ATTORNEYS SERVING IN legal units of the New Hampshire National Guard are finding their services in great demand for simple wills, estate plans and powers of attorney as growing numbers of weekend soldiers are called up for active duty or are preparing for mobilization.

The lawyers’ role is to ensure that legal protections are in place so that soldiers leaving their civilian lives behind to serve their country can be assured that their loved ones will not suffer financially and that legal problems won’t arise in their absence.

Manchester lawyer Peter J. Duffy, who holds the reserve rank of colonel and serves as judge advocate general for the NH Army National Guard, said much of the work of lawyers in the National Guard in recent months has been assisting soldiers with routine legal matters – wills, powers of attorney and financial issues. However, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, these mundane legal issues can become emergencies when any day could be someone’s last day before called up to active duty.

National Guard members in New Hampshire, as elsewhere in the country, are being ordered to leave their jobs, homes and families for potentially hazardous tours of duty lasting six months to a year. As of late October, more than 100 Air National Guard members, part of flight or maintenance crews of the 157th Air Refueling Wing at the Pease air base, have been called up for active duty or for limited overseas assignments at undisclosed locations. More than 50 members of NH’s Army National Guard have been called up for at least six months of local active duty, providing security at NH’s civilian airports.

Typically, members of the military are referred to the Judge Advocate General’s Office for help with legal problems they don’t have the opportunity to resolve because of their military obligations. Two federal laws provide the principal protection: the Soldiers & Sailors Civil Relief Act (SSCRA), which protects soldiers who, because of their military duty, are hindered in their ability to contest legal actions; and the Uniform Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), which covers soldiers’ rights to return to their former jobs and protects their job seniority and other benefits if called to duty.

Duffy, who has a general practice in Manchester and serves in the Guard a minimum two days a month, recently put one of these laws to use. He made an emergency appearance in a Merrimack County court seeking to stay a foreclosure against a soldier’s home, citing the provisions of the SSCRA. Many times, soldiers called up to active duty see their take-home pay cut in half as they trade their civilian salaries for their military pay.

The SSCRA applies when the soldier is in federal service, regardless of whether the soldier is serving domestically or overseas and regardless of the authority under which he was called to active duty (despite media reports to the contrary). Any civil action against the soldier can be stayed if the soldier’s ability to participate in the action is materially affected by the military service. The act also caps the interest on any debts the soldier is obligated to pay, with the exception of child support obligations.

Shane Stewart, a Concord attorney and a captain in Duffy’s advocate general unit, said the reasons for these laws are clear. "We don’t need soldiers worrying about whether their family has a roof over their heads while they are serving their country," said Stewart. Duffy said the courts and employers, once they become acquainted with the applicable laws, are respectful of and generally follow the spirit of the laws.

Some soldiers may need assistance with more complex legal issues if called up for duty – being in the middle of a divorce, for example, or meeting child support obligations while receiving a lower military pay. The SSCRA protection provisions do not apply to child support obligations and many divorce decrees contain wage assignment provisions. Duffy said that in this instance, soldiers would have to apply for child support modification if meeting the obligation poses a significant hardship. He said that family law attorneys should pay particular attention to situations involving individuals who are in the military.

Duffy heads an office consisting of four part-time lawyers and a paralegal for the Army National Guard in New Hampshire. All four attorneys are New Hampshire Bar members. In addition, Lt. Col. Dennis O’Connell is an active-duty judge advocate general assigned to the Adjutant General of New Hampshire. Lt. Col. Barry Maddix, another two-day-per month "traditional guardsman," is the judge advocate general for the Air National Guard, stationed at Pease. He commands a staff of two attorneys and two paralegals, but is the only NHBA member on his staff.

Maddix, who is a senior attorney for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in civilian life, said his unit has been busily drawing up hundreds of wills for Air Guard members and their families in the past few months. "We have a stack of 200 to 300 wills that will need to be executed," he said. "It’s a time-consuming process, but we want to make sure our people are able to take care of these matters before they are mobilized."

Both Duffy and Maddix said they would welcome the pro bono assistance of civilian practicing attorneys and are working with Virginia A. Martin, the NHBA associate executive director for legal services, to work out the details on a military pro bono "mobilization" – particularly in the event of a massive callup of reserves. (See accompanying article and form to sign up.)

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