EDITOR'S NOTE

Lawyers in our lives

Despite being the butt of innumerable jokes, lawyers at some point or another become a part of our lives, and when we need them they become indispensable.

At other times, they seem to be countless, with their shingles found on city streets and rural roads.

They also come in many flavors: corporate, criminal, real estate, labor, the list goes on.

Actually, according to the latest figures from the N.H. Bar Association, there were 4,385 active lawyers in New Hampshire, even though that might seem like a low number.

In the business world, lawyers play pivotal roles, from helping to get a business off the ground to planning for its closure and everything in between.

In cases where a family or more than one owner is involved, lawyers help plan for the future and deal with such possibilities as an unexpected death, divorce, disability and the like.

One area of increasing legal activity is in the protection of ideas or intellectual property including patent and trademark law.

Some countries, it seems, are more likely to “borrow” technology or business methods than others.

As a result, Phillip Decker of Mesmer & Deleault says he has seen a slow and steady of growth of patent lawyers during the past decade.

Another challenge for Seacoast lawyers, at least in New Hampshire, is an increase in competition from other states.

That’s because the state has relaxed the admission process for out-of-state lawyers to practice in New Hampshire, joining others states that waive a requirement to pass the same exam as a student graduating from a state’s law schools.

Other business issues facing local lawyers include getting and retaining good staffs, and dealing with clients who have cut back on their legal budgets.

But there is continued interest in becoming a lawyer. At the state’s only law school, Franklin Pierce in Concord, there is a current enrollment of 500. And about a third of the lawyers practicing in New Hampshire are graduates of the school, which had its first graduating class only 30 years ago.

These days, according to the dean of the school, the emphasis on training tends to the practical over the theoretical.

Another possible trend is in the courts.

The New Hampshire court system has been monitoring its performance and one of the recommendations that came from a volunteer commission of more than 100 members, the majority of whom were not lawyers, was to make the courts more business-like.

They approached their mission by “not looking inside out, but outside in,” according one member of the commission.

The commission came about because N.H. Supreme Court Chief Justice John T. Broderick Jr. has been pushing for more-accessible courts.

He also, in a speech to the Bar Association earlier this year, encouraged lawyers to help those who cannot afford access to a court.

“My heartfelt plea to all of you here today is to register with the pro bono program and take at least one case this calendar year. One case. That rising tide would lift many boats.”

And in “The Last Word” on law in this month’s issue, longtime Portsmouth lawyer Paul McEachern talks about a similar theme.

“The little guy is being shut out (of the legal system) more and more,” McEachern said. “When I started out that wasn’t the case.”

Reach CAL KILLEEN via e-mail or 610-1193.