TO STEAL A phrase popular this time of year, I am pleased to report that the state of our Union (in this case, the unified New Hampshire Bar Association) is strong. The following is a mid-year report on some of the unprecedented initiatives being pursued by your Bar Association:

Legal Research Service: We are actively considering the provision of low-cost, user-friendly computer-assisted legal research as a service to all members. One such system, Casemaker, is composed of a series of state-specific online law libraries offered through a computer research system created by the Ohio Bar Association and subscribed to by several other state bar associations. Casemaker would enable NHBA members to search New Hampshire and federal cases, statutes and court rules, as well as cases from other states and circuits participating in the Casemaker consortium. Accessed through the Bar’s Web site, Casemaker would benefit both private and public lawyers, and alone will make your bar dues worth the investment. Interest among other New England states is high, with Connecticut already online and several other New England states considering joining along with New Hampshire. Casemaker also offers a CD service, updated several times a year and available at a fraction of the cost of large national legal research services. Come see Casemaker demonstrated live at the Mid-Year Meeting in Bedford next week.

Insurance: The Bar is forming "The New Hampshire Bar Association Insurance Agency" with the goal of providing our members with more control and better servicing of an endorsed professional liability insurance program. We are also actively investigating the feasibility of forming a purchasing group to offer our members an endorsed health insurance program. This could also pave the way for more insurance product offerings to lawyers in the future.

Unauthorized Practice of Law: We are currently party to litigation involving enforcement of our UPL statute against one well-known violator. Under the leadership of President-Elect Martha Van Oot, we hope to expand the scope of this effort in the coming year to include other individuals and entities engaged in this illegal activity. Despite the tired, misguided rhetoric of our critics, this effort not only constitutes a member service, but an important public service. We seek to protect unsuspecting citizens of this state from potential harm by those who seek to profit from the sale of legal services while choosing to shun and avoid our profession’s regulations that exist to protect the consumer. Together, we must eliminate this blight from the legal landscape.

Facilities: We are exploring the feasibility of a new home for the Association and Bar Foundation to enable us to house our own CLE programs and large meetings, provide conference facilities to our members, lease space to other legal and judicial organizations and associations, and provide plenty of parking. This could become a true "Justice Center" for the Bar and New Hampshire, without the need for a capital campaign or member dues increase.

Legislative Efforts: Consistent with the mandates of Chapman and Keller, your Legislation Committee and Bar leadership will continue their legislative efforts in the upcoming session. Bills involving judicial reviews, imposing restrictions on this Association and limiting the rulemaking authority of the courts, among others, have been introduced. We intend to continue to work hard to preserve the integrity and independence of our profession and the judiciary.

Outreach: Under the leadership of Association Secretary Richard Uchida, the Outreach program has been a tremendous success for a second straight year. This year’s program focuses on legislation affecting the practice of law and the judiciary, and again is achieving its goal of combining a quality educational program with an opportunity for the state and local bars to interact.

CLE: Under the leadership of Dick Samuels, the CLE committee is off to a great start with more first-rate programs to come. The "Developments in the Law" program attracted over 200 attendees, and Professionalism Day, led by Association Vice President Russ Hilliard, achieved the largest one-day attendance (nearly 1,000) at a Bar/CLE event in history. Among upcoming programs is a day-long "Appellate Practice" program, featuring members of the Supreme Court on the faculty, which will take place in conjunction with the Annual Meeting in Portsmouth on Thursday, June 20.

Membership Meetings: We hope to see you all next week at the Mid-Year Membership Meeting in Bedford. For this first time ever, the June Annual Meeting will be held on the Seacoast, June 20-22 at the Portsmouth Sheraton. More affordable than the resort-based meetings (we will return to the Balsams in 2003), this location offers a variety of new recreational options, such as harbor cruises, a larger scramble golf tournament, local law firm receptions, and much more. The traditional Annual Meeting banquet will take place Friday night, June 21, and will feature the President’s Awards, a cocktail reception, live music and dancing, and, perhaps most importantly, the passing of the gavel from Your Humble Bar President to Marty Van Oot (don’t cheer too loudly – YHBP has feelings!).

Public Service: The Bar in 2001 received national recognition for its Domestic Violence Emergency Project when the American Bar Association selected it as one of four programs in the country to profile as a successful domestic violence prevention program involving the legal community in partnership with other community groups. Also, the Bar’s Pro Bono Referral Program is to be commended for its quick action in recruit ing and coordinating volunteers to provide estate-planning advice to National Guard members and reservists mobilized in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Day in and day out, the volunteer spirit of our Bar members, combined with the Association’s ongoing support and coordination of pro bono efforts, provides largely unheralded but invaluable public service to our community.

Your Board of Governors and Bar committees are working hard on many fronts to make membership in the Bar valuable to all. We are using the latest communication tools to help bring Bar members together. For example, e-mail listservs are being created for every Bar section. Our Web site’s revamp (unveiled last January) has been well received by members, as have the "E-bulletin" e-mail newsletters that are being sent to all active members. Combined with Bar News and Bar Journal, communication between our Bar leaders and members is second to none.

To enhance communication and cooperation, Bar leadership has held workshops with the Bar’s past presidents, our lawyer/legislators and the leadership of the Women’s Bar Association. A workshop with Franklin Pierce Law Center Dean John Hutson and the school’s administration and faculty is coming up. As you can see, the "State of the Bar" is indeed strong. Bench/Bar relations and cooperation are very high – benefiting not only lawyers and judges, but also our clients, the true consumers of our services and the courts. And several member-services initiatives, long in the works, appear poised to bear fruit, which would result in the Bar offering more services to members that will directly benefit their daily practices.

It takes many talented and dedicated staff and attorney volunteers to make this Association work, and together I think we’re succeeding. The goal is to make this Association one that you would enthusiastically join even if you didn’t have to. Let us know if we can do better, and in the meantime, let’s keep doing "what we do best" in 2002!

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