If you're living in the North Country on a low income, and you're facing a messy divorce, you'll likely encounter an additional heartache: the difficulty of finding a lawyer.

Access to free or reduced-cost civil legal services is a constant problem, but in the North Country, the gap between needs and resources is not due to lapses in the volunteer spirit, but to a dwindling number of attorneys in private practice there.

Virginia Martin, Associate Executive Director for Legal Services, who heads up the Bar's Pro Bono program says she typically has a waiting list of half a dozen people or more from Coös County. About ten clients a year never end up getting an attorney. "We have to say no to some people because we just know we don't have anybody to send them to in a timely way," says Martin.

The problem is especially acute when it comes to family law. Coös attorneys like Alethea Froburg, George Carter, and Tom Rappa have been honored for their devotion to pro bono work, and the Coös bar -about two dozen members total-boasts one of the state's highest rates of Pro Bono participation. But Martin says the shortage of family lawyers can be blamed on a mixture of factors: the North Country's sprawling geography, and its small communities; the use of part-time judges, and the trend toward specialization.

In decades past, Martin notes, lawyers in rural areas would often take a wide variety of cases. Now they're narrowing their practices. That's happening everywhere in the state, she says, but "we see a big hit in the North Country where there's so few attorneys to begin with."

Marilyn McNamara, a family law attorney for 20 years before taking over as Executive Director of the Legal Advice and Referral Center in Concord, also is familiar with the problem. Her agency, primarily funded by federal dollars through the Legal Services Corporation, connects needy clients all over the state with information and legal services. But when it comes to Coös County, she admits she often can't do as much as she wants.

"What we tell them is, we can help you by phone," she says. "We will refer your case to the Pro Bono program. We can't promise you that the Pro Bono program will find you an attorney."

Then there's the issue of recusal. "These guys have represented probably everybody in Coös who's ever needed a lawyer," laughs McNamara. "They develop a very large list of conflicts." The situation is further complicated by the significant number of part-time judges in Coös County; since many of them are practicing attorneys on the side, they meet a wider range of clients, and that gives rise to even more conflicts.

Some clients try to turn this small-town dilemma to their advantage. "I've had an interesting situation where people call for appointments and come in and consult withme not intending to hire me, but to prevent the other side from hiring me," says Berlin attorney Alethea Froburg. "I think that's an awful dirty trick."

The North Country's rural nature can also make family law practice more challenging. In towns like Lancaster and Colebrook, it's hard to put space between yourself and the people you represent.

"[Clients] are unhappy and miserable and angry with each other," says McNamara, who has practiced family law in Grafton County. "In a very small community it can be difficult for a lawyer to step in between two angry people and then see them at the grocery store."

Froburg says there's a core group of lawyers in her specialty who've been practicing in the North Country for years. "We know each other," she says, "we're used to going against each other, and we can deal with family law cases fairly efficiently for the most part." But Froburg is headed for retirement in five years or so, and some of her counterparts aren't far behind.

"They would kill me if I said they were an aging bar," says McNamara, "but they are definitely a bar of great depth of experience. They've been around for a long time."

The Pro Bono Program is trying to bolster the ranks of its volunteers statewide, including initiatives such as "Divorce Camp," an "on-the-case" training program that provides new attorneys with instruction on procedures for handling family law cases in conjunction with an actual Pro Bono referral. Martin and McNamara recently concluded the second "Divorce Camp" which attracted double the enrollment of the initial program last year.

To address the shortages of family law practitioners in rural areas such as Coös County, Martin says Pro Bono is looking at finding ways to help young lawyers on modest salaries pay some of their hefty education loan bills. "What we would hope is if this person could do X number of pro bono divorce or family law cases in a year, that we would have some funding to help ease the burden of that person's law school loan burden, which can be enormous these days," she explains.

Froburg says financial support for young attorneys could help. But, she warns, money can't be the only appeal; if a lawyer doesn't enjoy rural life and long winters, he or she won't last.

"They need to come because they really want to be here," she says. "If they can have some help doing that, because it is, I think, harder to make a living up here, that would be good. That would reinforce something that's already there."

Some lawyers see hope in the Family Division, the state's planned new approach to domestic disputes. "Yes, it is true that there are not many lawyers practicing family law any more," says longtime Colebrook attorney Phil Waystack. "But it also appears to be true that the change in the court system toward the Family Court is probably going to make that change seem less onerous, if onerous at all."

The Family Court Division, which now operates in Rockingham and Grafton counties, is expected to expand to Coös by summer. Waystack says with its case managers and specially trained judges, Family Court will make it easier for people to navigate the system without a lawyer. But others aren't so sure. They note that a large number of people in Coös County are already representing themselves in divorce cases. Marilyn McNamara argues there will always be a certain number of complex cases that require attorneys.

"People who need lawyers, need lawyers whether the process appears to be easier in Family Court or not," says McNamara. "I support the system, I think there are many good things about the system ... but I don't think it's going to reduce the need for attorneys."

Trish Anderton, formerly with NH Public Radio, is a freelance writer living in the North Country. This is her first article for Bar News

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