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Bar News - February 3, 2006 Association News At its Jan. 19, 2006, meeting, the NHBA Board of Governors adopted a statement on the value of lawyers in the justice system. The statement serves to clarify core positions and values regarding the role of lawyers and, focused for particular audiences and formats, will serve as the foundation for the NHBA’s response to various initiatives aimed at adapting and improving the legal system to meet the needs of the state’s justice system in the 21st century. (See page xx for the statement). Criminal Justice section. The Board also voted to create an experimental incentive program to increase membership and activity in the Criminal Law Section, currently co-chaired by Richard Guerriero, training director of the NH Public Defender Office, and Assistant Attorney General Simon Brown. Other than a recent CLE program conducted in cooperation with the NHBA CLE Committee, the Criminal Law Section has not met for several years. Guerriero and Brown are hoping that, despite their inherent differences in approach, prosecutors and defense attorneys can find common ground for some programs and initiatives in their area of the law. (More on this initiative will be publicized in a future issue of Bar News.) Attorneys and security screening. President-Elect McNamara reported on encouraging preliminary discussions he has conducted with representatives of the county sheriff’s deputies and with some judges regarding the use of the NHBA identification cards (to be mailed to members following the payment of dues this summer) for expedited clearance through courthouse security screenings. He is continuing discussions with the sheriffs and is hoping to meet soon with Associate Supreme Court Justice Richard Galway, chair of the Judicial Branch Courthouse Security Task Force. Legislation. Attorney John MacIntosh, the Bar’s legislative representative, presented the results of the Legislation Committee’s review and recommended positions of introduced legislation from its latest session. The list of bills tracked for their potential relevance to the Bar or the justice system, and positions taken by the Board on a few of those bills, is available in the For Members Section at www.nhbar.org. (The Board and the Legislation Committee are guided in decision-making on advocacy regarding legislation by the Chapman decision of the NH Supreme Court, and the Keller decision of the US Supreme Court. These decisions, while upholding the ability of unified Bars to participate in legislative advocacy, set out limitations. (These guidelines are discussed more fully at the Legislative Info page in the For Members section along with the list of bills mentioned earlier.) In many cases, the Bar’s legislative representative speaks on a bill only to provide information on potential impacts of legislation. Ethics opinion reviewed. The Board, as a matter of review, received the NHBA Ethics Committee’s latest opinion regarding the provision of electronic materials as part of the client’s file. (The Board does not conduct an up-or-down vote on accepting Ethics Committee opinions, but reviews them as a matter of information, and at times, may ask for clarification or revision.) Growing out-of-state membership. In the informational portion of the meeting, NHBA Executive Director Jeannine McCoy presented statistics on the growing proportion of Bar members whose principal offices are located outside of New Hampshire. In the latest statistics made available, more than 1,000 of the 4,000 active-status members of the NHBA are from out of state. It was suggested that a seat on the board for out-of-state members should be created. It was also noted that out-of-state members’ voting in the referendum on the continued unification of the Bar, conducted in 2004, voted by a 3 to 1 margin in support of unification.
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