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Bar News - May 4, 2001 Members Celebrate 50 Years in the Practice of Law REACHING THE 50-year mark in a chosen profession is a milestone for anyone, including those attorneys who this year are celebrating their 50th anniversary in the practice of law. These attorneys have seen NH’s legal community grow from a small, close-knit bar to a much larger, less familial group of lawyers. For the first time, this year’s group of 50-year members will be honored at the NHBA 2001 Annual Meeting June 21-24. These members were traditionally honored at the Bar’s Mid-Winter Meeting. Following are a list of this year’s 50-year honorees and profiles of some of the honored members. More profiles will appear in future issues of Bar News. 50-Year Members Arthur E. Bean Jr. Arthur E. Bean Jr. A former assistant attorney general and Superior Court judge, Arthur E. Bean Jr. continues to be active in the law, serving as a judicial referee and private arbitrator. After graduating from UNH in 1940, Bean enlisted as a flying cadet in the Air Force. In early 1941, he earned his wings and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant. He was sent to England during the war and flew as an acting command pilot. He led most of the missions he flew in. After the war, Bean continued to serve in the Air Force, stationed in New Mexico until he left the service in December 1946. Bean then returned to NH to re-open the family restaurant and gift shop in West Thornton, NH, with his father. During three of the five years he worked there, Bean earned a law degree from Boston University Law School. In 1951, he was admitted to the NH Bar and soon after he landed his first job in the law profession, as a law assistant for NH Attorney General Gordon Tiffany. Bean worked as Tiffany’s assistant for less then two years, then was promoted to assistant attorney general, where he served from 1951 to 1957. In 1957, Bean opened a law office in Manchester with then-attorney general Louis Wyman. He practiced law there for 20 years until, in 1977, he was appointed to the bench of the NH Superior Court by Gov. Meldrim Thompson. He rode the circuit, but sat mainly in the Superior Courts of Hillsborough, Merrimack and Rockingham counties. During his career, Bean was also selected by Gov. Walter Peterson as chair of the state’s Personnel Commission and by Gov. Thompson as a member and later chair of the Eminent Domain Commission. Bean retired from the bench in 1987, about a year before the mandatory retirement age of 70. He then became a judicial referee for the court system; retired judges can still serve in various capacities for the courts, including hearing Judicial Conduct Commission cases. In 1990, Bean began doing private mediation and arbitration work—he is retained by attorneys or insurance companies to act as a mediator/arbitrator. He has worked on over 700 cases as a private mediator/arbitrator. As someone still active in the court system, Bean said that he is "convinced that we shouldn’t be required to retire at age 70." "I’m 82 and would still like to be sitting on the bench," he said. Bean said he understands the concerns that exist about lifetime tenure for judges, but disagrees with term limits and similar suggestions for judicial reform, saying they "have gone beyond what is necessary." "If you put something like term limits in place, you have judges thinking, ‘I don’t want to do anything that’s going to upset anyone and ruin my chances for reelection’," Bean said. "A judge can’t be effective that way." Bean said that what he is most proud of professionally is that "in whatever I did, I tried to do a good job—in the military, private practice and the bench." Bean’s wife of 27 years, Dorothy, died in 1998. He has a son, David, two granddaughters and two great-granddaughters. He spends his free time playing golf, hunting and fishing. James V. Broderick With deep family roots in the practice of law, it was no surprise that James V. Broderick chose the same career path. Broderick’s granduncle, James Andrew Broderick, started a law firm in NH in 1894 where his daughter, Marguerite Broderick—one of the first female attorneys in NH—worked. Broderick’s father, uncle and several cousins were attorneys working in that family law firm, which eventually resided on the whole second floor of a Manchester office building. After graduating from New England School of Law, Broderick was admitted to the NH Bar in January 1951. He went to work at the family firm, initially practicing criminal law, which he said he enjoyed, but found to be financially unrewarding. "I loved it, but there was no money in it. You’d do a couple of difficult murder cases and you’d get paid $500," he said. Broderick switched his area of practice to personal injury, which he stuck with for the next 50 years. As its founding members passed