EACH YEAR, THE Bar recognizes those members who have reached the milestone of 50 years in the practice of law. This year, 23 members achieved honorary status and were officially honored at June's Annual Meeting. Bar News is continuing its series of brief sketches of this year's honorary members.

Martin F. Loughlin, after a combination of 32 years as a state and federal judge, could have sat back and taken it easy when he retired from the U.S. District Court in 1995. But no one who knows him believed that would happen. He decided to go back into practice, albeit on a limited basis. Nearly 10 years later, in his 50th year of Bar membership, Loughlin continues to work as a lawyer. He is on a reduced schedule, but he still helps out as an "of counsel" member of the Nixon, Raiche, Manning, Casinghino & Leach firm in Manchester.

Born in Manchester in 1923, Loughlin entered the Army after graduating from high school, serving with the 80th Infantry Division from 1943 to 1946, which service included the Battle of the Bulge. Like many of his generation, upon discharge he used the GI Bill to further himself, attending St. Anselm College and then Suffolk Law School, where he earned his law degree in 1951. He was recalled to duty as an officer in the Korean War, serving with the Judge Advocate General. In 1950, he married Margaret Gallagher. Together they raised seven children: Helen Desaulniers, Margaret Loughlin, Shane Loughlin, Mary Demers, Sheila Crowe, Martina Houghton and Caitlin Loughlin.

Starting his law career in Manchester in 1953, Loughlin practiced law for 10 years, primarily with his lifelong friend, James V. Broderick, Jr. In 1963, Loughlin was named an associate justice of the Superior Court, and in 1978, he was appointed chief justice. The following year, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the U.S. District Court, where he served until he retired in 1995. As a judge, Loughlin said his role model was Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Kenison, whom he got to know while serving on the superior court.

On the federal bench, Loughlin said one of his most memorable cases was a pollution case in Kingston brought by the EPA that required 185 trial days and spanned 13 years, from 1980 to 1993. The outcome was a $32 million remediation program.

Loughlin says that today he handles a variety of client matters on his limited office schedule and does not litigate, although he does allow the other lawyers at the firm to "pick his brain" from time to time. He remains physically active, playing tennis frequently on a clay court at his home.

After graduating from engineering school in 1950, during the post-war recession, Lee A. Strimbeck opted not to go into engineering without further education. He decided to go to law school "because it opened the possibility for a greater range of education, and it worked out from there."

Strimbeck did a stint in the military, serving in the 82^nd Airborne from 1944-45, before graduating from engineering school. He then went on to graduate from the University of West Virginia Law School in 1953 and was admitted to the West Virginia Bar the same year.

After graduating from law school, Strimbeck went to work as a patent attorney for Esso Research & Engineering (now Exxon) in New Jersey. He was also president of a start-up company in Boston called Chomerics, Inc., and a partner at the Boston law firm Russell, Chiddick & Pfund for four years before relocating to New Hampshire. He was admitted to the NH Bar in1971.

In 1972, Strimbeck opened a solo practice in Derry, and later he and Nick Sulloway and Tony Davis opened a patent law office in Manchester. After that firm dissolved, he operated a solo practice in Littleton until 1993, when he and Jill Morrison formed the firm Strimbeck & Morrison. He retired from practice in 1999.

Strimbeck said his role model in the law was Manchester attorney David Nixon. "I wish I was as good as he is," he said.

In his community, Strimbeck served as a selectman for the town of Easton for six years, on the Chester Zoning Board, and on the Lafayette Regional School Board.

Strimbeck and his wife, Kathleen Karavan, recently sold the Bungay Jar Bed & Breakfast in Easton, which Strimbeck said he got "great personal satisfaction" from operating. The couple bought some investment property in Colebrook and may someday open another bed & breakfast there.

Strimbeck, 75, the father of six children, has applied to the Peace Corps and hopes to put his legal and business start-up skills to use with that organization.

Only ACTIVE, HONORARY ACTIVE and MILITARY ACTIVE members are authorized to practice law in New Hampshire. INACTIVE and HONORARY INACTIVE members are not authorized to practice law in the state, but retain their New Hampshire Bar membership "slot" and could reactivate membership at any time.

The designation HONORARY is given to members who have reached 50 years of Bar membership. The INACTIVE RETIRED membership category is an option for members who have reached age 65 and are fully retired from practice in any jurisdiction.

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