Joseph F. McDonald, III
Amy K. Kanyuk
Geoffrey J. Ransom



Joseph F. McDonald, III

Joe graduated from St. Anselm College in 1978 and earned his law degree from Suffolk University in 1983. He holds a masters degree in taxation (L.L.M.) from the Boston University School of Law. Joe practiced for fourteen years at the Concord, New Hampshire law firm of Cleveland, Waters and Bass, P.A., where he was a Director and Shareholder and chaired the firm’s Trusts and Estates Department. He also made a mid-career foray into the banking world, working in 1992 and 1993 as a Vice President with New London Trust’s Trust Division, where he managed two fully-staffed trust offices.

Joe has written and lectured extensively on the topics of asset protection, business succession and philanthropic planning for wealthy individuals and their families. His comments and articles have appeared in The Journal of Taxation for Accountants, The Back Forty, ACTEC Notes, The Dow Jones Investment Advisor, Trust and Estates, The New Hampshire Bar Journal, New Hampshire Bar News, Journal of the American Society of CLU and ChFC, Private Asset Management and other publications.

Joe is an adjunct professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, where he teaches a course on wills, trusts and estates. He also frequently lectures to other professionals on all aspects of tax and estate planning.

Joe is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and is included among Woodward and White’s listing of the Best Lawyers in America. He holds the highest rating of A-V from Martindale Hubbell.

In addition to his legal work, Joe has served on several charitable and civic boards, including the NH State Arts Council, Concord Hospital, the Concord Area Chapter of the American Red Cross (Chairman), the American Automobile Association of Northern New England (Director) and the New Hampshire Trust Advisory Committee for the State Street Bank and Trust Company.

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Amy K. Kanyuk

Amy received her B.S. in Finance from Penn State University in 1990 (with highest distinction). She earned both her law degree and MBA from Boston College in 1994. She holds the highest rating of A-V from Martindale Hubbell, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Amy concentrates her practice exclusively in the areas of estate, gift and generation-skipping planning for high net worth individuals. She has done significant work in the areas of planned giving, family business succession planning and asset protection planning. Amy is included in Woodward and White's listing of the Best Lawyers in America.

Amy is an adjunct professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, where she teaches a course on wills, trusts and estates. She also frequently lectures on a variety of tax and estate planning topics to civic groups, attorneys and other professionals. She has published articles on tax and estate planning in the Journal of Accountancy, Trusts and Estates, the New Hampshire Business Review and the New Hampshire Bar News, and her comments regarding estate tax reduction strategies have appeared in Barron’s.

Amy is a member of the New Hampshire Estate Planning Council, the New Hampshire Bar Association and the New Hampshire Women’s Bar Association. She served for many years as a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Law-Related Education Advisory Board and was a contributing author to the Board’s Beyond High School publication. She currently is a member of the Board of Editors of the New Hampshire Bar Journal. Amy also has participated in the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Military Pro Bono Project, through which she provided estate-planning services to Army National Guard reservists called up to active duty.

Amy is a member of the New Hampshire Women’s Business Center, and has served as a facilitator at the Center’s monthly Women’s Business Roundtables. She also serves as an advisor or trustee for several local charitable organizations and private foundations regarding management and administration issues and planned giving strategies.

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Geoffrey J. Ransom

Geoff completed one year of study in Lausanne, Switzerland before graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 1984.  After graduating cum laude from Suffolk Law School in 1988, he handled a variety of defense litigation and corporate matters at the Manchester, New Hampshire law firm of Wiggin & Nourie, PA.  In August 1991, Geoff joined the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.  He spent several years in the Criminal and Civil Bureaus, where he argued numerous appeals to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.  He then moved to Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Bureau, where he represented the State and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services in the criminal and civil enforcement of the State environmental laws. 

As New Hampshire’s lead environmental prosecutor, he worked closely with the EPA, Region I, the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and other state prosecutors.  In 2004, Geoff opened a solo general private practice firm and represented individuals, consulting firms, banks and other businesses.  The following year, he merged his practice with Baldwin & Callen to form Baldwin, Callen & Ransom, PLLC, where he began to focus his practice in trust and estate matters and continued to represent businesses and individuals in land use and environmental matters.  At McDonald & Kanyuk, PLLC, he continues to concentrate on trust and estate matters. 

Geoff has taught environmental law and land use law at Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire.  He is the Secretary of the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Estate & Elder Law Section, and a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the New Hampshire Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys , the Probate and Trust Section of the American Bar Association and the Merrimack County Bar Association.

To send Geoff an email, click here.

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