Giving Back through 25 Years of Annual Giving
Randolph Reis, JD ’76
Giving Back through 25 Years of Annual Giving
In 1973, Randolph Reis, JD and his wife, Janet (now deceased), drove up to New Hampshire from New York to find the newly founded Franklin Pierce Law Center. Meandering up a country road in East Concord, they did not see a sign and had driven by what looked like a bull farm, unsure as to whether it was the right location. It was then he spotted Dean Robert Viles in farmer overalls, pounding nails and doing handyman work. He had a five-minute interview with Viles and it was enough to convince Reis to stay. “Franklin Pierce Law Center presented itself as an opportunity that fortunately has paid off,” Reis notes.
Since he graduated from Franklin Pierce Law Center and passed the New Hampshire bar exam in 1976, Reis has been making a difference. He has spent the last 34 years practicing law in New Hampshire, specializing in medical malpractice and personal injury. Reis has supported his alma mater, Franklin Pierce Law Center, for over 25 years through gifts to the Annual Fund and other endowed funds. He has also supported Franklin Pierce Law Center as a volunteer for Moot Court.
Reis recently accepted a volunteer position as a class ambassador for the Class of ’76, committing to assist Franklin Pierce Law Center in increasing alumni support through annual giving and alumni communications. His dedication to supporting alumni annual giving empowers Franklin Pierce Law Center to increase its level of scholarship support for students, strengthen its nationally recognized clinics and groundbreaking Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, enhance the school’s facilities and continue to retain talented and accomplished faculty. Franklin Pierce Law Center has become the renowned law school it is in part because of his generosity over the years.
Reis has also made a difference in the state of New Hampshire. He is a court appointed special advocate (CASA) volunteer, advocating for abused and neglected children, and was a litigation volunteer for New Hampshire Legal Assistance in a class action case for children living in poverty in 2003. He previously served as chair of the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Pro Bono Referral system, which encourages private lawyers to provide service to the indigent.
Reis looks back fondly at his time at Franklin Pierce Law Center and is pleased with the education he received. He feels he had excellent professors who were engaging and made the law understandable. He enjoyed his studies and found his law school career interesting and challenging, an important ingredient for success. “You have to enjoy what you are doing to really be effective at it,” believes Reis.
When asked what stands out from their time at Franklin Pierce Law Center, Many alumni cite former faculty and the impact they had on their development and career. Reis is no exception. “The Class of ’76 had the benefit of some excellent faculty who had great depth of knowledge of the law and love for it. My class really couldn’t do much better in terms of the wonderful foundation of the law they provided as teachers,” says Reis.
Franklin Pierce Law Center’s long standing commitment to offer a practice-based education that provides students not only with an education in the rule of law but also clinical training and real-world experience began with its first graduation class. While attending school, Reis participated in two externships that well-prepared him for his future career - one a judicial externship clerking for the New Hampshire Supreme Court and another, an externship for a law firm which he later joined after graduation.
Reis clerked for Judge Laurence Duncan, who has been described by Justice David Souter as “a consummate master craftsman of the law.” Reis found himself as a first-year law student on externship from a newly founded law school, working for and learning from a brilliant New Hampshire jurist. “I was lucky to work with him - it was quite an opportunity and privilege,” Reis reflects. His second externship, at Brown & Nixon in Manchester, was during his third year of law school. “My second externship provided me with great experience, but perhaps more importantly and practically, it led me to a job and eventually my career.”
In 2006, Reis founded Reis Law, which focuses on medical negligence and other cases involving serious personal injuries. “I have had some good verdicts, made a difference in clients’ lives, and I have felt satisfied about helping people in need. I’ve had some Supreme Court decisions that may or may not have been of some import. When clients turn to a lawyer to represent them when they have been a victim of negligence and have lost a loved one, or find themselves badly injured and destitute, it is important that they have the right to seek redress for the wrongs done to them. I look at it as a noble endeavor if you can help out people in those circumstances and I enjoy doing it,” reflects Reis.
In November of 2009, Reis tried a malpractice case in advance of a jury trial and challenged the constitutionality of the medical malpractice screening panel, RSA 5:19 B, which requires malpractices cases to go before a screening panel before they go to a jury trial. A unanimous finding at the screening panel is then admissible to the jury. Reis challenged the screening panel statute arguing that it violates several constitutional principles. Prior to his challenge there had been several decisions upholding the constitutionality of this statute. The presiding trial judge ruled in his favor in a significant ruling which may affect how these cases are tried going forward. “Our system of justice allows those who believe they have been harmed to seek redress and to challenge the privileged and powerful,” Reis says.
Reis continues to work on behalf of his clients to answer the call for justice and give back to New Hampshire. His longstanding financial and moral support of Franklin Pierce Law Center stems from his gratitude for the education he received while in law school. When asked why he continues to give he stated, “I continue to give to FPLC every year because Franklin Pierce Law Center made a big difference in my life. The school did not just allow me to become a lawyer, but provided an excellent education in the law and wonderful externships. Those opportunities enabled me to engage in a satisfying and rewarding career. I give because of a sense of obligation and a desire to say thank you to FPLC.”
