AUL Welcomes Prominent Attorney and Pro-Life Advocate Ovide Lamontagne as General Counsel


AUL Welcomes Prominent Attorney and Pro-Life Advocate Ovide Lamontagne as General Counsel
 
April 17, 2013

“Ovide’s wealth of experience and political acumen will further enrich the breadth of AUL’s legal and legislative expertise. Building on the success of our legal strategy, we are expanding our capacity to advance aggressively to seize the opportunities we see in state legislatures across the country and in the courts. I am looking forward to welcoming Ovide to the AUL team.” said Dr. Yoest

WASHINGTON, D.C. (04-17-13) – Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest announced today that prominent attorney Ovide Lamontagne is joining the nation’s premier pro-life legal team as General Counsel. Adding to AUL’s expert team of attorneys, Mr. Lamontagne will be responsible for coordinating AUL’s legal strategy and carrying forward our ground-breaking 50-state legislative work. “Ovide’s wealth of experience and political acumen will further enrich the breadth of AUL’s current legal and legislative expertise. Building on the success of our legal strategy, we are expanding our capacity to advance aggressively to seize the opportunities we see in state legislatures across the country and in the courts. I am looking forward to welcoming Ovide to the AUL team,” said Dr. Yoest.

Americans United for Life, the legal architects of the pro-life movement, has led the way in bringing legal advocacy to the cause of life. As recently reported by the New York Times, around one-third of the astonishing 132 pro-life bills passed in 2012 and 2011 were written by AUL or based on AUL model language. The surge of pro-life legislation has carried forward into 2013 with the enactment of multiple pro-life protections, including Alabama’s recent abortion clinic regulations bill. Just last week, on behalf of 79 state legislators in Oklahoma, AUL filed an amicus curiae brief before the U.S. Supreme Court supporting an Oklahoma regulation, based on AUL model legislation, requiring physicians to dispense abortion-inducing drugs only as approved by the FDA.

“Ovide is an essential asset to AUL as we continue our great momentum of success in advancing a culture of life in America,” noted Dr. Yoest. “His strategic organization and coordination of AUL’s intellectual architecture will allow AUL to build upon our already exceptional foundation.”

“The Life issue is the most important social justice and civil rights issue of our time,” said Lamontagne. “Protecting Life in the law is the most basic foundation of civil society, and the first line of defense for protecting every American, from conception to natural death. I am honored to be joining AUL, the organization that crafted the most successful and Constitutionally-sound legal strategy for reversing Roe and defending the most vulnerable among us. And I am humbled to use my legal expertise in representing AUL’s clients – from unborn children to vulnerable elderly citizens – who cannot speak for themselves.”

Lamontagne is currently a shareholder in the law firm of Devine, Millimet & Branch, one of New Hampshire’s most prominent firms. The 2012 Republican nominee for Governor of New Hampshire, Ovide has a broad range of diverse legal experience spanning nearly 30 years.

Ovide was recently recognized and ranked in Chambers USA 2011 as one of America’s leading attorneys in General Commercial Litigation. He was also selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2012 in the field of Commercial Litigation and in the field of Litigation – Construction, and has an AV rating with Martindale-Hubbell. He is a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association and the National Diocesan Attorneys Association.

A former schoolteacher, Ovide was appointed in 1993 by Governor Stephen Merrill as Chairman of the New Hampshire State Board of Education, where he served until 1996.

Ovide’s breadth of legal experience includes:
    •    Successfully representing several clients in appeals before the New Hampshire Supreme Court;
    •    Service as Legal Counsel to the New Hampshire State Senate;
    •    Serving as Lead Counsel in the successful merger of Lakes Region General Hospital and Franklin Regional Hospital;
    •    Overseeing the sale of a not-for-profit college to a for-profit educational entity;
    •    Serving as outside General Counsel to Catholic Medical Center over a 15 year period, advising on all areas of healthcare law;
    •    Serving as outside General Counsel to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester;
    •    Overseeing the sale of a not-for-profit college to a for-profit educational entity; and
    •    Representing a manufactured home owners cooperative in the largest transaction of its kind in New Hampshire.

A father of two daughters by adoption and foster father to a special needs son, Lamontagne and his wife Bettie are well known for their work with charitable organizations in the community.
To book an interview with Lamontagne, contact AUL’s media office. Follow him on Twitter at @OvideAUL
http://www.aul.org/2013/04/aul-welcomes-prominent-attorney-and-pro-life-advocate-ovide-lamontagne-as-general-counsel/
 

Teens Robbed of I-pod/Cell Phone

 

MANCHESTER, NH- On Monday, February 11, 2013, at about 6:30 PM, Manchester Police responded to a Clay Street address for a report of a robbery.  On arrival, they met with two 16 year old Manchester teens who reported they had been the victims of a robbery a short time earlier on Somerville Street, near Belmont Street.

 

According to the boys, they were walking in the area when they were approached by two men, one of whom demanded their belongings, indicating his companion had a gun, although no gun was observed.

 

One of the boys surrendered his I-pod Nano and Galaxy S3 cell phone and the men left.  They were last seen leaving the area as passengers in an older, dark colored 4-door sedan operated by a third individual who was possibly wearing a red sweatshirt.

 

The first suspect was described as a white male in his forties, about 6’3” tall with a slender build and dark “stubble” on his face.  He was last seen wearing a dark colored vest and a green “beanie” style hat.  The second man, alleged to have possessed a gun, was described as a clean-shaven white male in his forties with an average height and build.  He was last seen wearing a camouflage shirt and khaki pants.

 

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Manchester Police Department at 668-8711.  Anonymous tips for cash rewards can be made through Manchester Crimeline at 624-4040 or online at manchestercrimeline.org.