Gerald M. "Jerry" Zelin

For over 40 years, Jerry Zelin has devoted his practice to representing New Hampshire school districts in a wide array of student-related matters including special education, inter-district residency disputes, juvenile court cases, pupil discipline, civil rights, the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and limits on the state and federal governments’ authority to regulate local school districts.

Jerry has successfully represented school districts in some of New Hampshire’s leading court cases, including cases before the New Hampshire Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire. Jerry also represents school districts in administrative hearings conducted by the New Hampshire Department of Education and investigations by state and federal agencies. He is on the panels of approved special education defense attorneys for Primex and the Liberty Mutual Insurance Group.

Jerry is a nationally-recognized speaker and writer on special education law and has won numerous awards for his professionalism and expertise. He helped write many of New Hampshire’s statutes and State Board of Education rules governing students, and serves on the National School Boards Association Council of School Attorneys committee that will advise Congress in rewriting the federal special education statute. In 2020, Best Lawyers named Jerry the New Hampshire Lawyer of the Year in education law. He has the highest possible rating in Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who in American Law. In 2013, Jerry received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Hampshire Association of Special Education Administrators in recognition of his successful representation of school districts and his pro bono work on behalf of public schools. In 2011, he received the New Hampshire Council of School Attorneys’ Bradley F. Kidder Award “for his outstanding contributions in the field of education law.”

Jerry enjoys spending his free time with his family, kayaking, landscape photography, and reading historical fiction. He is deeply committed to using his legal training to improve his community, and has done pro bono work in support of maintaining Portsmouth’s historic downtown, preserving the Portsmouth Music Hall building, and leading referenda campaigns to improve Portsmouth’s governance.