THE GOVERNOR AND Executive Council on Aug. 14 confirmed Lawrence A. MacLeod, Jr. as special justice of Hanover/Lebanon District Court and Jennifer B. Sobel as special justice of the Haverhill, Lancaster and Littleton district courts.

MacLeod, currently the Grafton County representative on the NHBA Board of Governors, operates his own Lebanon law firm, the Law Office of Lawrence A. MacLeod, Jr. A graduate of Tufts University and the University of Maine Law School, he was admitted to the NH Bar in 1991 and worked for the Lebanon firm of Baker & Hayes, as associate and then partner, before opening his own law office in the summer of 2001. He has a general practice.

MacLeod said that he looks forward to serving his community as a judge in Hanover/Lebanon District Court. He believes being a new judge will be challenging, especially in the current environment of tough financial times in the state's courts.

MacLeod said he does not know how often he will preside over Hanover/Lebanon District Court as a part-time special justice.

Sobel earned her law degree at Suffolk University Law School in 1992 and was admitted to the Vermont Bar and the NH Bar in 1993. She worked briefly as a judicial law clerk for the Vermont trial courts before joining NH Public Defender in 1993 as a staff attorney. She was with Public Defender until 1997, when she went to work for McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton for a short time. She returned to Public Defender in 1998 as managing attorney of its North Country offices.

In 2000, Sobel took a position as coordinator of career information at Vermont Law School. About a year ago, she became an adjunct professor at the law school, teaching criminal law in the school's general practice program, as well as a trial team advisor and coach, and assistant director of career services.

Sobel expects that in her new role as special justice of the Haverhill, Lancaster and Littleton district courts, she will sit on the bench about one to four times a month. She said she is looking forward to serving as a judge and helping people manage what is hopefully their first and only experience with the court system.

"I want to make sure everybody who comes into court feels that they have an equal opportunity to be heard and that they are on a level playing field," said Sobel. "The district courts are where a lot of people make their only contact with the justice system and for a lot of people, that's a daunt ing experience. I want people to feel the court is there to serve them and help them."

"People should have high expectations of the judicial system. It is the ultimate public service," Sobel added.

The challenge of being a judge, Sobel believes, will be in striking a balance between being fair while being expeditious in doling out justice. "I will need to find a balance between protecting people's due process rights and other constitutional rights while hearing things in a timely matter," she said. "I'll need to keep things running smoothly without running over people's rights."

Sobel said that the current budget crisis in the state's courts will present her with a unique challenge as a new judge: learning the job without overburdening the court staff. "I have to be painfully aware of the fact that the decisions I make and things I do will affect the workings of the entire court staff. I don't want to create a lot of unnecessary work for the Clerk's Office, bailiffs or anyone else as I get up to speed with the job," she said.

Both MacLeod and Sobel will be sworn in by Gov. Jeanne Shaheen on Wednesday, Sept. 4 in ceremonies beginning at noon in the Executive Council chambers.

In other judicial appointment news, Judge Susan Carbon, currently the supervisory judge of the Grafton County Family Division in Plymouth, has been nominated as full-time justice of Concord District Court. A public hearing on Carbon's nomination was scheduled for Sept. 4, but a confirmation vote had not yet been scheduled at press time. See future issues of Bar News for an update on the nomination.

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