EACH YEAR, THE New Hampshire Bar Association recognizes those among its members who have achieved the milestone of a half-decade of service as members of the legal profession, regardless of where they were first admitted to practice.

According to Bar records, there are 14 surviving admittees, of whom eight were first admitted in New Hampshire. Brief profiles and interviews have been appearing occasionally in Bar News, and the honorees – who are granted honorary Bar member status – were recognized at the NHBA Annual Meeting Banquet on June 21.

Ernest "Tutt" Bell
Keene, NH

A former president of the NH Bar and chair of the NH Bar Foundation Board of Directors, Ernest "Tutt" Bell recently retired after 50 years practicing law in Keene.

"I had a lot of fun trying cases," Bell said in summing up his career. This included some quite memorable cases, such as the guns in court case that established the courts’ right to set its own rules on firearms in the courtroom. He also tried a number of right-to-know cases for newspapers and in federal court tried the first environmental criminal case based on water pollution laws, he said.

Bell, who served as Bar president in 1978-79, focused much of his general practice on appellate work. After graduating from the University of Michigan Law School and passing the NH Bar in 1952, he joined the Keene law firm of his father, Ernest Bell, II. The elder Bell maintained the law firm from 1928 until his death in 1961. Tutt Bell took over the firm after his father’s death, eventually expanding it to include three partners. He retired three years ago, but after the remaining partner in the firm died, Bell returned to maintain the practice as a solo practitioner.

Bell said that the professional accomplishment he is most proud of is his Bar presidency. In addition to being active in the NHBA and Bar Foundation, Bell was also named a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 1993; was a founding member and vice president of the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association; was a member of the International Association of Insurance Counsel; and was president of the Northern New England Defense Counsel Association. He enjoyed the practice of law, but said he is disappointed by changes he sees in lawyering. "There is an apparent trend away from it being a profession and toward it being more of a business," he said.

Bell earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from Harvard. After college, he was part of a civilian military intelligence endeavor, as a clerk doing mainly research on the Enigma project. After World War II, Bell worked at Flechley Park in England, where English decoding was done. He was later involved in litigation to eventually get American and English records and results regarding the Enigma project opened.

Bell’s first wife, Margaret Depue Bell, a founding member of the group Lawyers’ Wives of New Hampshire, passed away in 1988. He later married his second wife, Sally. He has three grown children from his first marriage and four stepchildren from his second. Tutt and Sally have 12 grandchildren between them.

In his retirement, Bell hopes to spend time with his family and do some writing.

Bartram C. Branch
Bedford, NH

You could say that being a NH lawyer was in Bartram C. Branch’s blood: Members of the Branch family have been practicing law in New Hampshire since 1890. It was of little surprise, then, that Branch graduated from Harvard Law School, was admitted to the NH Bar and practiced law in the state for 38 years before retiring in 1990.

Branch showed early signs of ambition. At age 16, being too young to join the military to serve in World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Merchant Marines as a seaman, where he served from 1942-43. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 18 and became a tailgunner on a B-24 bomber, flying 50 missions out of Italy. He also took a gunnery course in Liverpool, England, and was involved in two invasions in North Africa. During one of those initiatives, he was credited with shooting down a Stuka dive bomber over the Straits of Gibraltar.

Branch attended the University of New Hampshire after completing his military service. Missing the world travel he had enjoyed in the military, he spent his junior year at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon during the early days of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

After graduating from UNH, Branch went on to Harvard Law, from which he graduated in 1952. He said he decided to join the law profession, like family members before him, because it seemed like "a fascinating way to earn a living."

After being admitted to the NH Bar in 1952, Branch joined the law firm that would later become Wiggin & Nourie, left for a year to open a law office with Paul Nourie, then returned to Wiggin & Nourie. Mary Devine of the Manchester law firm Devine & Millimet hired Branch away in 1955, and he spent the rest of his career at that firm, which took on his name in the ‘80s to become Devine, Millimet & Branch. Branch retired from practice in 1990 at the age of 65.

