THE SUPREME COURT has approved operating regulations to administer the Public Protection Fund, a last-resort compensation mechanism to provide some reimbursement of financial losses on the rare occasion when an attorney steals from a client.

The fund, which now has a balance of more than $800,000, has been funded by annual assessments paid by attorneys and judges of the New Hampshire Bar Association (full-time military are exempt). At presstime, no claims have been filed with the fund, which covers losses occurring after June 1998. Claimants, however, must exhaust all other means of compensation or reimbursement before any claim can be paid by the PPF, and there are limits to ensure timely filing of potential claims. The amount that can be paid from the fund in any given year, or related to a specific attorney, are limited by Supreme Court Rule 55, which created the fund.

The operating regulations, developed by the nine-member Public Protection Fund Committee, were approved Nov. 1 by the Supreme Court. Supreme Court Rule 55, the regulations and a claim form (downloadable as a PDF or as a Microsoft Word document) are posted on this Web site under "For the Public." The regulations, which should be read in conjunction with Supreme Court Rule 55, govern such issues as the conduct of hearings, who is eligible to make a claim, and how claims will be considered in a given year.

NH Bar President Peter E. Hutchins applauded the court’s approval of the regulations, and said that the Public Protection Fund represents an important – and distinctive – component of the consumer protection measures offered to clients who consult with attorneys in New Hampshire. "No other profession offers its clients this kind of protection. The Public Protection Fund, created by a court rule based on a framework developed by the Bar Association Board of Governors, provides the public with the assurance that they are working with members of a profession who consider their trust and integrity to be an indispensable element of their relationship with their clients."

Hutchins said the PPF is part of a coordinated network of quality assurance processes, remedies and protections that the legal profession offers – including free, voluntary mediation of fee disputes or other issues through the Bar’s Dispute Resolution Committee, lawyer discipline and client trust account oversight by the Professional Conduct Committee, and the annual continuing legal education requirements that all attorneys must fulfill.

In establishing Rule 55, the Supreme Court said that the purpose of the PPF was "to provide a public service and to promote confidence in the administration of justice and the integrity of the legal profession by providing some measure of reimbursement to victims who have lost money or property. . ." The PPF is a continuation of the Client Indemnity Fund established by the Bar in 1960, which covers claims arising before 1998. That fund has been severely depleted by the catastrophic claims filed by former clients of the late John Fairbanks.

David W. Jordan, chair of the Public Protection Fund Committee, said the committee will be reaching out to inform the public of the availability of the fund by distributing an explanatory pamphlet to libraries, law firms and government offices; through media coverage; and through the information on the fund on the Bar’s Web site.

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