Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. This selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.

Super Lawyers Magazine features the list and profiles of selected attorneys and is distributed to attorneys in the state or region and the ABA-accredited law school libraries. Super Lawyers is also published as a special section in leading city and regional magazines across the country. Lawyers are selected to a Super Lawyers list in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

To speak with Attorney Bianco and the attorneys at Bianco Professional Association regarding a potential Legislative and Governmental Affairs matter, please call our office at (603) 225-7170, or send our firm a message through our online contact form.

The post BPA Legislative and Governmental Affairs Attorney Receives “Top Rated” Award appeared first on Bianco PA.

On Thursday, October 24^th, the Adoptive Families for Children Foundation put on an event celebrating National Adoption Month. This event showcased ADOPT NH – New Hampshire’s new statewide adoption resource. The ADOPT NH website is a resource exchange for adoptive families, and hosts a photo listing of children in need of a forever family.  Through the efforts of ADOPT NH, in the last year 17 children have been matched with their forever families.

At the event, a family shared their adoption story. You can see that story and read more about the event in this piece by WMUR.

The AFFC Foundation and Adopt NH’s goal is first and foremost to help children. At the event, Jim Bianco, a board member of the AFFC Foundation said: “People want to help children. But they don’t understand how it’s doable in New Hampshire and how many children here are in foster care that we can get adopted”.

Bianco Professional Association is proud to support the work of the AFFC Foundation and ADOPT NH. If you would like more information on adoption in New Hampshire, please contact the adoption attorneys and specialists at Bianco P.A. by calling 603-225-7170, toll-free at 800-262-8112, or by sending a message using our contact form.

The post Adoptive Families for Children Foundation Event a Success appeared first on Bianco PA.

For more information, please visit the AFFC Foundation’s website at www.affcfoundation.org.

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to Lisa Bianco at lisa@adoptivefamiliesforchildren.com, Kristine Pries at kristine@adoptivefamiliesforchildren.com, or call the AFFC Foundation directly at (603) 228-6712. We hope to see you there!

The post Join Bianco PA and the AFFC Foundation in Celebrating National Adoption Month appeared first on Bianco PA.

The plaintiff suffered extensive injuries and ultimately underwent surgery. He is permanently disabled, and can no longer engage in work or most physical activities.

After a three-day trial, the plaintiff was awarded one million dollars in damages.

To contact Attorney Goldman or any other Personal Injury attorneys at Bianco Professional Association, please call our office at (603) 225-7170 or send a message through our online contact form.

The post BPA Attorney Obtains Verdict for One Million Dollars appeared first on Bianco PA.

After passing both bodies of the New Hampshire legislature with wide margins of support, Governor Chris Sununu signed Senate Bill 577 into law at a ceremony on June 27, 2018 in Berlin, NH. This legislation supports an essential, locally-owned source of renewable energy for the state and protects the 220 jobs associated with the Berlin-based Burgess BioPower plant.

In a statement, Governor Sununu emphasized that the new law would not increase energy rates and would protect both Berlin and Coos County from potential job losses that could have resulted in millions of dollars in negative impact to the North Country’s economy. The legislation provides crucial support to the energy and economic needs of Berlin and northern New Hampshire.

To speak with Attorney Jim Bianco and the other members of Bianco P.A.’s legal and Government Relations teams, please call 603-225-7170 or fill out our online contact form.

The post Burgess BioPower Remains Open; 220 Jobs Protected appeared first on Bianco PA.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. This selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.

Super Lawyers Magazine features the list and profiles of selected attorneys and is distributed to attorneys in the state or region and the ABA-accredited law school libraries. Super Lawyers is also published as a special section in leading city and regional magazines across the country. Lawyers are selected to a Super Lawyers list in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

To speak with Attorney Bianco and the attorneys at Bianco Professional Association regarding a potential Legislative and Governmental Affairs matter, please call our office at (603) 225-7170, or send our firm a message through our online contact form.

The post BPA Legislative and Governmental Affairs Attorney Receives “Top Rated” Award appeared first on Bianco PA.

Dear Friends:

On Wednesday, May 18, 2016, the Adoptive Families for Children Foundation — a non-profit organization and friend of Bianco Professional Association — will hold its Spring Social to raise funds for children in need of adoption. The event, which is open to the public, will take place from 6-8pm at Banks Chevrolet in Concord (137 Manchester St., Concord, NH 03301), and will be a fun evening featuring a beer and wine sampling, highlighted by a special guest speaker. It will give families and individuals the chance to learn more about adoption and the importance of finding permanent homes for all children.

Contributions in any amount are much needed and greatly appreciated, and anyone interested in learning more about this important cause is encouraged to attend. Please RSVP to Lisa Bianco at lisa@adoptivefamiliesforchildren.com, Kristine Pries at kristine@adoptivefamiliesforchildren.com, or by calling AFFC directly 603-228-6712.

