The Legal Advice and Referral Center (LARC) will celebrate its 10th anniversary with an open house on Thursday, March 16, 2006, at their office at 33 N. Main St., Concord, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Marilyn B. McNamara, LARC’s executive director, invites anyone interested in learning more about LARC to attend, including Bar members and staff, members of the judiciary, and the staff and boards of other legal service providers. 

LARC is part of a network of legal service providers in New Hampshire that serve the civil legal needs of disadvantaged populations. With 11 people in full and part-time positions (six attorneys) on staff, including one fluent in Spanish and another in French, LARC uses a toll-free call center to provide legal advice and referral services to eligible citizens throughout the state. The agency provides legal information, advice, and pro se assistance to approximately 3,000 callers annually and fields several thousand additional calls for legal service referrals, resource availability, and other information. In addition to its educational Web site, LARC also prints and distributes pamphlets on a variety of legal matters in English and Spanish.  LARC has an outreach program that targets persons of limited English-speaking ability and will soon expand to reach more low-income people with information designed to prevent problems before they threaten a family’s housing and financial stability.

LARC was established in 1996 to allow the New Hampshire legal services community to make the best use of federal funds provided through the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).  In 1995, along with cutting the allocation of federal funds by 40 percent to New Hampshire (and other states) for legal services for the poor, Congress also implemented new limits on the services that could be offered through legal services organizations accepting LSC funds.

Greatly concerned about the access-to-justice gap for low-income individuals that would result from these new restrictions, leaders of the NH Bar Association, with the Bar Foundation, and the main legal services providers, NH Legal Assistance and the Pro Bono Referral Program worked to create a new nonprofit agency—the Legal Advice & Referral Center, that could function within the given federal parameters. Two organizations previously accepting LSC funds, NH Legal Assistance and Pro Bono, stopped applying for the federal funds so they could continue to serve their client base without restriction. LARC became the primary recipient of the LSC funds and operates within the federal guidelines while remaining an integral part of the legal services delivery system in New Hampshire.

“From the front lines of providing services, I see the tremendous need for civil legal assistance in New Hampshire,” said McNamara, who previously chaired the Pro Bono Governing Board and is a member of the NHBA Board of Governors. “Some New Hampshire citizens lack access to the courts due to very low incomes. Volunteer lawyers and nonprofit service providers are the only organizations people can turn to in these situations.

“Although the legal aid service providers have created a system to work in close collaboration to make the best use of staff and resources, we still have a great need for additional funding for staff and greater outreach capability. Right now, we can only respond to about 25 percent of the people who call for assistance – people who are often dealing with critical, life-changing issues.” In New Hampshire, there is approximately one staff legal aid lawyer per 2,388 low-income individuals compared to one lawyer per 116 people in the general population.

New Hampshire has the lowest poverty rate in the country (6.5 percent) and enjoys a relatively high standard of living, which often obfuscates the need for services for the disadvantaged. “The general public doesn’t see the poverty in New Hampshire, where it is hidden on back roads in rural areas and in isolated city neighborhoods,” says McNamara. Nearly 80,000 people live below poverty level in New Hampshire, which would mean an annual income of less than $19,000 for a family of four.

“LARC has provided individualized service to more than 30,000 clients in the past 10 years as well as general information to thousands more. With our new outreach and Web site initiatives and the continued cooperation of our partners and concerned members of the Bar, LARC will continue to stretch its scarce resources to serve the most needy clients in our justice system.”

Through IOLTA grants, the New Hampshire Bar Foundation has contributed to the Legal Advice and Referral Center’s operating budget for the past three years. In addition, the NH Bar Foundation launched the Campaign for Legal Services in 2001, raising more than $950,000 in three years, far exceeding the original goal of $500,000, to benefit NH Legal Assistance, NH Bar Association Pro Bono, and the Legal Assistance & Referral Center.

For more information, visit www.nhls.org.

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