Angel Colarusso, “Giving Back through 25 Year of Annual Giving,” Pierce Law, Winter 2010, Vol. 14, No. 1 [reprinted with permission]
Reis Law, PLLC
66 Hanover St. Suite 203
Manchester, NH 03101
Ph: 603-792-0800
Randolph Reis, JD ’76
Giving Back through 25 Years of Annual Giving
In 1973, Randolph Reis, JD and his wife, Janet (now deceased), drove up to New Hampshire from New York to find the newly founded Franklin Pierce Law Center. Meandering up a country road in East Concord, they did not see a sign and had driven by what looked like a bull farm, unsure as to whether it was the right location. It was then he spotted Dean Robert Viles in farmer overalls, pounding nails and doing handyman work. He had a five-minute interview with Viles and it was enough to convince Reis to stay. “Franklin Pierce Law Center presented itself as an opportunity that fortunately has paid off,” Reis notes.
Since he graduated from Franklin Pierce Law Center and passed the New Hampshire bar exam in 1976, Reis has been making a difference. He has spent the last 34 years practicing law in New Hampshire, specializing in medical malpractice and personal injury. Reis has supported his alma mater, Franklin Pierce Law Center, for over 25 years through gifts to the Annual Fund and other endowed funds. He has also supported Franklin Pierce Law Center as a volunteer for Moot Court.
Reis recently accepted a volunteer position as a class ambassador for the Class of ’76, committing to assist Franklin Pierce Law Center in increasing alumni support through annual giving and alumni communications. His dedication to supporting alumni annual giving empowers Franklin Pierce Law Center to increase its level of scholarship support for students, strengthen its nationally recognized clinics and groundbreaking Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, enhance the school’s facilities and continue to retain talented and accomplished faculty. Franklin Pierce Law Center has become the renowned law school it is in part because of his generosity over the years.
Reis has also made a difference in the state of New Hampshire. He is a court appointed special advocate (CASA) volunteer, advocating for abused and neglected children, and was a litigation volunteer for New Hampshire Legal Assistance in a class action case for children living in poverty in 2003. He previously served as chair of the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Pro Bono Referral system, which encourages private lawyers to provide service to the indigent.
Reis looks back fondly at his time at Franklin Pierce Law Center and is pleased with the education he received. He feels he had excellent professors who were engaging and made the law understandable. He enjoyed his studies and found his law school career interesting and challenging, an important ingredient for success. “You have to enjoy what you are doing to really be effective at it,” believes Reis.
When asked what stands out from their time at Franklin Pierce Law Center, Many alumni cite former faculty and the impact they had on their development and career. Reis is no exception. “The Class of ’76 had the benefit of some excellent faculty who had great depth of knowledge of the law and love for it. My class really couldn’t do much better in terms of the wonderful foundation of the law they provided as teachers,” says Reis.
Franklin Pierce Law Center’s long standing commitment to offer a practice-based education that provides students not only with an education in the rule of law but also clinical training and real-world experience began with its first graduation class. While attending school, Reis participated in two externships that well-prepared him for his future career - one a judicial externship clerking for the New Hampshire Supreme Court and another, an externship for a law firm which he later joined after graduation.
Reis clerked for Judge Laurence Duncan, who has been described by Justice David Souter as “a consummate master craftsman of the law.” Reis found himself as a first-year law student on externship from a newly founded law school, working for and learning from a brilliant New Hampshire jurist. “I was lucky to work with him - it was quite an opportunity and privilege,” Reis reflects. His second externship, at Brown & Nixon in Manchester, was during his third year of law school. “My second externship provided me with great experience, but perhaps more importantly and practically, it led me to a job and eventually my career.”
In 2006, Reis founded Reis Law, which focuses on medical negligence and other cases involving serious personal injuries. “I have had some good verdicts, made a difference in clients’ lives, and I have felt satisfied about helping people in need. I’ve had some Supreme Court decisions that may or may not have been of some import. When clients turn to a lawyer to represent them when they have been a victim of negligence and have lost a loved one, or find themselves badly injured and destitute, it is important that they have the right to seek redress for the wrongs done to them. I look at it as a noble endeavor if you can help out people in those circumstances and I enjoy doing it,” reflects Reis.
In November of 2009, Reis tried a malpractice case in advance of a jury trial and challenged the constitutionality of the medical malpractice screening panel, RSA 5:19 B, which requires malpractices cases to go before a screening panel before they go to a jury trial. A unanimous finding at the screening panel is then admissible to the jury. Reis challenged the screening panel statute arguing that it violates several constitutional principles. Prior to his challenge there had been several decisions upholding the constitutionality of this statute. The presiding trial judge ruled in his favor in a significant ruling which may affect how these cases are tried going forward. “Our system of justice allows those who believe they have been harmed to seek redress and to challenge the privileged and powerful,” Reis says.
Reis continues to work on behalf of his clients to answer the call for justice and give back to New Hampshire. His longstanding financial and moral support of Franklin Pierce Law Center stems from his gratitude for the education he received while in law school. When asked why he continues to give he stated, “I continue to give to FPLC every year because Franklin Pierce Law Center made a big difference in my life. The school did not just allow me to become a lawyer, but provided an excellent education in the law and wonderful externships. Those opportunities enabled me to engage in a satisfying and rewarding career. I give because of a sense of obligation and a desire to say thank you to FPLC.”
Angel Colarusso, “Giving Back through 25 Year of Annual Giving,” Pierce Law, Winter 2010, Vol. 14, No. 1 [reprinted with permission]
Reis Law, PLLC
66 Hanover St. Suite 203
Manchester, NH 03101
Ph: 603-792-0800