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Marilla M. Ricker Achievement Award |
Congratulations to our 2025 Marilla M. Ricker Achievement Award Recipient, |
| Our 2025 Marilla Ricker Award winner, Attorney Lauren J. Noether, has been an advocate for women, both in the legal profession and otherwise, since college. As a 19-year-old journalism major and co-captain of the women’s track team at the University of Maine, Lauren was a leader and spokesperson in a multi-year effort to overturn a university ban on women athletes using new state-of-the-art weightlifting equipment. This incident of discrimination, and the subsequent intensive effort to overturn the ban, received national attention as a potential Title IX test case and had a profound impact on Lauren, inspiring an interest in law, public service, justice, and systems change efforts. |
After serving as a VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) for the Blackfeet Indian Tribe or Niitsitapi ("Original People"), Lauren attended and graduated from Franklin Pierce Law Center (UNH Law) in 1982. Lauren served as a New Hampshire prosecutor for over thirty years, including being the first woman to serve a term as County Attorney. She served in that role for almost 14 years, having been elected by the citizens of Belknap County six times before serving as a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the NH Department of Justice. She was known as a formidable litigator, having personally tried over 175 felony jury trials, and also as a staunch defender and advocate of the rights of victims, especially women and children. Lauren played a lead role in the effort to establish the Greater Lakes Child Advocacy Center in Laconia as well as New Beginnings Against Violence. Both organizations pioneered efforts to lessen the trauma of abuse for women and children, particularly for those victimized by criminal acts. Lauren is a past recipient of the William D. Paine Award for outstanding commitment to collaborative multidisciplinary efforts to reduce family violence in New Hampshire and a past County Attorney of the Year in NH. She has hiked the 48 NH 4,000-foot mountains, traveled to six continents, is a teacher and practitioner of yoga, and an avid backcountry skier. Lauren, together with her partner, has been a foster and adoptive parent, and together they continue working on changing systems to be more responsive to people. |
Please join us in congratulating her on this wonderful achievement.
We also invite you to attend our 2025 Fall Reception on Wed., Oct. 15th, 2025 at the Barn at Bull Meadow in Concord where we will be presenting this and the Winnie McLaughlin Scholarship Award to recipient Bethany Hartt.
Since 2000, the Marilla M. Ricker Achievement Award has been presented annually at NHWBA's Fall Reception. Its recipients are women lawyers who have achieved professional excellence, and paved the way to success for other women lawyers, or advanced opportunities for women in the legal profession, and/or performed exemplary public service on behalf of women.
You can learn more about Marilla M. Ricker, a woman of many New Hampshire legal firsts, here.
Nomination Process
The Award(s) will be presented at NHWBA’s Annual Fall Reception. NHWBA Board of Director members currently serving on the Board and/or who served on the Board during the most recent 2-year term are not eligible for the Award.
To nominate a woman lawyer: (1) Complete the Nomination Form; (2) Attach a copy of the nominee’s resume or biography; and (3) Describe in your own words how the nominee has:
A. Achieved professional excellence; AND
B. Paved the way to success for other women lawyers; AND/OR
C. Advanced opportunities for women in the legal profession; AND/OR
D. Performed exemplary public service on behalf of women.
The narrative should not exceed two typed pages and should contain concrete examples for at least one of the listed criteria. You may attach articles written by the nominee or other letters of support from individuals or organizations.
All nominations shall remain active for a period of three years. Materials may be submitted to update and/or supplement a nomination during that same time period.
Send the following nomination materials via email or mail:
| Email: info@NHWBA.org |
Past Ricker Award Winners |
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(L to R): Hon. Susan B. Carbon, Catherine E. Shanelaris, Christine M. Rockefeller, Connie Rakowsky, Hon. Landya B. McCafferty,
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Front (L to R): Ellen Musinsky, Hon. Jean K. Burling, Hon. Tina Nadeau, Justice Linda Dalianis, Justice Carol Ann Conboy, Hon. Susan Carbon, Jennifer Parent |
Back (L to R): Marital Master Deborah Kane Rein, Jennifer Parent, Ellen Musinsky
L to R: Ellen Musinsky, Justice Carol Ann Conboy, Emily Rice, Deborah Rein, Connie Rakowsky, Lucy C. Hodder, Mary Susan Leahy, Jennifer Parent, Hon. Susan Carbon
Back (L to R): Carol Hess, Linda Johnson, Cathy Green, Representative Ann McLane Kuster, Deborah Rein, Connie Rakowsky, Emily Rice