Richard Samdperil

Richard Samdperil has been practicing criminal defense in New Hampshire since 1995.  He has tried and won cases in almost every court in southern New Hampshire, and has won new trials for convicted defendants at the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

After graduating from law school in 1994, Richard went to Georgia to work with lawyers defending capital murder cases. In 1995, Richard returned to New England, where he spent the next 11 years working with the New Hampshire Public Defender program.

As a trial lawyer, Richard has tried cases in the district and superior courts of Cheshire, Sullivan, Hillsborough, Rockingham, and Strafford counties. From 1999-2000, Richard was the managing attorney of the Public Defender’s Manchester office, the state’s largest.

From 2000-2002, Richard worked as an attorney with the Appellate Defender Program at the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord. As an appellate lawyer, Richard briefed and argued dozens of cases before the New Hampshire Supreme Court. To date, he has litigated over 50 cases before the State's highest court.

Richard was also a member of the Public Defender’s litigation support group, and authored materials and taught defense lawyers on topics including New Hampshire constitutional law, law and forensic sciences, and the elements and defenses of common crimes.

Hard-work and Commitment


Richard Samdperil grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated with honors from Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Illinois. Richard obtained his law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts, and completed externships with a federal judge in New Jersey, the U.S. Department of Justice’s New England Bank Fraud Task Force, a white collar defense law firm in Miami, Florida, and the New Hampshire Public Defender.

Richard is a member of both the National and New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and has been affiliated with both organizations for over a decade. He is also a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association's Committee on Professionalism, and is vice-president of the Rockingham County Bar Association. Additionally, in 2007-08 Richard was an adjuct faculty member in the Criminal Justice Department at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, where he taught Criminal Law.

Richard lives on New Hampshire’s seacoast with his wife and three children.