Linda Johnson

Attorney Linda Johnson is a Director with law firm of McLane Middleton, Professional Association. Linda is Co-Chair of McLane’s Education Law Group and focuses her practice on understanding and serving the needs of independent and boarding schools. She has over 30 years of experience litigating cases in state and federal agencies and courts, and in representing the interests of management and independent schools in all aspects of employment and independent school law. Linda served as Chair of the firm’s Employment Law and Education Law Groups for over 15 years and is also former Co-Chair of the firm’s Litigation Department. Currently, she is also chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee. Linda serves as outside legal counsel to many of the country’s top independent and boarding schools including the largest independent academy in the United States. She also provides counseling services, policy development and review, and trainings to public schools especially in the area of safe schools and employment law. She works closely with heads of schools, deans, financial officers, trustees, and others. She advises her clients on all aspects of school operations including employment law, student discipline, contracts, fiduciary and tort law, leadership development, investigations, compliance audits, risk management, crisis response and student safety. She trains her clients on how to operate safely, how to recognize and address signs of inappropriate behavior, and how to respond to allegations of misconduct. She is especially known for her passion and skill in developing school training programs, and has provided trainings to thousands of public and private school administrators, faculty, staff, students, parents, athletes and athletic directors around the country. She has developed a unique boundary awareness professional development program for working with school employees who need one-on-one help in understanding and recognizing the lines of appropriate behaviors with students or colleagues. Linda is recognized as a national authority on student and campus safety issues, risk management, crisis response, employment law and independent school law issues. She has authored numerous articles including the NAIS Guidelines for Dealing with Educator Sexual Misconduct, the NAIS Independent School Guide to Hiring, the NAIS Guidelines for Working With and Supporting Transgender Students, the NAIS Bullying Prevention Guide: From Law to Policies to Action; How a Head Effectively Handles a Crisis in the NAIS Handbook for New Heads, and the NAIS student handbook publication Student Handbooks – The New 3 R’s: Rights, Responsibilities and Ramifications, among many others. In 2014, Linda was one of three attorneys nationwide appointed to the Legal Advisory Board of The Association of Boarding Schools, (“TABS”) and Campus Outreach Services (“COS”) to assist the organizations in launching a program focused on independent schools and the law. In announcing the appointments, TABS Executive Director Pete Upham referred to the attorneys as “three of the brightest lights in education law [representing] three firms [that] have worked to help hundreds of independent school clients navigate the complex and evolving web of national, state and local regulations. Simply put...[they] know the law and they know our schools.” In the area of employment law, Linda’s work includes defense of employment claims including harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, wage and hour, and breach of contract. She works with schools regarding the development of employee handbooks, policies, contracts, state and federal law compliance; harassment investigations and internal complaints; employee discipline and terminations; union organizing campaigns; information management and security; reductions in force; wage and hour issues; medical and other leaves of absence; employment contracts and severance agreements, and workplace privacy issues. For five years, Linda served on the Employment Committee of the Society for Human Resource Management, and has served as a President, board member and legislative liaison of a local Human Resource Association. Linda is also well regarded by her peers and has been named as a leading labor and employment law attorney in a survey of the legal profession conducted by Business New Hampshire Magazine. She is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell which is the highest rating for legal ethics and services. She is also listed in Woodward's Best Lawyers in America for both employment and education law, in New England SuperLawyers, and in Chambers USA America's Leading Lawyers in Business where it is stated that her clients have commented that they "appreciate her responsiveness and ability to blend the legal and practical perspective;" and “If I really had a crisis, I could call Linda personally and know that she would sort it out immediately.”
Linda is an active member of the National Association for Independent Schools (NAIS) for which she has served as a presenter, editor, and author. She has also presented on risk management issues for The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS), the National Business Officers Association (NBOA), the National School Boards Association (NSBA), the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the Independent School Association of Northern New England (ISANNE), the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE), Connecticut Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), the New Hampshire School Administrators Association (NHSAA), the New Hampshire School Principals Association, the New Hampshire Athletic Directors Association (NHADA), and many, many other schools and organizations. Linda is an approved counsel for United Educators (UE), and works with UE in defending schools before federal and state courts as well as governmental agencies.

Linda was the first women officer of the New Hampshire Bar Association when she became its treasurer in 1988. She has been selected as an Outstanding Business Woman of New Hampshire by N.H. Business Review, was awarded the Philip Holman Gender Equality Award, and was a recipient of the Jon Meyer Civil Rights Award and Marilla Ricker woman lawyer of the year award. She is a past New Hampshire School Administrators Champion for Children award recipient, and was also the first chairperson of the NH Bar Association’s Law Related Education multi-disciplinary task force which is responsible for bringing law related education programs to schools throughout the state. She was appointed by the mayor of the City of Manchester to Chair the city’s Manchester 2000 Education Task Force which, among many other things, created a comprehensive five year strategic plan for the Manchester School District. She was selected by the Manchester Diocese to create a safe school program for all of their middle and high schools throughout the state. For twelve years, Linda served as a trustee and secretary of Rivier University in Nashua, New Hampshire where she chaired the Global Engagement Committee and served on the Finance, Executive, and Trusteeship Committees. In 2014, she was the recipient of the Sister Madeleine of Jesus award bestowed to a Rivier graduate who exemplifies service to the University and their communities. She serves on the boards of the New Hampshire Diversity Workforce Coalition, the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation and the Center for Ethics in Business and Governance at St. Anselm’s College. She is active on the New Hampshire Women’s Heritage Trail Committee and in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. She previously served as a Commissioner for the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women where she was chair of its Gender Equity in Education Task Force, and on the Safety Review Board of Bishop Guertin High School where she was chairperson. In 2008, she was selected as her firm’s Client Service Employee of the Year, an honor she is especially proud of. In August of 2017 Linda was named “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers for Education 2018.

Linda earned her Juris Doctorate in 1984 from Boston University School of Law. She can be reached at her firm’s Manchester, New Hampshire office at 603-628-1267 or by email at [email protected].