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7 N.H. L. Wkly. 1 (1980-1981)

handle is hein.barjournals/nhlw0007 and id is 1 raw text is: .1 -~ - i / Volume 7, Number 1, Page I July 2, 1980 Bar Wins ABA Award For Excellence -- Again! For the second 'ear in a row, the Nil Bar * Launched an extensive public in- shire ranks fourth in the number of CLE has won the American liar Association's rare formation program which includes publication programs offered per size of bar association Award of Merit for Overall Excellence. of six public information pamphlets; and second in the country (after Hawaii) in per The Association remains the only bar of its publishing a weekly legal question-and-answer capita attendance at CLE programs. size ever to win the coveted award, column, A Question of Law, in the statewide New Hampshire launched its CLE program The Award recognizes the 1800-member Bar Manchester Union Leader, and a thorough Bar in 1976, when it became the first under-2,000- for a wide range of programs that are unique to public information program, which includes an member state bar to hire a full-time Continuing a state bar of fewer than 2,000 members -- the average of one news release per week. Legal Education director. smallest of the ABA's four bar size categories. These new programs, as well as the Bar's Today, under an active and broadly based The Award of Merit for Overall Excellence already establishd activities, are described 16-member CLE Committee, Ni Bar CLE is the Nil Bar's fourth AB3A Award of Merit. below. sponsors an average of one CLE program each The Bar won its first Award of Merit, for the Considered together these programs reflect month. Nil Law Weekly, in 1976. the labors and the vision of an unusually alert Programs are taught by New Hampshire It won its second and third Award last year and active bar. More than that, they represent experts in their fields and are geared to New when it won its first Award of Merit for Overall a dynamically active bar: a bar that not only Hampshire practice. Excellence and a Single Project Excellence does much, bit does more and more each year: In the past year alone, the Bar: Award for its NIl Pro Bono Referral System. a bar committed not only to excellence but to * Sponsored 90 hours of CLE --85 hours live This year's award will be presented in betterment. The question in this bar seems and five on video-tape (see below). ceremonies at the ABA Annual Meeting, never to be: Shall the Bar undertake new * Produced 10 practice handbooks totaling Friday, Aug. i, at the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel in programs? but: Which programs shall we more than 2,000 pages of original material to Honolulu. undertake? In other words, there seems to be accompany each course. liar President David L. Nixon of Man- no constant in this bar except a constant 0 Upgraded the annual Practice Skills clester and Past President Jack B. Middleton commitment to innovation and to progress. Course to a 3 1/2 day program covering six of Manchester will receive the award on behalf topics and of the liar. * Supplemented and extensively revised Excerpts from the liar's award entry MAJOlt UNDERTAKINGS the 750-page Practice and Procedure Handbook follow: EXCEPTIONAL TO A SMALL liAR (publishd continuously by the Bar since 1969). The New Hampshire liar Center The Bar also bought videotape equipment FOR{EWORDl IP6 ...... 4 ..; r, .. ..k_ to: When the NH Bar Association applied last year for the American Bar Association's rare and coveted Award of Merit for Overall Ex- cellence, it noted in its application: New Hampshire lawyers believe they have a unique bar, far more active and committed than similar-sized state bar associations, and the facts appear to corroborate their con- viction. Whether functioning is measured in members involved in programs, funds raised, hours volunteered or simply breadth of ac- tivity, the NH Bar Association stands out. The ABA seems to agree. Last year it awarded the NH Bar the ABA Award of Merit for Overall Excellence, making the NH Bar the first state bar of its size ever to win this honor. (A Single Project Excellence award was made simultaneously.) Since that time, the NH Bar has not only maintained the level of excellence recognized by the ABA; it is doing even more. In less than a year since the Bar received the Award of Merit it has: * Raised more than a quarter of a million dollars, entirely from its 1,492 in-state mem- bers, to buy and renovate a building near the state Capitol, as the NH Bar Center. * Designed a program and promulgated a rule, adopted by the Supreme Court, requiring all newly-admitted lawyers to take a lengthy and comprehensive practical skills course, making New Hampshire one of only three states with such a requirement. * Fully-staffed its pioneer statewide, fee- for service lawyer referral program, which now refers more than 175 people each month to one of more than 300 New Hampshire lawyers participating in the program. * Organized extensive Law Day activities involving more than one-eighth of the Bar's in- state members and including a LAWLINE program in which more than 1,000 people received free legal advice and information by ailing lawyers' telephone numbers in every city and larger town in the state. e S' tfluOuOl LL pr UI 1 NeW HIIpsire lawyers was demonstrated once again this winter when the NH Bar's 1,492 in-state members raised $275,000-- more than a quarter of a million dollars -- to create the NH Bar Center in the state capital. The money -- $75,000 more than the cam- paign goal -- is being used to buy, renovate and refurbish a handsome two-story building just one block away from the Capitol in Concord.... The Bar decided the time had long since come to stop paying ever-rising rents, to con- solidate its offices in one location and to move to the capital, where its governmental relations activities could be conducted most effectively. It was also perceived that the Bar's own handsome, historic building would give both the public and Bar members a source of pride and a symbol of excellence. With the advice of professional fund-raising counsel, the Bar launched a fund-raising campaign in October, 1979.... By May 1, some 450 attorneys from all over New Hampshire had pledged more than $275,000 for the Center, for an average con- tribution of more than $610 per member and participation of more than 30% of in-state Bar members.... Plans for renovating the 4,000-square foot building were approved in March, construction bids were solicited in April and the renovation contract was awarded in May. The NH Bar Center -- the Bar's first per- manent home in its 100-plus-year history -- will be ready for occupancy in October. Full Time Continuing Legal Education The NH Bar's Continuing Legal Education program has been dubbed the nation's star CLE program by William A. Carroll, president of the Association of Continuing Legal Education Administrators. * Carroll based his comments, in part, on impressive statistics: a survey of state bar CLE programs that revealed that New Hamp- * Incorporate videotape demonstrations in live CLE programs. e Offer repeat showings of CLE programs in more remote sections of the state and * Make videotape programs from outside the state available to local bar associations and the general membership. To facilitate use of the tapes, attorneys may view them at the Bar office without charge. The Bar also publishes a catalog which lists, for sale, the 19 different New Hampshire practice handbooks and 16 videotapes produced y the Bar during the past 21/2 years. Although CLE is funded almost entirely by registration fees, the average fee per program is only $45 per attorney -- about 20% less than CLE fees throughout the country. This low cost is a result of efficient administration and the fact that New Hampsire attorneys teach CLE courses without charge. 50 Mandatory Practical Skills Course NH Bar members voted early this year to put together and make mandatory an eight-day course in practical legal skills for all newly- admitted lawyers. When the state Supreme Court adopted the rule in March, New Hampshire became one of only three states in the country with such a requirement. (The others are New Jersey and Colorado.) The proposal grew out of the Bar's first two- day Long Range Planning Conference, held two years ago, which found that lawyers who have just graduated from law school generally have very few practical skills overall and rarely. . and... with regard to the practice of law in New Hampshire. The conference was also concerned about the growing number of law school graduates - as many as half of the 100-or-so New Hamp- shire lawyers admitted yearly -- who become sole practitioners and whose work (therefore) Continued on 7NHLW3

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