Exposing DTC Lawyers and the Shielding of an Illegal Settlement

Public accountability relies on the foundational principle that those who practice law and govern our towns must tell the truth. When a municipal law firm operates in a landscape of evasion, the cost is borne directly by the taxpayers. In the case of Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella (DTC Lawyers) and their representation of Newmarket officials, that cost has manifested as a systematic defense of an entirely unauthorized agreement—funded by the public treasury.

An exhaustive review of the record reveals a staggering pattern of institutional bad faith: no fewer than 125 false and misleading statements advanced to protect an illegal deal, alongside a dossier of 14 serious criminal complaints stemming from these actions.

The Anatomy of Deception: 125 False and Misleading Statements

A legal defense built on solid ground does not require misdirection. Yet, in their relentless pursuit to validate a settlement agreement that they knew the state legislature never authorized, DTC attorneys have repeatedly relied on distortions of fact and law.

These 125 documented falsehoods and misleading assertions were not mere rhetorical flourishes. They represent a calculated effort to obscure a simple reality: the Town of Newmarket entered into a settlement agreement that lacks any legislative backing under New Hampshire law. Rather than counseling their municipal client to retreat from an unlawful position, DTC’s attorneys weaponized their legal machinery to insulate town officials from scrutiny, transforming the legal process into a firewall against transparency.

14 Criminal Complaints: The Cost of Protecting Corruption

The defense of this unauthorized deal has crossed the threshold from administrative overreach into severe misconduct. The patterns of deception and evasion have resulted in 14 serious criminal complaints identifying actions that point to a deliberate betrayal of the public trust.

When a law firm knowingly defends a contract void of statutory authority, they are no longer providing a zealous defense—they are facilitating a continuous misappropriation of public funds.

Every dollar paid out under an unauthorized settlement, and every dollar billed by DTC Lawyers to defend that settlement in court, constitutes an illicit drain on Newmarket’s municipal coffers.

Misappropriation of Taxpayer Funds

Municipal attorneys are paid to safeguard the town's legal integrity, not to burn through public capital protecting an illegal contract. By continuously billing Newmarket taxpayers to defend an agreement they knew from the outset was unauthorized by the legislature, DTC Lawyers and complicit town officials are engaging in a severe misappropriation of public funds.

Taxpayers are being double-billed: first for an unauthorized settlement, and second for the immense legal fees required to keep that settlement from collapsing under judicial scrutiny.

Demanding Disbarment and Restitution

The evidence is clear, documented, and undeniable. A strategy built on 125 false statements and mired in 14 criminal complaints cannot be dismissed as routine municipal lawyering. It is a systemic effort to subvert the law and exploit public resources.

DTC Lawyers must be held fully accountable for their role in this ongoing deception. This requires:

• An immediate halt to all taxpayer-funded payouts under the unauthorized agreement.
• A full clawback of municipal legal fees paid to DTC for defending this illicit contract.
• Swift, unyielding discipline from the New Hampshire Bar and relevant authorities for the attorneys involved in fabricating this defense.

Newmarket’s taxpayers have been treated as an open checkbook for long enough. It is time to dismantle the wall of falsehoods, enforce the law, and demand total restitution.