NH SUPERIOR COURT Chief Justice Walter Murphy will soon have his robes taken away.

Or at least shared.

Murphy has spearheaded the effort to bring a program to NH called Junior Magistrate/First Jury ("JM/First Jury") that will allow high school students to serve as judges and jury members in real court trials. Although the students will not replace the actual judges and jury members, they will work alongside the real ones.

Murphy learned about the program through contacts in Massachusetts, where a parent program called First Vote began. The program, Murphy said, "intrigued me" and he spoke to the president of the non-profit, Boston-based First Vote, Christopher A. Moore, about expanding it to NH. Murphy then put Moore in touch with Peter Hutchins, president-elect of the NH Bar; James Tenn, president of the Manchester Bar Association; and Valerie Raudonis, president of the Nashua Bar, to help implement the program initially in the state's two largest Superior Court districts, Nashua and Manchester. The three are now part of an advisory committee to promote the program that also includes attorneys Ovide Lamontagne, Bradford E. Cook, Charles DeGrandpre and Jeremy T. Walker.

The program is slated to begin in the spring. Moore continues to meet with school officials in the two cities to explain JM/First Jury and its benefits. "The reception has been very warm and enthusiastic. They're very much looking forward to starting the program," Moore said.

In the Junior Magistrate portion of the program, students enlist as candidates to serve alongside judges during trial. Ballots are prepared and the student body elects its junior magistrates, thereby participating in the voting process.

Each elected junior magistrate will first meet with his or her assigned trial judge to discuss the judge's role and responsibilities and background, the student's personal history, goals and more. Then it's off to court, where the junior magistrate, donning a judge's robe, sits beside the judge on the bench, the two conferring throughout trial. In some cases, junior magistrates will sit for both morning and afternoon court sessions and could sit for two to three days, depending on the court's calendar and cases on the docket. A wrap-up meeting between senior and junior magistrate ends each day in court.

In addition to serving on the bench, the student judges will serve on a Junior Magistrate Council, participate in conferences on issues related to democracy, citizenship and jury duty, and work on community projects under the guidance of their judicial sponsors (volunteer judges or attorneys).

The Junior Jury portion of the program takes six or12 high school students through the process of serving on a jury. Students first fill out a questionnaire to determine their willingness to act impartially on any particular case. As with a real jury, members of the junior jury are selected to reflect the diversity of the community.

The jury of students will be brought together at the assigned courthouse. There they will observe a real courtroom trial, as the adult jury hears the case: opening and closing arguments, evidence and witnesses, jury instructions from the judge. They will then retire to a jury room, elect a foreperson and begin deliberations in private with no adult supervision or instructions. Once they have reached a verdict, it will be delivered to the trial judge in the same courtroom as the adult jury. The exercise concludes with a discussion of their experiences with the judge in chambers.

JM/First Jury is designed not only to give students a first-hand look at the court system in action, but also to teach them the importance of participating in the voting process and the responsibility and necessity of jury duty. "These are our future leaders, they'll be the important players in our community, this gives them an inside look at how well our system works," said Manchester Bar President Jim Tenn, of the Tenn & Tenn law firm in Manchester. Chief Justice Murphy stressed that the program is aimed at teaching "ordinary, everyday" students about the justice system, not as a "training ground" for those students interested in becoming lawyers.

According to Murphy, the Superior Court is "enthusiastically endorsing" the program. He has solicited the support of other Superior Court judges, including William Groff, to help implement the program, and 20 out of the 26 Superior Court judges have agreed to participate in JM/First Jury. Murphy will work with the clerks of court to help coordinate scheduling for the program. If the program proves successful, the plan is to implement it in Superior Courts statewide within the next few years, Moore said, and then in other states.

The Manchester and Nashua bar associations are encouraging their members to provide time, effort and funds toward the program. The Manchester Bar has even formed a subcommittee and has allocated some funds in support of the program. All are encouraging member attorneys to become involved as mentor attorneys or attorney advisors to junior magistrates and junior jury members, "educating students on the mechanics of the system, the substantive issues," said Tenn.

Murphy said that a number of local law firms have already come forward with funds and are prepared to have their attorneys play a "very active" role in mentoring. According to Moore, the Manchester Bar and several local law firms have provided the initial funding and the Hall, Hess law firm will be providing office space to start First Vote in NH. As a non-profit organization, First Vote relies on contributions from individuals and organizations, not from the courts, for its funding.

According to Hutchins, JM/First Jury is consistent with the NHBA's goal to institute programs that will serve the public and the courts, such as the Bar's Mock Trial and We the People competitions.

The program's approach of teaching through experience will be of great benefit to participating students, agree those helping to bring it to NH. "I have spoken to jurors who had preconceptions about the system before taking part in it. Once they're involved, there's a 180-degree change in perception," Hutchins said.

"It'll bring the system to life for the students," agreed Raudonis, a sole practitioner in Nashua. "They'll learn respect for it."

Murphy said that the students will not be the only ones learning through the program-teachers and parents will also benefit from the students' experiences. "It's always been my experience that the more people know about the system, the more respect they have for it. People who don't understand our court system are its sharpest critics," said Murphy.

"Any attempt to educate the public has great returns as far as the respect people have for our judicial system," he said.

To volunteer as a mentor or advisor attorney for the Junior Magistrate/First Jury of NH program or for further information, contact Chris Moore at (617) 442-2100, Peter Hutchins at 669-8080, James Tenn at 624-3700 or Valerie Raudonis at 883-3831.

Home | About the Bar | For Members | For the Public | Legal Links | Publications | Online Store
Lawyer Referral Service | Law-Related Education | NHBA•CLE | NHBA Insurance Agency | NHMCLE
Search | Calendar

New Hampshire Bar Association
2 Pillsbury Street, Suite 300, Concord NH 03301
phone: (603) 224-6942 fax: (603) 224-2910
email: NHBAinfo@nhbar.org
© NH Bar Association Disclaimer