT&T and enrolled at the University of New Hampshire School of Law. While there, he was chosen to serve as teaching assistant to Professor Joseph Dickenson and completed an internship with Justice Hugh Bownes of the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
After taking and passing the bar at age 40, he had the honor of serving as law clerk to Chief Justice David Brock at the New Hampshire Supreme Court. In 1990, he joined the Wescott law firm in Laconia, New Hampshire. He engaged in a general practice which included courtroom litigation, real estate and estate planning. Ned was elected by his fellow lawyers to sit on the Board of Governors of the New Hampshire Bar Association.
While practicing law, Ned served one term in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, followed by four terms in the New Hampshire Senate. He served on many committees and chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was an active legislator with many achievements, including the establishment of the alcohol fund, which sets aside a percentage of the profits from the liquor commission to address substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery. He also served on and chaired the Legislative Ethics Committee. Ned was again elected to serve in the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 2018, and currently serves as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Ned has always been active in the community, holding many local offices, including being twice elected to the Select Board in Bristol. He continues to serve as moderator of both the Newfound Area School District and the Town of Bristol. He has held both of those positions for over 20 years. In the past, he chaired an endowment campaign for the Newfound Lake Region Association and served as moderator of the UCC Church. You might see him registering runners for the Marathon or wearing a red suit at Santa’s Village.
In 2005, Governor John Lynch nominated Ned to serve as a Circuit Court Judge and he was confirmed by the Governor’s Council. He was certified to sit on cases in all three Divisions of the Circuit Court, District, Family and Probate. He was the Presiding Judge of the Franklin Court and was one of the first judges in the state to volunteer to sit on cases in the Family Division. For eight years he served as the Lead Judge of the New Hampshire Model Court Project, developing best practices to be applied to child abuse and neglect cases. He sits as a Trustee on the Judicial Retirement Board. He sat as the Court System’s representative on the Governor’s Commission on Alcohol and Other Drugs, a commission he helped create while he was a senator. He was frequently called upon to speak at trainings or events and was often drafted to complete special projects for the Court. Having reached the mandatory retirement age, Ned left the Court in 2018.
Ned has received many local and state-wide awards for his accomplishments. Most recently, he was recognized as Judge of the Year by CASA of New Hampshire and received the Distinguished Service to the Public Award at the annual meeting of the New Hampshire Bar Association.