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Bar News - June 6, 2003 Bar Association in 2003; Delivering What Members Want THE JUST-COMPLETED Bar year may well be remembered as a year of enormous progress for member services at the Bar Association. The coming year promises to build on those gains. By last July, the NHBA Insurance Agency, Inc. was already in full swing, offering Bar members responsive service and expert guidance in finding professional liability insurance. The agency, exclusively devoted to the needs of Association members, has developed relationships with several carriers and during the year began offering additional products, including long-term care insurance. Coming additions to the product line will include court bonds and a complete commercial insurance coverage package for law offices. A redeployment of personnel at the Bar Association has enabled the Bar to devote more focused attention to nurturing and supporting sections, and the activities of the substantive law sections has blossomed as a result. Increasingly, sections are utilizing their e-mail lists to discuss issues of mutual concern, share resources and consult with their peers through a non-public resource available only to section members. Being explored are additional means of exposing new members to the advantages of section membership. The member services highlight of the year was the December rollout of Casemaker New Hampshire, the Bar's own online law library, offering Bar members unlimited access to NH case law, statutes and rules - with more to come. Casemaker also provides Bar members access to the law libraries of a dozen other states, including all of New Hampshire's New England neighbors (Maine comes online this summer). Also this winter, the Bar published its first Member Resources Guide as an insert to the January issue of NH Bar Journal. This multi-page supplement provides listings, descriptions and contact information for all of the offerings of the Bar to members, including continuing legal education programs and products, professionalism and law office management resources, and research tools and practice guides. On Feb. 14, a record number of Bar members attended the second NHBA Statewide Professionalism Day. More than 900 Bar members gathered at their local county courthouses with fellow attorneys and members of the judiciary to explore solutions to tough questions and dilemmas that arise in daily practice. Evaluations were consistently high on content and format, and Bar members earned ethics credits for a modest fee while renewing the spirit of camaraderie for which the New Hampshire Bar is renowned. And, in April, just in time to help Bar members round out their NHMCLE credit requirements, the NHBA•CLE Committee launched Online CLE. In collaboration with a national provider, and through this site, NHBA•CLE offers 24/7 access at reasonable prices for quality CLE programs delivered to your computer desktop. The growing list of programs - all pre-qualified for NHMCLE credit - include original NHBA•CLE programs, as well as offerings from other quality providers, including the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. These initiatives reflect the goals of the Bar Association and the desires of the members of the Bar, as revealed by the member survey included in last year's dues mailing and also conducted via e-mail. More than 800 of the Bar's 5,000 members responded (more than 16 percent of the membership). Asked to identify what the top priorities of the NHBA should be, more than 83 percent listed Continuing Legal Education/Professional Development as important or very important, followed by Advocacy for a Strong Justice System. (See accompanying sidebar.) In a follow-up question, respondents were asked what services provided by the Bar would be of the greatest value to them. Low-cost online legal research was the top offering identified, followed by low-cost CD-based legal research, more local CLE programs, and specialized insurance services. According to NHBA Executive Director Jeannine McCoy, the Bar in the coming year will reinforce the recent gains made in member services, and new programs will be introduced. Enhancements to New Hampshire Casemaker are already in the works, including a low-cost CD subscription option, searchable ethics opinions and Bar Journal articles. Improvements to the content and usability of the NHBA Web site are ongoing. The NHBA Insurance Agency is constantly considering new products and services. Additional group benefits, such as technology or marketing consulting services and other law practice management services, may be made available at discounted rates through the Association. Most importantly, this year's budget includes funding for the Bar to establish an "ombuds" program using a part-time or semi-retired attorney or legal professional who would assist in resolving disputes between attorneys and clients that do not rise to the level of a conduct violation. This program, for which the Bar will seek partial funding through malpractice insurers' loss-prevention grants, is still in the design stages, but is slated for a rollout by the beginning of 2004. "We want to establish this kind of 'consumer advocate' service, not only to help the public better understand and utilize the justice system, but to also provide them with a more timely, efficient alternative that avoids unnecessary, costly complaints to the PCC or professional liability insurance carriers when these issues can be more effectively resolved in other ways," said McCoy. Last year, the Bar was able to accomplish all of these gains without a dues increase, but the pressures of modest but widespread increases in operating costs led the Board to approve a $10 increase in active and full-time judicial dues effective June 1. This small increase, coupled with the $45 increase in the Professional Conduct Committee fee assessed by the NH Supreme Court, will increase the cost of practice for all members. At press time, the amount of the court's assessment for the Public Protection Fund (last year's level was $50 for active, non-judicial members in the Bar more than five years) had not been announced. The Bar leadership has encouraged the Public Protection Fund Committee to consider recommending lowering that fee given that the protection fund has not experienced a high level of claims and has reached more than $1 million in reserves. Member Priorities for the Bar The top four priorities for the NHBA listed by the more than 800 respondents to last year's member services survey were:
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