HB 465, WHICH INITIALLY written sought to deunify the Bar Association by legislative edict, has been sent to the House floor after an affirmative vote by the House Judiciary Committee. The committee voted 15-3 "ought to pass" on the legislation last month.

The bill was amended by its sponsor, Rep. Christopher Reid, an attorney practicing in Concord. Reid's amendment called for deunification only if the membership of the Bar, voting in a referendum to be held at least once every five years, votes against mandatory membership in the Bar. A second amendment states that if the Bar remains mandatory, the Association may use dues to lobby in matters "directly related to the regulation of the legal profession and improving the quality of legal services," but only if there is "substantial unanimity" among the membership for the Bar's positions. A third revision specifically spells out that members of the mandatory Bar may refuse to pay that portion of dues directed at "lobbying the Legislature" or "other political matters." These limitations would considerably narrow the scope of legislative advocacy that the Bar now conducts under the guidelines set down by the Chapman ruling by the NH Supreme Court. (The Chapman ruling is available as a downloadable pdf under News Releases.)

Two subcommittee meetings were held on HJB 465 before it was amended. At the first, two attorneys testified in support of deunification and a third lawyer sent a letter also supporting the proposal. At the second meeting, Bar leaders and representatives of legal services agencies testified about the public policy and administrative complications that would result from deunification. No one favoring deunification testified that day, despite prominent notice of the meeting in Bar News and through an e-mail to active Bar members.

To date, the Bar has taken only an informational position on the specific bill (the language of the amended version was not available until the day of the committee vote), but NHBA President Peter Hutchins and other Bar leaders said that there a number of reasons why deunification might harm the legal profession and the public:

• Attorneys would still be required to pay a licensure fee (to the state, which would administer licensing or contract with some entity to keep current the records of licensed attorneys). According to current procedures, state licensing boards charge 150 percent of the actual cost of license administration to the professions they regulate.
• Member services now offered within the Bar's dues structure would be an additional, albeit voluntary expense (on top of licensure and other mandatory fees). This would potentially increase the combined cost of licensure and membership in an organization that would provide the services members now receive through the Bar.
• The ability of the profession to regulate itself and to speak on behalf of the judicial system would be diminished by the lack of a central organization to which all attorneys must belong.
• A voluntary organization must devote a substantial portion of its resources to attracting and retaining members. A voluntary bar association inherently becomes more focused on member service, which could reduce the resources the Bar can devote to public service efforts.
• The support services the Bar provides to attorneys taking pro bono cases or working on projects to improve the justice system would be difficult to support in a voluntary Bar structure. The level of volunteerism would, therefore, decline, as has been the experience in most states with a voluntary Bar.
• It is unclear how deunification could be accomplished by legislation. No other Bar unified by a Supreme Court has been deunified by a legislative vote.

There are a number of other factors to consider regarding the unlikely scenario of deunification of the Bar. Bar News will report on these issues in future editions. The Bar welcomes comment (please be brief) on the structure of the Bar. Please send messages to NHBAinfo@nhbar.org

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