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Bar News - April 9, 2004 Morning Mail ~ Unified v. DeUnified Bar Unified Bar Ensures Professional Association Encompasses All As lawyers we are trained to be suspicious, particularly of all things mandatory. If that was not part of our nature before law school, I suspect we acquired it early in our legal education. Since then, the disposition to question has served us well. It is part of the professional responsibility we owe not only to our clients, but also to our profession. With this in mind, I am not troubled by the question whether membership in the NH Bar Association should be mandatory. If there is not a satisfactory answer to this question, we should take steps to become a voluntary association. I believe the single most important reason supporting mandatory membership is that law is a profession. As lawyers we are dedicated to the ideal of client service under the rule of law. That is what makes the practice of law distinctive, what separates it from business. Because of the integral nature of law to the ordering of individual and societal affairs - both private and public - the public has an overriding stake in our profession. That fact has consequences, one of which is that, like it or not, each of us has an interest in and can be affected by how all of us practice. For this reason, if we do not ensure that our profession is faithful to its ideal, others will. And therein lies a paradox: effective self-regulation requires an organization that speaks for all lawyers, yet that organization can exist only if membership is mandatory. Because I believe we need to speak with one voice when it comes to regulating ourselves, raising the level of our practice, and improving the administration of justice, I support mandatory membership. William L. Chapman Editor's Note: Attorney Chapman was the plaintiff in a case that resulted in the 1986 Chapman ruling by the NH Supreme Court that clarified limitations on lobbying by the unified Bar.
Don't Tamper with Unified Bar I write to urge New Hampshire lawyers to support our unified Bar. I have two perspectives on this issue. One is from my 28 years as a Navy lawyer. During those years, I practiced in eight states and I've been responsible for lawyers who were admitted in every state. That experience tells me that the Bar in New Hampshire is among the very best I've seen. I credit this primarily to the organization provided by the unified NH Bar Association. I also have the perspective of being the dean of New Hampshire's only law school. Over one third of the lawyers in this state are Franklin Pierce Law Center alumni. As I write this, I am about to address a group of admitted applicants at an open house. I will tell them, as I always do, what a wonderful profession this is and of the requirement to give back to the profession. We emphasize that aspect of professionalism from before students matriculate through graduation day. The NH Bar Association is able to fulfill that promise through the very important pro bono work and legal services to disadvantaged citizens that it makes possible. Finally, the Bar Association provides member services that you don't often see elsewhere. I most strongly urge New Hampshire lawyers to leave well enough alone and not try to fix something that not only isn't broken, but that is working very well, indeed. John D. Hutson
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