2003 December, 2. Public Service as a Member Service.

• Author: By Jeannine L. McCoy

New Hampshire Bar Journal

2003.

2003 December, 2.

Public Service as a Member Service

New Hampshire Bar JournalDecember 2003, Volume 44, Number 4Public Service as a Member ServiceBy Jeannine L. McCoyThis issue of Bar Journal focuses on the work of the Association and its members in one of the most crucial areas of the organization's efforts - the Quest for Justice.

Befitting the Bar's Constitutional purpose clause, which concludes "...to the end that the public responsibility of the legal profession may be more effectively discharged" (NHBA Constitution, Article 1), and the operating mission of the Association:

To serve the members by connecting them with services, programs and resources necessary to function effectively as members of the profession To serve the public by connecting members with the information and opportunities needed to carry out their public service obligations To serve the justice system by speaking and acting as the unified voice of the profession to facilitate promotion and improvement of the procedures and institutions of the law

To serve the profession by upholding the unique and valuable role of lawyers as independent counselors and advocates helping to preserve a civilized society governed by rule of law

- NHBA Board of Governors - March 2000

... the New Hampshire Bar Association has a long and proud history of advancing the Quest for Justice - on a local, statewide, and national level. Featured in this issue is the history of your Bar's nationally recognized Pro Bono Program, which has been leveraging volunteer lawyer time for 25 years to make a positive difference in the lives of thousands of our state's citizens.

Members can also be proud of the role their fellow members have played in supporting access to justice on the national stage. In the mid-1980s, when officials in Washington were hindering the effectiveness of legal aid programs with funding cuts and restrictions on activities, the New Hampshire Bar president at the time, L. Jonathan Ross, along with former NHBA executive director, Gail Kinney, helped organize a grass-roots national coalition, Bar Leaders for the Preservation of Legal Services for the Poor, that spread information and marshaled support of local, city, and state Bars to advocate for equal access to justice. (No mean feat in the pre-Internet, pre-email era!)...