Nancy Hancock
Nancy Hancock might be officially known as a partner and the sole female executive committee member at Pullman & Comley LLC, but she has a different explanation for her work: “I am the Office of Insoluble Problems,” she said. “And [my clients] come up with the most unique and fascinating problems.”
Hancock has worked with many different clients – and thus solved a variety of problems – throughout her career. Many of her clients are entrepreneurs and tech-based companies, though she also works with for the state of Connecticut and local manufacturing companies. Back in the late 1980s, Hancock worked with the team that recovered artifacts from the RMS Titanic. Recently, she started working with one of the state’s new pharmaceutical cannabis producers.
“It’s fascinating, because you’re dealing with brand new regulations, brand new laws,” Hancock said.
Still, Hancock insists that most of her work is not so “glitzy and glossy,” but rather “editing the eighth and ninth draft of something.”
“I am never bored, even though everybody considers what I do to be extremely tedious,” Hancock said. “But somebody’s got to have the impetus to solve the problem, and I get to do that, which is just so cool.”
Hancock’s problem-solving skills have made her invaluable to the firm, said Tim Shearin, chairman of Pullman & Comley.
“She knows her stuff backwards and forwards – not only the legal aspects of what a commercial transaction might look like, but because she has so much experience, she also understands the business aspects of what’s going on,” Shearin said. “Not a lot of people have that wisdom.”
Nancy Lapera, chair of Pullman & Comley’s employee benefits practice and its women’s leadership initiative, described Hancock as “very humble. She also has a great sense of humor and [is] very dedicated to her family.”
Despite a busy schedule – in addition to her legal work, Hancock is a member of the board of directors of the Connecticut Technology Council and a member of the Connecticut Venture Group – she goes out of her way to find time to spend with her kids.
“At one point in my life I realized I would never see my children if I didn’t start meeting them on their own ground,” Hancock recalled.
So, she became her children’s Sunday school teacher and started volunteering at their schools. For exercise, she likes to hike and bicycle – activities she can do with her family.
“When the kids started taking martial arts lessons, my husband and I signed up for martial arts,” Hancock said with a laugh.
The Office of Insoluble Problems, it seems, is a 24-7 business.
