He was recruited out of law school to serve as a prosecutor in the New Hampshire Office of the Attorney General, where he handled murder cases very early in his career.
Early on at Wiggin & Nourie, he worked for insured defendants and handled some criminal defense matters, but his prime focus eventually became commercial litigation.
[1][2] One of his notable commercial matters involved nationwide litigation representing small auto dealerships, over a ten-year period, that resulted in a settlement in excess of $300 million.
New Hampshire Chief Justice John T. Broderick Jr., who was integral to creating the BCD, tied the new court's chances for early success to the first appointed judge's recognition, knowledge, and credibility within the legal and business law communities.
[18] In 2009, after a vetting process by a Judicial Selection Committee, McNamara was nominated by New Hampshire Governor John Lynch to serve on the Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord, as the first BCD judge.
[22] Among other notable decisions as a judge, McNamara has addressed: whether New Hampshire's Supreme Court would adopt the tort of corporate freeze-out, in the context of oppression of minority shareholders;[23] the state's Right-to-Know law;[24][25] the suspension of a public official by the state's attorney general;[26] the disclosure of information presented to a grand jury;[27] ex parte contact with witnesses;[28] and whether to grant injunctive relief concerning drinking water standards until the governmental agency at issue had carried out a required analysis.
It was part of his practice to take considerable time with defendants during guilty plea colloquies to make sure they understood their rights and had a sense of being treated fairly.
[1] During his time as a judge, McNamara was a member of the New Hampshire Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Rules.
[33][34] Under New Hampshire law, retired superior court judges may be appointed as referees who can be assigned "to take testimony, receive and review evidence, and make recommendations for findings of fact and conclusions of law" in the superior court, though they cannot preside over jury trials or enter final orders in a case.