WOMEN OUTNUMBERED MEN 54 to 41 in the latest group of new admittees to the New Hampshire Bar. The Oct. 30, 2000 ceremony was only the second time that women, who comprise about 30 percent of the active Bar membership, were more numerous than men at a swearing-in of new lawyers.

Combined with the May 30 swearing-in, the total of 144 new lawyers this year represents a significant fall-off in the number of lawyers newly admitted to practice in New Hampshire. The number of new admittees has been slipping annually since 1997 when a record 235 attorneys were admitted. (In the fall of 1997, 70 women and 65 men were admitted in the last swearing-in ceremony where women outnumbered men.)

Court officials suggested that the number of new admittees today is more reflective of population trends than the larger numbers seen in the mid-1990s, when New Hampshire saw an influx of new admittees from the Massachusetts School of Law. At the time, graduates of MSL, which is not accredited by the ABA, gained permission to take the New Hampshire Bar exam following their admission to the Massachusetts Bar. This year, MSL graduates accounted for only seven of the 95 admittees.

Predictably, Franklin Pierce Law Center accounted for the most graduates - 29, followed by Suffolk University (13) [See below for demographics of the newest admittees.]

The swearing-in took place during two special sessions of the NH Supreme Court. Although it was the first appearance on the bench of Chief Justice David A. Brock since his acquittal of impeachment charges, the chief justice shifted the spotlight to his new colleagues during the two swearing-in sessions (the admittees are split into two groups due to the size of the Supreme Court chamber.) In the first session, Associate Justice Linda S. Dalianis, appointed last April, referred to herself as a fellow beginner, and urged new lawyers to "use the oath you have just taken as a touchstone for all of your actions." During the second swearing-in, Associate Justice Joseph P. Nadeau, appointed last March 8, dwelt on the public responsibilities that lawyers assume as "officers of the court." He quoted from a decision authored by Chief Justice Charles Doe that enabled Marilla Ricker to become the first woman allowed to practice law in NH in 1890, and he encouraged all New Hampshire attorneys to make Pro Bono service "an integral and important part of your professional life."

Gregory D. Robbins, the 2000-2001 NHBA president, welcomed new members and said that the NH Bar, although unified, attempts to "make the Bar an organization that you would want to join." Robbins, admitted to the NH Bar in 1974, lauded the state legal community's reputation for straight dealing and civility. He encouraged the new attorneys to remember that while they have a "duty to be an advocate, you do not have a license to act badly," and that aggressive tactics will impress neither jurors nor judges in New Hampshire. Acknowledging the pressures clients sometimes place on attorneys to behave unethically, Robbins told new admittees, "Remember, we are professionals for hire, not for sale."

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