Our team’s legal expertise and commitment to professional representation offers a level of service that can only be provided by a small firm.
Edward F. Morris, esq., Founding Partner
Edward F. Morris “Ted” is the firm’s founding partner with more than 35 years of legal experience.
His practice includes estate planning and estate administration, where he advises clients on wills, trusts, and the orderly transfer of assets. He also focuses on commercial real estate, finance, and corporate matters, counseling clients on entity formation, lending transactions, private equity financing, and complex purchase and sale agreements. Ted maintains a significant hospitality practice, advising restaurants and hotels on liquor licensing, permitting, and regulatory compliance.
He also assists clients with zoning and municipal matters and is a licensed title insurance agent for three national title insurance companies. In addition, Ted represents businesses, developers, hospitality groups, entrepreneurs, and commercial lenders throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Over the course of his practice, he has served as village precinct counsel to local communities and general counsel to numerous credit unions.
Ted holds an AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell®. He is a cum laude graduate of St. Michael’s College and an honors graduate of Suffolk University Law School. He is admitted to practice in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and has served on various local boards and charitable organizations.
Email: tmorris@morrisScully.com
James F. Scully, Jr., ESq., Partner
Jay’s practice focuses on significant regulatory and permitting matters, large-scale land use and development projects, corporate structuring and transactions, coastal and environmental regulation, and sophisticated commercial real estate matters. He is frequently engaged in matters where legal strategy intersects with public policy and executive decision-making, and where success depends upon credibility, judgment, and an in-depth understanding of how government institutions operate.
A former Legal Counsel to Governor Christopher Sununu, Jay advised the Governor and senior executive leadership on legislative initiatives, regulatory matters, executive orders, and statewide policy issues. Serving at the center of New Hampshire’s executive branch, he worked closely with agency commissioners, department heads, and senior policymakers across state government. That experience gives him a practical and nuanced understanding of how agencies evaluate complex proposals, how policy priorities influence regulatory action, and how major initiatives move from concept to approval.
In addition to his public service, Jay served as in-house corporate counsel to Key Auto Group, one of New Hampshire’s largest privately held companies, where he advised on corporate governance, regulatory compliance, business operations, and real estate expansion. Earlier in his career, he practiced at an international law firm headquartered in New York, representing sophisticated clients in high-stakes and multifaceted matters.
Today, Jay is widely regarded as a trusted advisor for complex development, regulatory, and corporate matters throughout New Hampshire. He is highly sought after by clients across the Seacoast and beyond for his strategic insight, measured judgment, and ability to move consequential projects forward. His practice is built on discretion, professionalism, and long-standing relationships within both the public and private sectors.
He remains actively engaged in civic and legal leadership statewide. Jay serves on the boards of the American Red Cross of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Bar Foundation, Crimeline for the Hamptons, and Friends of the Hampton Mounted Patrol. In 2025, he was recognized as a Union Leader 40 Under 40 honoree. He was nominated by Governor Kelley Ayotte and confirmed by the Executive Council to serve as a Commissioner on the Uniform Law Commission.
Jay earned his bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering from the United States Naval Academy and his juris doctor from Boston College Law School. During law school, he interned with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Richard Stearns and the Honorable Marianne Bowler of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He is admitted to practice in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Jay is frequently called upon when the stakes are high and the path forward requires both command of government process and the credibility to deliver results.
Email: Jscully@morrisscully.com
Bethany Gayton, Paralegal
As our Senior Real Estate Paralegal, Bethany is well versed in all aspects of real estate closings. Bethany, who has more than twenty-five of paralegal experience, earned her bachelor’s degree in 1997 from Becker College and joined Morris Law in 2004. Bethany works on all of our real estate closings, commercial and residential, and provides paralegal support on other Morris & Scully legal matters.