For more information, please visit the AFFC Foundation’s website at www.affcfoundation.org.

The post AFFC Foundation’s Spring Social appeared first on Bianco PA.

The limit that a school district can impose upon free speech in public schools is in the news again, this time in a case from Morgan Hill, California. Morgan Hill is a city about an hour south of San Francisco, and is home to the Morgan Hill Unified School District and Live Oak High School. This distant California school made national news in 2010 when the administration required a handful of students to change out of clothing depicting the American Flag or risk punishment. Sensational headlines followed, condemning the “extreme” California school culture and the insult to Old Glory. Surely, this could not be the state of the law in the United States. Surely, banning the American Flag in an American school is a step too far, right?

Five years after Live Oak High School required these students to change clothes or face discipline, the case has finally reached conclusion in the court system. Procedurally, the case made it all the way to the Federal Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. In March 2015, the United States Supreme Court declined to accept further appeal of the case, thereby rendering the 9th Circuit’s decision the final word. Live Oak High School prevailed and the policy effectively banning clothing with the American Flag was upheld. Here’s the rest of the story.

On May 5, 2010, four high school boys went to school wearing t-shirts that many American students might own. One was an Old Navy brand t-shirt with an American Flag graphic on the front. Two were made by TapOut, a popular brand loosely associated with mixed martial arts. The TapOut shirts did not include a flag, but rather a logo for the company that stylistically uses red and white stripes, as well as white stars on a blue field. The fourth was a shirt that resembled the stars and stripes from sleeve to sleeve.

Before we delve into the logic behind the decision by Live Oak High School’s administrators to ban the shirts, a brief review of free speech in schools is in order. The review begins with the First Amendment itself, which provides that:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Although free speech is a very broad and well-defended civil right, it has never been regarded as an unlimited license to say anything that comes to mind. The classic example of a limitation on free speech is the admonition that one cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theatre, potentially causing injury in an attempt to escape the perceived danger. Defamation, libel, and slander — statements that injure a person’s reputation — are also not protected by the right of free speech in many circumstances. False advertising, perjury under oath, and misleading a police investigation are also understood to be speech that is not protected by the First Amendment. These are but a few examples of the limits that exist on free speech, especially free speech in public schools.

Within the walls of a schoolhouse, the limitations on free speech are unique. Of course, students do enjoy First Amendment free speech rights in schools. Dating back to the 1960s, the United States Supreme Court consistently held that “students do not ‘shed their constitutional rights’ at the schoolhouse door.” However, the Supreme Court has also noted that “the constitutional rights of students in public school are not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings.” Although these foundational legal principals are important to the court, they don’t necessarily give guidance to school administrators.

The practical legal principals governing free speech in public schools emerge in a line of cases beginning 50 years ago. In 1965, high school students in Iowa chose to wear black armbands as a symbolic protest of the Vietnam War and supporting the “Christmas Truce.” Protesting a policy of government that is highly important to the public, and important to these students, would seem to be exactly the kind of free speech the First Amendment protects. However, school administrators developed a policy banning the armbands in order to prevent the protest. The students deliberately violated the policy and were suspended. Four years later, in 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that schools cannot prohibit this expression of free speech, even if it is provocative or controversial, unless the speech “materially and substantially interferes” with school operation. The armbands were allowed and the Court, for the first time, established the standard for when a student’s free speech could be limited.

Fast forward to 2007 in Juneau, Alaska. A high school student hangs a banner across the street from the school during the procession of the Olympic Torch relay, which was to pass in front of the school. The banner read “BONG HITS 4 JESUS.” When the student refused to take down the banner, he was suspended for four days and the banner was confiscated by the school principal. The Supreme Court upheld the principal’s actions in suspending the student by applying the standard it developed in the 1969 armband case. In the Alaska case, a message directed to students during a school event, and which advocated illegal drug use, amounted to a material and substantial interference with school operations.

With these two cases setting the precedent for free speech in public schools, why would the courts believe that the students wearing American Flag t-shirts at Live Oak High School were more like the boy in Alaska advocating drugs and less like the 1960s Vietnam War protests? How could American Flags amount to a material and substantial interference with school operations? If you noticed the date that the boys wore the shirts, you may have spotted a clue that unlocks the answer. The date was May 5, 2010, or that year’s Cinco de Mayo, the celebration of the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla, which occurred on May 5, 1862. For persons of Mexican heritage, the holiday is a source of cultural pride and importance.

Live Oak High School, as a part of its academic program, recognized the significance of Cinco de Mayo and organized activities on May 5th, 2010 to observe the historic and cultural significance of the day. The handful of boys wearing American Flag shirts on this particular day, as an expression of free speech, was a source of friction. To the extent that the Flag t-shirts represented free speech, the message conveyed by the shirts was a protest of the school’s acknowledgement of the importance of Cinco de Mayo to the school’s Mexican students. Administrators learned of actual fights, as well as threats of violence, as a result of the American Flag shirts. That message, on that particular day, rendered the American Flag shirts a substantial and material disruption to the school’s operations. For that reason, the school district acted within the law to limit free speech in public schools when it required the students to change clothes or face discipline.