on, the family law firm evolved into Broderick & Broderick, with Broderick and his father at the helm. When his father passed away, Broderick teamed up with Martin F. Loughlin, until Loughlin was appointed a Superior Court judge. It was his years practicing with his father and with Loughlin that Broderick said were his greatest times professionally. "Marty (Loughlin) and I were great friends. We had a great time practicing law together," he said. Broderick developed heart problems and underwent bypass surgery 11 years ago. He continued to work in a limited capacity, referring cases out and gradually phasing himself out of the practice of law for about four years. He officially retired in April 2000. Broderick said he is "glad I practiced in the days I did" because the practice of law, he believes, has become "ridiculous." "It was relaxed…you could trust everyone. Those you couldn’t you could count on your left hand, and they knew who they were," he said. Prior to entering law school, Broderick served in the United States Navy Air Corps during WWII from 1942-1945. He served on the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto in the South Pacific, the same carrier that former President George Bush served on. Broderick’s torpedo squadron replaced Bush’s, which he became aware of years later, after Bush became president. In the Navy, Broderick earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, four Air Medals, his Navy Army Combat Wings with three stars and several other honors. Also, his aircraft carrier received two Presidential Unit Citations. Broderick and his wife, Inez, have been married for 55 years. They have three children: James V. Broderick III, Sandra (Broderick) Puzzo and Mark Broderick, as well as three grandchildren. His family is his greatest personal achievement, he said. Broderick has been involved in a number of professional and community organizations, including having served as president of the Manchester Bar Association, as judge advocate of the American Legion and on the board of directors of various charities. He continues to serve on some of those boards, including that of the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Addiction. Broderick also continues to serve as a mediator for the NH Supreme Court, which he has done since the court instituted its mediation program. He also keeps himself busy playing golf with his wife, "although she doesn’t say I play," Broderick said. "I lose all her golf balls," he said. John M. Reynolds Retaining his long, lean frame, John M. Reynolds at age 77 still maintains a sole practice in Keene. Many area attorneys refer to the courtly John Reynolds as "Gentleman Jack." Like many of his generation, military service in World War II was a major formative experience. "I went into the service in 1941 as a boy and I came out as a man," he said. Reynolds was wounded by a V-2 bomb on Feb. 13, 1945, while serving in the artillery unit of a US Army infantry. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1950, Reynolds worked for the Central Intelligence Agency until 1958, when he moved to Keene, the hometown of his wife Jane, and began working for John R. Goodnow, a retired Supreme Court justice who had just established a practice there. Reynolds describes himself as more of "a paper pusher" rather than a litigator. He has concentrated on real estate and probate matters for most of his career. "You could never get rich practicing law in Keene, but there’s been a stable economy here and it’s a nice place to live." Reynolds said he enjoys practicing in a legal community where he still is personally acquainted with all of the lawyers in the area.
Robert Singer A sole practitioner in Manchester since his arrival in New Hampshire in 1970, Robert Singer remains on active status, concentrating on commercial work, including collections. A Boston-area native, Singer served in the Army Air Force in the South Pacific toward the end of World War II, and then attended Suffolk University Law School on the GI bill. Upon his admission to the Bar in 1951, Singer worked as an attorney in the Social Security Administration in Washington and later in New York City and Boston before moving to New Hampshire, where he entered private practice. Singer warmly remembers the close-knit nature of the New Hampshire Bar during most of his years in practice. "It’s changed a lot in the last 50 years, " he said. "It used to be that we all knew each other by our first names—all 800 of us." "The hardest part of practicing law these days is getting along with clients—many are suspicious of lawyers or they have unrealistic expectations of what we can do," Singer said, adding that the New Hampshire Bar is a special group of lawyers. "The easiest thing about practicing law here is getting along with the other lawyers."
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