At its Jan 20, 2005 meeting, the NHBA Board of Governors heard a presentation by Bruce Felmly, chair of the NH Supreme Court Task Force on Justice System Needs & Priorities that produced the "Vision of Justice" report released this fall. Felmly made several key points.

The justice system had not conducted a long-range planning effort since 1990, and the task force that worked last year under Felmly's direction was composed mostly of justice system "insiders" -lawyers, judges and court staff, for the most part. The aim was to have a group familiar with the system identify key areas for improvement. Many of the changes, Felmly said, involve prioritization and emphasis and will not necessarily cost large sums to implement. The second phase of this effort will involve a broader-based group that will review the Vision report in conjunction with other initiatives. This second group, in Felmly's words, will be individuals from the community who have "the clout to make [the recommendations] happen."

"The core recommendation of the report," Felmly said, "is that the justice system must become more client-based, client-expectation-driven." It must strive for excellence, he said, and that includes establishing measures for performance in case processing and other judicial benchmarks.

In the area of legal services, the task force advocated innovation in providing assistance to those who cannot afford lawyers, including alternative means of delivering legal services and improving how the court provides information to self-represented litigants.

For the first time, Felmly said, a court task force has recommended that the state move toward a full-time judiciary.

Felmly said that to advance the objectives of the "Vision" report, the Bar must be willing to speak up more forcefully about where the court system excels and where it can be improved. "We have to be drumbeaters for expectations of excellence," he said.

The Board also began its annual role of reviewing legislation of interest to the legal profession. Due to the constraints of participation by a unified Bar (as outlined by the NH Supreme Court's Chapman decision and the US Supreme Court's Keller rulings), the Bar takes official advocacy positions in only a few cases. However, the Bar's legislative representative, John MacIntosh, more often provides information to legislators on the potential ramifications of some bills. MacIntosh works with the Bar's Legislation Committee to review all of the bills that are introduced and tracks those of interest to the Bar.

*The Board did not take positions in favor or opposition to the first batch of bills it reviewed, but authorized MacIntosh to provide information on the following bills:

• CACR 2 - Would establish five-year renewable terms for state judges.

• HB 79 is the first of several bills that seeks to remedy difficulties identified by the Supreme Court's Kidder decision strictly limiting contacts with the subject of a protective order.

• HB 130 relates to reducing the limit on the length of an involuntary commitment from five years to one year.

• HB 214 would permit the parents or legal guardian of a sexual assault victim to remain with the victim during legal proceedings.

• SB 37 deals with disclosure of expert testimony in criminal cases.

• SB 43 makes change to the statutes covering the administration of estates of persons presumed dead.

• SB 54 and SB 59 clarify the role, powers and duties of guardians.

• SB 60 clarifies procedures in cases involving the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.

MacIntosh said major issues of interest to the legal community this year will be family division legislation, medical malpractice legislation and reexamination of the domestic violence statutes.

Judicial Council update: Bar President-elect Richard Uchida said that the Judicial Council has been discussing the tremendous need for interpreters and translators in the courts.

*ABA matters. The Board considered issues that are to come up at the ABA meeting in early February. Board member Larry Vogelman discussed an amicus brief on behalf of state and local bar associations supporting the ABA and New York State Bar's position defending a lower court's decision that lawyers should not be subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley financial privacy act. After discussion, the Board voted to endorse the amicus position.

Also, the Board discussed but did not act on an invitation to testify or submit comments to an ABA Task Force looking at challenges to attorney-client privilege.

The Board also provided its support to Association Delegate Jon Ross in opposing proposals in the ABA House of Delegates that would reduce the influence of state bars in ABA governance.

Board member Larry Vogelman, a member of the Federal Practice Section, announced that the US District Court would facilitate attendance at the NHBA's Statewide Professionalism Day by allowing for continuances in scheduled cases in most circumstances to allow lawyers to attend the program.

*Board members Gretchen Witt and Marilyn McNamara did not participate or vote on these items.

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