Branch’s career was spent doing trial work – what he calls "garden variety tort cases," products liability work, and medical and legal malpractice cases. "None resulted in landmark decisions, but just about every one of my cases I found very personally challenging and interesting," he said.

"Being a lawyer was a very demanding and time-consuming career, but it was a wonderful experience. It was many years of fascinating work and I am proud of all I accomplished in my career," said Branch.

As a now retired observer of the legal profession in NH, Branch said he misses the old days when a phone call or a handshake meant more. "It used to be a small, friendly bar association. Now things are much more formal. The relationships aren’t as friendly," he said.

Outside of his professional life, Branch has also been a strong supporter of a number of charitable causes, including the Red Cross, YMCA and Salvation Army. He served on the Manchester School Board for four years. He was also involved in politics, although not as a candidate. He is especially proud of his involvement in the campaign of "Clean" Gene McCarthy against incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War. McCarthy won the NH primary, which resulted in LBJ’s dropping out of the race and the eventual withdrawal of the U.S. from Vietnam. "I was called a ‘traitor’ for working on the campaign against the incumbent, but McCarthy’s winning the New Hampshire primary and Johnson’s dropping out legitimized the opposition to the war," said Branch.

These days, Branch keeps active by gardening, hiking, kayaking, playing tennis and squash, spending time with his family, and travelling with his second wife, Helen. He also volunteers at Elliot Hospital in Manchester.

Branch has four children by his first marriage, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Among his children is son Bartram C. Branch, Jr. ("B.J."), who is a fifth-generation NH attorney; he is a partner with the Manchester law firm Backus, Meyer, Solomon, Rood & Branch.

Edgar M. Miner
Bow, NH

This year marks Ed Miner’s 50th anniversary of his first admission to the Bar, and the fifth year of his service as one of the Pro Bono program’s most dedicated volunteers.

Miner, 75, who now lives in Bow, has had a varied legal career that began in Kansas – where he was a law school classmate of former Senator Bob Dole – and has included stints as a general practice lawyer, prosecutor, local judge and, for 20 years, FBI agent and instructor. After moving to New Hampshire, he worked for the NH Attorney General’s Office as an investigator for 10 years before retiring in 1996.

Not long after that, Miner offered his services to the Bar’s Pro Bono Referral Pro gram, where he committed to a regular visit in the Bar Center offices each week. Typically, he has made calls to clients awaiting placement with Pro Bono attorneys. During the course of his volunteering, he has spoken with well over 250 clients, estimates Virginia A. Martin, the Bar’s associate executive director for legal services. In addition, he has taken more than 21 Pro Bono cases of his own, and represented clients through the DOVE Project for domestic violence victims. In recognition of his enormous contributions, Miner last year received the Merrimack County Pro Bono Attorney of the Year award.

In assisting the Pro Bono program, Miner generally works with clients over the phone, patiently answering questions and providing encouragement, reassurance and guidance. In some cases, Miner instructs clients on how to file an appearance, or he may file a motion on their behalf until a Pro Bono referral can be made.

Martin said that Miner fills a crucial gap in the Pro Bono program, and Miner said he’s happy that he has the time and skills to contribute. "I wanted to keep active in the law, but I didn’t want to set up a law practice. I thought that I could help some people who couldn’t afford representation," he said.

Miner makes time not only for his pro bono work, but also to volunteer for the local chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), which provides advice to small-business people. He also plays golf and tennis and makes trips with his wife Ellamae to see his children, son David, a geologist living in California, and daughter Diane, who operates a daycare facility in Virginia.

Miner said he left private practice many years ago because he didn’t like to keep track of billable hours, and now finds himself back in practice assisting Pro Bono clients – but still not counting billable hours. "I’m the cheapest lawyer in town," he joked.

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