What is significant about the Live Oak High School case is that the courts never questioned the school’s discretion to recognize Cinco de Mayo, or the fact that the speech at issue consisted of the American Flag. Those facts, while important to the public perception of the case, played no role in the legal outcome. Restriction on free speech in public schools is permissible when the speech materially and substantially interferes with the school operation. As a post-script, Live Oak High School never sought to impose a general ban on the American Flag at school. All that the school ever attempted to do was to maintain order in its school, and the Court vindicated its limitation on free speech when (and only when) the speech materially and substantially disrupted the school’s operation.

To speak with an attorney regarding an education or school law matter, contact the New Hampshire education attorneys at Bianco Professional Association by calling 603-225-7170 or toll-free at 800-262-8112. You may also send a message using our contact form.

The post Free Speech in Public Schools appeared first on Bianco PA.

Congratulations to Kelly Smith, LICSW, Bianco Professional Association’s Adoption Clinical Consultant, on receiving the 2015 Therapist of the Year award from NAMI New Hampshire. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, presents the award to practitioners known for their exemplary work and to honor “individuals who have made outstanding contributions to improving the lives of people affected by mental illness and emotional disorders.”

Kelly is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) who has been providing services to adoptive families, birth mothers, and foster families for over 25 years. She collaborates with the adoption professionals at Bianco Professional Association and is a valuable colleague and friend to the Bianco P.A. team. Kelly’s Concord, New Hampshire practice specializes in issues relating to adoption and foster care, and the topics of attachment, trauma, and loss.

To contact the adoption professionals at Bianco Professional Association, please call 603-225-7170, toll-free at 800-262-8112, or send a message using our contact form. To read more about Kelly and her adoption-related practice, please visit her website at www.kellylynsmith-licsw.com.

The post Bianco P.A. Adoption Clinical Consultant Named NH Therapist of the Year appeared first on Bianco PA.

Information regarding the 2015 adoption tax credit has been released and there’s good news for adoptive parents — the tax credit has increased.

According to the IRS, the adoption tax credit “offsets qualified adoption expenses, making adoption possible for some families who could not otherwise afford it.” For adoptions finalized in 2015, the federal adoption tax credit may provide assistance with qualified adoption expenses of up to $13,400 per adopted child (up from $13,190 in 2014). The credit is non-refundable meaning taxpayers are only eligible for the credit if they have federal income tax liability.

To be eligible for this year’s tax credit, the adoptive parent(s) must:

• Adopt a child other than a stepchild. The adopted child cannot be a child of the taxpayer’s spouse.

• Adopt a child that is either under the age of 18 or that is physically or mentally incapable of self-care.

• Fall within applicable income and dollar limitations (eligibility is affected by income). The income limit is based on modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). If your MAGI for 2015 is less than $201,010, you are eligible for the full credit. If your MAGI falls between $201,010 and $240,010, your credit is subject to a phase-out and will be reduced. Should your MAGI be above $240,010, you are not eligible for the adoption credit.

Qualified adoption expenses include reasonable attorney or agency fees, court costs, travel expenses (including meals and lodging while away from home), and other expenses that are directly related to the legal adoption of an eligible child. If the adoptive parent(s) do not have enough qualifying expenses to claim the entire credit in one year, it may be possible to carry the unused portion of the credit forward for up to five tax years. Please speak with a licensed tax professional for additional information.

Families that finalize that adoption of a U.S. child with special needs are eligible for the maximum $13,400 credit regardless of qualified adoption expenses. However, please note that the definition of “special needs” for adoption credit purposes does not necessarily mean a child with disabilities. A child has special needs for the purpose of the credit if:

• The child is a citizen or resident of the United States or its possessions when the adoption effort began;

• A state determines that the child cannot or should not be returned to his or her parent’s home; and

• The state determines that the child probably will not be adoptable without assistance provided to the adoptive family.

According to the IRS, “Generally, ‘special needs’ adoptions are the adoptions of children whom the state’s child welfare considers difficult to place for adoption.”

If you finalized your adoption in 2014, the adoption tax credit still applies as Congress and the Obama administration made it a permanent part of the tax code when they passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Details of the 2014 credit can be found by visiting the IRS’ website and may differ slightly from the specifics of the 2015 credit.

For more information regarding how an adoption tax credit could help you this year and for answers to other adoption-related questions, please contact the adoption attorneys and specialists at Bianco P.A. by calling 603-225-7170, toll-free at 800-262-8112, or by sending a message using our contact form.

The post Details on the 2015 Adoption Tax Credit appeared first on Bianco PA.