New Hampshire is one of only five states with neither a dedicated source of funding nor a paid professional supervising its assistance programs for impaired lawyers and judges, the NH Bar Association Board of Governors was told at its monthly meeting, held Nov. 17, 2005.

The Board was briefed on the status of lawyers assistance programs by the Hon. John R. Maher, Administrative Judge of the Probate Court, and chair of the independent Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers group, and David Wolowitz, an attorney and longtime member of the Bar’s Lawyers Assistance Committee.  Judge Maher and Wolowitz were discussing the findings of a review team from the American Bar Association’s Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs, which last summer evaluated the NH legal community’s efforts to assist lawyers and judges struggling with emotional, mental, or substance abuse problems. The review, funded in part by the NH Bar Foundation, was requested by Chief Justice John T. Broderick, Jr., who has indicated an interest in improving NH’s efforts in this area.

The ABA team interviewed court and Bar leaders, members of the LAC and LCL, and members of the discipline committees for lawyers and judges. The evaluation team compared NH’s efforts with model guidelines for lawyers assistance plans recently developed by the ABA Commission. The review team recommended the following:

 – establish a permanent, statewide program with secure, continual funding. The program, whether under the umbrella of the Bar Association or the Supreme Court, should nevertheless operate as a separate entity, preferably not located at a court facility or the Bar Center, to provide greater privacy to clients;

           
– permanently fund the operation, probably, as it is done in most other states, through a dues assessment or court-imposed fee;

           
– offer access through a toll-free phone hotline. (The Bar’s current Helpline, which connects callers to the LAC, is 603/ 224-6060;

–  increase confidentiality and immunity protections for the committee members who provide direct assistance to impaired members.

The review team further recommended that the lawyers’ assistance office should serve the attorney and judicial discipline committees with effective monitoring of impaired legal professionals who have been reported to the disciplinary authorities; and it should formalize referral relationships with the disciplinary committees. To ensure that there is greater awareness of the availability of services, the lawyers assistance office should conduct greater outreach to the legal community and make discussion of the nature and effects of substance abuse a part of the curriculum for law students and new admittees.

Both Wolowitz and Judge Maher spoke movingly about the satisfactions and frustrations of the current, unfunded, volunteer-dependent lawyers assistance efforts. Maher said an informal committee has begun investigating how to implement the ABA’s review team’s recommendations in order to submit a detailed proposal to the Supreme Court.

In other matters, the Board heard updates on:

Bar charter bill.  In a recent action, the NH House Judiciary Committee voted as “inexpedient to legislate,” a bill studied by a subcommittee over the summer that sought to revoke the charter which initially established the NH Bar in 1873 (in order to make the Association voluntary, contrary to several Supreme Court decisions and the recent vote of the membership.) The bill, HB 541, will still require a vote by the full House when it convenes in January.

NH Bar Foundation. NHBF Chair Paul Chant discussed the importance of NHBA Board members’ support for the Foundation’s Fellows program of annual giving. Full participation by the Board in contributing to the Bar Foundation greatly enhances the credibility of the Bar Foundation and the programs it supports, he said.

Investment policy.  The Board approved an investment policy update that will allow the Bar to broaden its investments to include T-Bills, which are secure investments but provide a greater rate than the accounts the previous policy allowed.

Concerns from the counties. Board members representing several counties reported on the progress and continuing issues in the implementation of the new Parental Rights & Responsibilities statute, and scheduling issues arising from changes in the assignment of superior court judges in the northern parts of the state. Members representing Hillsborough County reported that concerns continue regarding the adequacy of staffing to handle the processing of paperwork and scheduling matters in the superior courts.

Justice Nadeau resolution. The Board also passed a resolution recognizing the contributions of retiring Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Nadeau to the citizens of NH and to the state’s justice system. (An interview with Justice Nadeau will be published in the Jan. 6 issue of Bar News.)

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