Bar News - July 9, 2004
Board of Governors Authorizes Referendum Vote Count
By: Dan Wise
THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED monthly meeting of the NHBA Board of Governors occurred just three days after the NH Supreme Court issued its decision striking down a statute that required the Bar to hold a referendum on the unification of the Bar (see article on page one). Incoming members of the NHBA Board of Governors were invited to attend and, to their credit, every new member of the Board attended.
Accompanying the decision invalidating RSA 494-a was an order vacating the Supreme Court's earlier order that instructed the Bar to conduct the referendum but to leave ballots sealed until further order of the court. The board voted to open the ballots and publicly report the count. The ballots were counted and results reported at the NHBA Annual Meeting (See results in article on page one).
In other actions and discussions:
- The Board deferred discussion of whether the Bar should take a position on CACR 5, a constitutional amendment that would allow statutes regarding court procedures and administration to take precedence over court rules, until the new board's first meeting in July. The constitutional amendment will be on the November general election ballot.
- NHBA Executive Director Jeannine McCoy updated the board on the prospects for relocating the Bar Association headquarters to another location in Concord. Discussion on specifics of an agreement is continuing.
- The BOG considered a request from the ABA Standing Committee on Client Protection to support a resolution proposed for the August meeting of the ABA's House of Delegates. The resolution urges the House to adopt a model rule requiring disclosure by attorneys of whether they possess professional liability insurance coverage. The Board decided not to instruct the NHBA's Association Delegate, L. Jonathan Ross, on how to vote.
- McCoy informed the Board that the Supreme Court's New Hampshire Minimum Continuing Legal Education Board (NHMCLE) has adopted a report of the Board's Decade Review Committee which recommends changes to Supreme Court Rule 53. The NH Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Rules will now consider that report. McCoy, who also sits on the NHMCLE Board, said the changes proposed in the NHMCLE rule include eliminating separate Ethics/Professionalism and Live credit requirements. Several members of the Board of Governors expressed reservations with the elimination of the Ethics/Professionalism requirement in particular. The rule-making process provides at least two opportunities for comment. The Rules Committee schedules two public hearings a year, and the Supreme Court also usually provides a comment period before adoption.
In an informational vein, NHBA President Russell Hilliard briefed the board on comments made by NH Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick at a recent Merrimack County Bar Association meeting. According to Hilliard, the Chief Justice cited several initiatives and areas of concern:
moving ahead with recommendations made by the court's Pro Se Task Force on providing more assistance to self-represented litigants;
the need for more court-sponsored alternative dispute resolution programs to counter the increasing trend for civil litigants, especially businesses, to forego the courts to pursue private ADR forums;
the possibility of establishing a more specific pro bono requirement in the Rules of Professional Conduct;
establishing a Task Force on the Legal Profession, to be co-chaired by retired Justice William Batchelder and Pierce Law Dean John Hutson;
continuing work by a court task force on the design and implementation of a permanent Family Division;
among innovations at the court, oral arguments made before the NH Supreme Court are now available online at the court's web site.
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