By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
Retired state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi is free to practice law again after a conversation with then-Gov. Chris Sununu June 6, 2024 led to the suspension of her law license, criminal charges, a plea bargain, return to the bench, and ultimately her retirement in February.
In the latest episode in the saga of Seacoast Republican power couple Hantz Marconi and her husband, former Ports and Harbors director Geno Marconi, the Professional Conduct Committee suspended Hantz Marconi’s law license for six months, which is stayed for one year, settling its ethics complaint Oct. 21 involving her talk with Sununu.
“She looks forward to continuing her career in the law,” said Richard Guerriero, Hantz Marconi’s attorney. “The PCC order confirms that Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi retains her right to practice law, as was previously ordered by a Supreme Court panel on October 9, 2025. She will, of course, comply with the conditions in the PCC order.”
The order of the PCC, which oversees the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers in New Hampshire, was signed by chairman Stephanie C. Hausman, suspending Hantz Marconi’s license to practice law for six months, which will be stayed for a year on three conditions:
Hantz Marconi agreed to pass the MPRE, pay the PCC expenses for investigating and prosecuting her case and engage in no professional misconduct during the one-year period, according to the PCC order.
The MPRE or Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination is a multiple-choice test measuring a lawyer’s knowledge of professional conduct standards.
“Attorney Hantz Marconi has no history of attorney discipline proceedings in any jurisdiction. She was not engaged in the practice of law at the time of the circumstances giving rise to these proceedings,” the JCC listed as among a number of mitigating factors in their decision.
“On June 6, 2024, Justice Hantz Marconi met with Governor Christopher Sununu in his office with his legal counsel present to discuss the impact a publicized investigation of her husband was having on her ability to fulfill her duties on the Court,” the PCC order states.
It noted that Hantz Marconi was subsequently indicted by Attorney General John Formella for that same conversation with Sununu accusing her of seeking special favors in Geno Marconi’s criminal investigation. Geno Marconi eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for providing the confidential motor vehicle record of Neil Levesque, vice chairman of the Pease Development Authority, which oversees the division of Ports and Harbors, to a third party, Brad Cook. Geno Marconi received a fine and suspended jail time in a case the couple’s supporters believe was politically motivated as Sununu had been pressuring Geno Marconi to resign.
On Oct. 7, 2025, charges were dropped, and Hantz Marconi pleaded no contest, but was convicted of Criminal Solicitation of Misuse of Position, a Class B misdemeanor because of the conversation with Sununu even though Sununu told investigators there was nothing improper about their meeting.
Because the state said the class B misdemeanor was not a “serious crime” the Attorney Discipline Office reinstated Hantz Marconi’s law license in 2025 while her underlying disciplinary matter remained pending.
“Given the criminal prosecution and conviction arising from her meeting with the Governor and the resulting referral to the Attorney Discipline Office, Attorney Hantz Marconi acknowledges that her conduct, while not involving the direct practice of law while representing a client, nonetheless raised concerns about her judgment, and for purposes of this Stipulation, she admits that she violated Rule 8.4(b).”
The PCC order identified mitigating factors in its decision: no prior disciplinary record over nearly 34 years in the New Hampshire bar.
It also cited Hantz Marconi’s cooperative attitude towards, and forthright participation in, the PCC proceedings, her character and reputation, “including her extensive public service, including not only her service as a Supreme Court Justice, but also as a member of the Judicial Selection Commission, the Governor’s Commission on Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking, the board of the Nashua Children’s Home, the New Hampshire Board of Bar Examiners, the New Hampshire Women’s Bar Association, the Manchester Community Music School, and the Josiah Bartlett Center.”
It included the other penalties Hantz Marconi has been subjected to including suspension from her service on the bench, a nearly 12-month suspension of her license to practice law, the criminal prosecution, conviction, fines and legal fees incurred in her defense, and the practical limitations on her ability to practice caused by these proceedings.
Judicial Conduct Committee
Hantz Marconi settled last month with the Judicial Conduct Committee, which oversees the Code of Judicial Conduct for judges. She had been scheduled for a public JCC hearing next month that would have likely seen Sununu, Attorney General Formella, Gordon MacDonald and a number of other judges and high-ranking state officials called to testify.
She agreed in that matter that she committed ethics violations connected to her 2024 conversations with Pease Development Authority Board Chair Steve Duprey and Sununu, but disagreed with the JCC’s description of those violations in its summary report.
“In short, the Summary Report does not provide all of the relevant facts, it overstates the seriousness of the violation, and it speculates about conduct not before the Committee,” Guerriero wrote.
Hantz Marconi was sworn in by Sununu June 6, 2017 to what would become the first all-Republican Supreme Court in recent history. The five-member court, which is under intense public scrutiny since the resignation of chief justice Gordon MacDonald Sept. 15, in the past was usually balanced 3 to 2 Democrat/Republican depending on the party of the governor.
MacDonald resigned in an agreement with the Judicial Conduct Committee, in which he admitted violating the Code of Judicial Conduct for helping Dianne Martin the then-director of the Administrative Office of the Courts obtain $50,000 in accrued earned time by being laid off for a few days before starting another position in the judiciary overseeing bar examinations.
A press release MacDonald issued Oct. 31, 2025, after NHPR reporter Todd Bookman exposed the unusual payout, also raised as yet unanswered questions about whether three of the remaining four Justices Patrick Donovan, Melissa Countway and Bryan Gould are under JCC investigations because they signed off on the release.
“Finally, the press release issued by the Court on Oct 31, 2025 under MacDonald’s leadership did not accurately portray the process for Martin’s removal and rehire to a new position. It created the misimpression that her removal and rehire was part of a routine administrative reorganization of the AOC,” according to records released after MacDonald resigned.
The Judicial Conduct Committee investigations of Hantz Marconi and Gordon MacDonald had some overlap but exactly how intertwined they were will likely never be known as they both settled before public hearings would have been held in which witnesses could have revealed more details.
Hantz Marconi said soon after she was indicted that she had cleared the controversial meeting with Sununu with her boss, then-Chief Justice MacDonald, who later denied it when he was interviewed by investigators.
It was clear from JCC documents released when MacDonald settled his case and resigned, that he didn’t get along with Hantz Marconi and told investigators she spread rumors that he was involved with Dianne Martin.
In his response to the Judicial Conduct Committee complaint that led to his resignation, MacDonald said while the justices were first considering Martin for the role of AOC director in 2021, “I first became aware of rumors that I had an adulterous relationship with Attorney Martin.”
“Specifically, my memory is that Justice (Anna Barbara) Hantz Marconi told other justices that her spouse (then-Ports Director Geno Marconi) had heard at a Governor and Council meeting that Attorney Martin was my ‘girlfriend,’ or something to that effect,” MacDonald wrote.
“I immediately disclosed this to the Judicial Branch general counsel and told her that it was false,” MacDonald wrote. “I also discussed it with each of the justices individually, telling them it was false.”
MacDonald said the rumors continued during what JCC documents now reveal was a chaotic time at the state’s only appellate court. In New Hampshire judges are nominated by the governor and must be confirmed by the Executive Council.
Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte hasn’t yet nominated MacDonald’s replacement, and the Executive Council is now comprised of all Democrats since the recent elections, instead of the 4 to 1 Republican majority of the mostly outgoing council. All four Republican Executive Councilors were voted out Nov. 3.