About NEd

Born in New York City, New York and raised outside of Boston, Massachusetts, founder and president of EEM Law, PC, Eric Edward “Ned” Menoyo descends from lawyers on both sides of his family.  His maternal grandfather Edward F. X. Ryan, in addition to having been a star athlete at Fordham University, was mayor of Larchmont, New York.  His uncle, Ned Ryan, was a New York State Assemblyman.  Ned’s mother, also a lawyer, was the Assistant Commissioner for the Department of Environmental Protection for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Ned’s father, Eric Felix Menoyo, the child of immigrants from Puerto Rico was a partner and chair of the Private Client practice group of the Boston law firm then known as Palmer and Dodge, later Edwards Angel Palmer and Dodge, where he was considered an expert in trusts and estates law.  Eric Felix Menoyo was considered by many to be the first Spanish surnamed partner in a major Boston law firm.  

In addition to being a two-time Independent School League High School All-Star soccer player and captain of both the soccer and lacrosse teams for Buckingham, Brown, and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ned was fascinated by both theater and music as a child.  Ned acted in everything from Shakespeare to Sondheim.  Music was always a big part of Ned’s family life, as well, as exemplified by his uncles Greg Ryan, a professional Irish folk musician, and Kevin Ryan, a master blues pianist and harmonica player.   Ned began playing guitar at 11 years old, and never stopped.  Ned started, and fronted, his first band at 14 years old.  Later in life, Ned had a band that played acoustic versions of hit pop songs, and also a classic standards lounge act, for which Ned was the singer. 

Initially wanting to pursue acting, Ned was accepted to the prestigious New York University Graduate Acting Program as an undergraduate.  While Ned enjoyed the conservatory training he received in theater acting, the pull of law and politics was too strong – Ned wanted to work in the real, not imaginary, world.  Ned left NYU after receiving his B.F.A. in Drama, and returned to Boston.

In Boston, Ned worked on numerous local political campaigns and for local politicians.  After receiving a score of 168 on his LSAT (1992), Ned was accepted to and attended Northeastern University School of Law, his mother’s alma mater.  Ned loved the cooperative education model of NUSL, where he was able to work four different full-time jobs as a legal intern.  In this way, Ned was able to work for the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, for his mentor J. Owen Todd at Todd & Weld, for Judge Gordon Doerfer of the Massachusetts Superior Court, and for the Gang Crime Unit of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.  Ned enjoyed the work making a difference for the District Attorney’s Office, and for his first job after law school, he was appointed as a Assistant District Attorney by then District Attorney Ralph C. Martin.  Ever hungry for the learning that comes from experience, Ned reluctantly left the District Attorney’s Office for a job in civil litigation at the Boston firm, Cetrulo and Capone, where Ned defended companies in personal injury lawsuits.  Soon, though, Ned felt the pull to be on the plaintiff’s side of that equation, and, also wanting to make his way in a town of his own, he made his way to the State of Maine, where he worked for the preeminent plaintiff’s personal injury firm in Maine at the time, Berman and Simmons.   

While at that firm, one of his clients was killed by her boyfriend, prompting Ned to want to be in law enforcement once more.  Ned then started what would be a three-year stint at the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office as a special domestic violence prosecutor.  In that job, Ned prosecuted nearly every felony and misdemeanor domestic violence case coming from the City of Portland, Maine for three years.  Ned was additionally asked to train police officers at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in investigation of domestic violence matters, served on the Cumberland County Violence Intervention Project (with police officers, probation, victim services representatives, and judges), was the District Attorney’s representative to the Portland Maine Anti-Terrorism Task Force, and served on the board of the local domestic violence shelter (the first prosecutor to have been so asked).   

Still involved in politics, Ned was asked to then come to work for the political consulting arm of the largest law firm in the State of Maine, Pierce Atwood.  In that role, Ned built coalitions around, and advised on, political strategies for the clients of Pierce Atwood to prevail on matters of public concern that might compromise their business operations.

Then, Ned felt the call of both persistent sunshine and the twin loves of music and acting, and headed out to Los Angeles.  Once in Los Angeles, Ned began working for the international powerhouse intellectual property law firm Quinn Emanuel, while also pursuing again music and acting.  In the acting world, Ned starred in an independent action film called “Bonita Beach Bob”, and then did a few tv shows and got his SAG-AFTRA card. 

After almost ten years at Quinn Emanuel, though, Ned wanted to start his own firm representing people and working for justice, and EEM Law, PC was born in 2016.  It had been going gangbusters ever since.  Ned is very gratified to have a practice that helps musicians like him, but also is true to his core values of righting wrongs, and undoing injustices.

Now representing clients in California and New York!