PROVIDENCE, RI, May 5, 2025 – Partridge Snow & Hahn (PSH), a full-service business law and litigation firm, announces that Partner Howard Merten and Chief Financial Officer Richard A. Pacheco II, CPA, were selected as 2025 Excellence in the Law honorees by Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly. Merten was selected as a “Hall of Fame” inductee, and Pacheco was selected for “Excellence in Firm Administration. ” They will be honored at an awards reception on June 3, 2025 in Warwick, RI. The full list of honorees is available here.
Merten has built a distinguished legal career spanning over four decades, marked by exceptional leadership, professional excellence, and dedicated service to the legal community. As a litigator, he has represented a wide range of clients in complex civil cases, including longstanding work for the Diocese of Providence. He led PSH as Managing Partner from 2017 to 2022, guiding the firm through significant growth and the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has held prominent roles in national legal organizations, including President and Chair of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, and serves on the Board of Lawyers for Civil Justice, where he successfully advocated for amendments to federal evidence rules. His local contributions include leadership roles in the Rhode Island Bar Association, service on the Federal and Superior Court Bench Bar Committees, and over a decade of board service at Roger Williams University and its School of Law.
Pacheco serves as the firm’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. In this role, he is responsible for a wide variety of operational areas within the firm ranging from accounting and finance to technology, HR, facilities management, and general administration. A seasoned expert in change management, Pacheco spearheads transformations at PSH that enhance profitability and operational efficiency, consistently delivering improvements that benefit the firm. By streamlining administrative processes across all three of PSH’s offices, Pacheco has enabled attorneys and support staff to focus on delivering exceptional client service.
Every year, the Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Excellence in the Law Awards celebrate excellence throughout the Rhode Island legal community.
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About Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP
Partridge Snow & Hahn is a full-service business law and litigation firm committed to working collaboratively with clients to develop a deep understanding of their various industries, objectives, and unique ways of working to help advance business goals and solve legal challenges. With offices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the firm focuses on key areas of law: corporate & business, including M&A, employment, tax, and nonprofit; real estate, including commercial financing, energy, environmental, and land use; and complex commercial litigation & disputes.
