In profile: James M. Reams.

• Position: National District Attorneys Ass'n member - Interview

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"The mission of the Rockingham County Attorney's Office is to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Rockingham County by providing justice professionally, effectively, and efficiently."

--A statement on the Web site of the Rockingham County Attorney's Office.

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY ATTORNEY James M. "Jim" Reams has been carrying out this mission so successfully that he has been elected three times without opposition in his New Hampshire jurisdiction that predates the American Revolution. According to Money magazine, his jurisdiction is one of the top five places in the United States in which to live.

But that doesn't mean that it has been easy. When Reams began his first two-year term in 1998, he found that the county attorney's office was, to put it bluntly, a mess.

Finding the office close to chaos, with, as he told a local newspaper reporter, "13 lawyers, each off practicing on their own," low salaries and high turnover, little if any cooperation with the police and a poor courtroom record, Reams quickly reorganized the assistant county attorneys into teams of four, each consisting of a lead attorney, two subordinates and a support person. "It used to be, "he told a local newspaper, "that cases came in and it could be a month before they were seen by an attorney. Now they're assigned within days.... The lawyers have to be accountable to their team leaders, and the police departments are impressed by the lawyers and their willingness to work hard." Even defense attorneys have praised the rapid turnaround of the office.

Reams persuaded the county to raise the starting salary for assistant county attorneys from $31,000 to $45,000, which slowed the turnover rate and raised the caliber of the prosecution staff. He says, "Our challenge is to create a career track so that we can keep the people we train."

He started filling his vacancies with what he calls "a different kind of lawyer, who was willing to go to trial, work hard, liked police departments and wanted a good career." In his first year, Reams replaced 50 percent of his attorneys and by the end of his first two-year term he had replaced almost 100 percent.

Today Reams's office has a record of success that is respected by the police, the courts and certainly by the voters. Since he took over the office, the caseload has doubled and the number of indictments processed has increased from 1,250 to approximately 2,500 in 2004. As he explains, "With only a...