Kelly Ayotte ’93
Attorney General,
New Hampshire

Ayotte began her career in private practice in a large law firm. Her interest in advocacy first stirred when she represented a client charged with bank robbery and racketeering during a three-month federal case. Soon afterward, she joined the state Attorney General’s office, eventually heading the office’s homicide division, which handles all cases in New Hampshire that carry a possible sentence of life in prison or death. This led to one of her most high profile cases. From 2001 to 2002, she prosecuted two teens accused of the brutal murder of two Dartmouth professors in their Etna, New Hampshire home. The case drew national media scrutiny and an intense workload for Ayotte. She spent three weeks living in a motel near the crime scene as authorities searched for the murderers. In such homicide cases, her primary job was to represent the state and its laws. But, in the process, she also tried hard to honor the victims, to make sure they felt the legal system treated them with respect and served their interests. “You are really trying to ensure that justice is served,” she said of criminal cases. “In that regard you are representing both the victim and the state.” After a brief stint as legal counsel to the former governor, Ayotte was appointed Attorney General. She has been involved in some hard-fought cases, but doesn’t see the courtroom as a battleground, saying she can leave the courtroom and have a beer with the opposing counsel afterward. “That is an important trait of being a good advocate,” she said. “You cannot lose the human side to our profession.”