William Edward Christie

Bill is the Chair of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group and concentrates in the areas of complex civil litigation, federal and state criminal defense, health care law, and election law. Bill is AV Preeminent Peer Rated for Highest Level of Professional Excellence from Martindale-Hubbell.

He has been recognized for his creative legal work and accomplishments by various groups. Bill has been recognized as a Super Lawyer in criminal defense and recently completed three terms as District Representative under the Criminal Justice Act for the Federal District Court of New Hampshire. In the civil realm, he is a recipient of the Bill of Rights Award from The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union and the Granite State Advocate Award from the New Hampshire Association for Justice.

Bill has a state and national reputation for defending the right to vote. Bill serves as an officer and legal counsel to the New Hampshire Democratic Party and is a member the Association of State Democratic Committees Voter Protection Committee. Bill organizes and supervises the voter protection activities for the New Hampshire Democratic Party and its candidates and has successfully litigated claims against the State of New Hampshire in the areas of Election Law and First Amendment Law. In Guare v. State, Bill convinced the New Hampshire Supreme Court that newly adopted language on the New Hampshire voter registration form was unconstitutional. In Rideout v. Gardner, the First Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the New Hampshire “ballot selfie” law. In 2018 and 2020, Bill was part of a national team of lawyers that successfully challenged SB 3, a voter registration law that the New Hampshire Supreme Court found unconstitutionally suppressed the right to vote. Bill has successfully represented numerous elected officials, political campaigns, and political organizations in a variety of legal matters. In recognition of these efforts, in February 2020, Bill received the prestigious Dunfey-Kanteres Award from the New Hampshire Democratic Party.

Bill also represents health care practices and providers and other businesses involved in regulatory or commercial disputes. This representation includes conducting internal investigations, advising clients on compliance issues, interacting with government regulators, and litigating claims in both state and federal court where he has obtained seven-figure judgments and settlements.

Additionally, he represents students, faculty, and entities in Title IX matters.

In the early 2000s, Bill was appointed by a federal judge to serve as lead plaintiffs’ counsel in seven consolidated wrongful death lawsuits pending against the U.S. government in Federal Court in Boston arising from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s relationship with longtime Boston criminals and FBI informants James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “the Rifleman” Flemmi. After a six-year legal battle, Bill obtained a $3.1 million judgment against the government that was described by the Boston Herald as “justice at last” for the plaintiffs’ families and the community. In October 2010, Bill obtained a $925,000 award of attorneys’ fees against the United States after proving that government attorneys acted in bad faith when defending the lawsuit.

Bill also focuses on criminal defense and has obtained not guilty verdicts for clients charged with numerous offenses, including fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, aggravated sexual assault, first- and second-degree assault, and music bootlegging offenses. By employing a creative pretrial strategy and conducting his own investigations, Bill has convinced prosecutors in many cases not to charge clients under investigation or to dismiss charges prior to trial based upon new legal or factual defenses brought to the government’s attention.

From 2014 to 2018, Bill was a member of the firm’s Management Committee and is currently a member of the firm’s Ethics Committee. He is currently on the Board of the Friendly Kitchen in Concord, New Hampshire. In 2012, Bill was inducted into the Rockland High School Hall of Fame.