WITH THE CONTROVERSY of the contested Hillsborough County attorney's race behind him, John Coughlin is now settling into his new role as the head prosecutor for the state's most populous county, and looks forward to implementing new initiatives to "take this office to the next level."

Coughlin replaces Peter McDonough, who served as Hillsborough County attorney for 15 years and as assistant county attorney for 12 years before that. Coughlin decided to run against the long-time incumbent "to give voters a choice and to make some positive changes."

A graduate of UNH and Nova Law Center, Coughlin was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1978, then joined the U.S. Marine Corps. In the Marines, he served in the JAG Corps from 1980 to 1983, where he did prosecution, defense and administrative law work - "a little bit of everything," he said. "I enjoyed the variety."

"I started as a prosecutor, and now, 20 years later, I'm back to being a prosecutor," Coughlin noted.

After his military service, Coughlin came to New Hampshire, was admitted to the NH Bar and went into private practice, joining Coughlin & Coughlin, the Hudson law firm of his brother and sister-in-law, James and Sharon Coughlin. There he did primarily real estate work for about a year, until he opened his own general practice in 1984, undertaking a variety of criminal, real estate, divorce and probate work. He took on partner Bob Daniels in 1987 to form Coughlin & Daniels; in 1996, he returned to solo practice. Coughlin's wife, Pam, was elected to the Legislature in 1998, so he moved his practice into their Mont Vernon home to make it easier to help care for the couple's four children.

Coughlin thought it might be time for some new blood in the Hillsborough County Attorney's Office, so the political newcomer threw his hat into the ring. He defeated Peter McDonough by a mere 126 votes in the Nov. 5, 2002 election. But McDonough contested the outcome, a contest that went all the way to the Supreme Court, based on the argument that straight-ticket ballots were incorrectly awarded to Coughlin by the Ballot Law Commission. Coughlin was enjoined from taking office and kept in limbo for several months, until the Supreme Court on Feb. 11 unanimously confirmed the BLC's decision naming Coughlin the new Hillsborough County attorney.

That period in limbo was a difficult time for Coughlin, his clients and the County Attorney's Office. "For me, it was an issue of whether to close my practice down and start the transition or not," Coughlin said.

When he finally took office, he met with staff, police chiefs and his predecessor to educate himself about his new responsibilities and to identify his priorities for the job. Now, after the slowed-down pace of his home-based law practice, Coughlin is finding the job demanding, but he enjoys the challenge. "In terms of immersion, I'm up to my eyebrows. There is so much to learn, but it's pretty exciting."

With the changing of the guard has come a variety of new initiatives for the County Attorney's Office. "I have some new ideas, thoughts on how to streamline processes," Coughlin said.

Those changes include formalizing the structure of the deputies and first assistants, and establishing performance evaluations to identify areas of strength and weakness that need to be addressed. He would also like to create professional development programs that will be advantageous to the staffs of the Manchester and Nashua offices of the Hillsborough County attorney. "Whether attorneys decide to stay here or to move on to the Attorney General's or U.S. Attorney's Office, we want to encourage their professional leadership development," he said.

In terms of technology, the computers in the Nashua and Manchester offices still use DOS-based systems, and only one computer in either the southern or northern district has Internet access. Coughlin has requested two more computers with Internet access, one in the law library in the Manchester office and one in the Nashua office, to enable the staff to do online legal research.

Coughlin also hopes to expand the small physical spaces of both the Manchester and Nashua offices. An expansion of the Manchester office in Hillsborough County Superior Court - North is expected to take place in October, when additional space will be freed up in that courthouse.

Consistency in sentencing is another priority Coughlin has identified. "I want to make sure sentences are consistent in both the northern and southern districts of this office," he said.

Coughlin wants to foster a close relationship with law enforcement, as well. "I want to keep them educated on recent developments in the law, and serve as a resource for police department prosecutors."

The Hillsborough County Attorney's Office, under Coughlin, is also developing protocols regarding response to emergency issues, such as suspicious deaths, based on protocols used by the Attorney General's Office. Assistant county attorneys carry pagers and are on "stand-by" if the need to respond toone of these situations arises.

In addition to implementing some changes in the office, Coughlin must also deal with the daily responsibilities of the job - including direct supervision of the 20 attorneys and 18 staff members; meeting with and responding to the requests of law enforcement officials; and convening grand juries. His office is currently short two assistant county attorneys, so "We've had to spread out the workload a bit," Coughlin said.

Coughlin brings to his new position a philosophy that the purpose of the County Attorney's Office is to "seek justice."

"Our intent is to fairly and impartially make decisions and try cases. I take that responsibility seriously....If you keep that as your goal, then a lot of other issues fall into place."

One of the biggest challenges Coughlin has encountered so far in his new role is that of managing both the Manchester and Nashua offices. He spends three days a week in Manchester and two in Nashua. "The challenge is having a presence in each of the offices," he said.

Another challenge - but one he looks forward to - is helping the Hillsborough County Attorney's Office move forward. Coughlin hopes the office's future includes development of a Web site, case management system, pre-trial intensive bail program, diversion program and child advocacy program. "It's being able to see what's here, to look into the future and see what this office can be," he said.

Coughlin is also chair of the state's Human Rights Commission, on which he has served for 10 years, and he also serves as a major in the JAG Corps of the National Guard, which he joined after serving in the Marine Reserves from 1990 to1999.

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