Northampton attorney and prominent community member Ed Etheredge, who helped NETA dispensary find its location, retires from law after nearly 50 years [masslive.com]
Etheredge witnessed the legal landscape evolve over the years with the introduction of new technologies, social precedents and historic nominations.
His career began not too long after America inducted its first Black male
Etheredge assisted
Etheredge said he doesn’t want the
“It’s sort of inconsequential to me,” said Etheredge. “I just want to be remembered as a good person.”
After finishing his service in the
He graduated from the school in 1976 and began practicing law at a
“Everyone was sort of a generalist back then. There weren’t specialists, you did a bit of everything,” he said.
Etheredge mostly handled civil litigation, criminal defense and banking work during his first years in law. Northwestern District Attorney
While working in the DA’s office Etheredge mostly tried insurance fraud cases. He most famously prosecuted a local
He left the DA’s office after six years and started his own legal practice.
“I partnered with a fellow named Benjamin Barnes,” said Etheredge. “He took over the practice for
Etheredge’s first case at his co-run firm involved an owner of an equipment store formerly located at the
The city’s drainage system was flooding the properties with wastewater backup and the store owner filed a suit to have the city of
“We had a jury trial and the jury gave them
The city would go on to construct the
Etheredge continued his co-run practice, focusing mostly on land use, zoning and contract cases. He would eventually open an office inside the heart of Northampton’s downtown district at one of its main arteries on
His practice strove to “demystify the legal system” and create an even playing field for its clients.
“If I were to walk around [
Walk around the
Before NETA opened up the state’s first recreational cannabis dispensary in
“State law said that dispensaries can’t be within 500 feet from a school,” Etheredge said, adding he had to work with the city to determine what constituted a school.
The city originally considered any childcare facilities as a school. “Well, there’s childcare facilities all over the place, which meant the number of sites would be severely limited,” said Etheredge.
NETA was originally going to be built in
Beyond legal litigation for some of Northampton’s most well-known sites and local businesses, Etheredge served as chairman for both
“We built the new emergency room and OBGYN,” he said.
Etheredge merged his firm with Schwartz & Fentin in
“I hope the new firm becomes a part of Northampton’s fabric, too,” said Etheredge.
Etheredge plans to make time for the little things in life, the things he couldn’t truly savor while he was a full-time lawyer, “I spent Monday picking up all the branches and limbs and everything that had fallen in my yard over the course of the winter and burned them up.”
Etheredge said he and his wife plan on spending the majority of their retirement time with their family. “We have one daughter and one grandchild with another on the way. We can’t wait to spend more time with our grandchildren.”
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