By Tom Jarvis 
Judge Joseph Laplante of the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire will receive the 2026 Frank Rowe Kenison Award at the New Hampshire Bar Foundation’s Annual Dinner on Wednesday, October 21, at Pembroke Pines Country Club in Pembroke.
The Bar Foundation presents the Kenison Award annually to recognize substantial contributions to New Hampshire through the administration of justice, the legal profession, or legal thought. The award is named for Frank Rowe Kenison, a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association for 48 years who served as chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court from 1952 to 1977.
Judge Laplante has served on the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire since 2007 and was chief judge from 2011 to 2018. Before his appointment to the federal bench, he served as an assistant US attorney and later as first assistant US attorney. Much of his work involved the New England Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. His earlier career included positions with the US Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, the homicide and white-collar crime units of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, and the Manchester law firm of Wiggin & Nourie.
In addition to his work on the bench, Judge Laplante has remained involved in legal education and the Granite State legal community. He frequently participates in NHBA continuing legal education programs and has contributed to the NHBA Practical Skills Program. He has also chaired the NHBA New Lawyers Committee and the Committee on Professionalism and served on the Committee on Cooperation with the Courts.
Judge Laplante teaches statutory interpretation as an adjunct professor at Boston College Law School, Georgetown Law, the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, and Cardozo School of Law. He previously taught at Suffolk University Law School.
His work in judicial administration has included service on three committees of the Judicial Conference of the United States and on the Federal Judges Association Board of Directors. He has represented the District of New Hampshire on the First Circuit Judicial Council, chaired the First Circuit Committee on Access to Justice, and previously chaired the New Hampshire Access to Justice Commission.
Judge Laplante received the Bar Foundation’s Robert E. Kirby Award in 2001, the NHBA’s Distinguished Service to the Public Award in 2017, and the Golden Gavel Award from the New England Chapter of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2018. He is the first recipient of the Kirby Award to also receive the Bar Foundation’s Frank Rowe Kenison Award. He also volunteers with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua and Nashua PAL.
The dinner will begin at 5:30 pm and feature Jeffrey Rosen, CEO emeritus of the National Constitution Center and a New York Times bestselling author. His presentation, “The Pursuit of Happiness and America at 250,” will draw from his books The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America and The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America.
He will discuss the Founders’ classical understanding of happiness as the pursuit of long-term virtue rather than short-term pleasure. He will also examine the competing visions of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, including Jefferson’s emphasis on states’ rights and individual liberties and Hamilton’s support for a strong federal government and a powerful executive. His remarks will explore how Americans have continued to embrace liberty, equality, government by consent, and the pursuit of happiness while disagreeing about how those principles should be balanced.
Registration is now open and costs $99, includes a copy of either book. Before the dinner, Bar Foundation Fellows and sponsors are invited to a VIP meet-and-greet with Rosen beginning at 4:30 pm, where he will sign books.
For more information or to register for the dinner, visit nhbar.org/new-hampshire-bar-foundation/annual-dinner.