The New Hampshire Bar Association (NHBA) is the integrated (mandatory)

bar association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to se ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

History

NHBA's lineage extends back to county bar chapters such as New Hampshire's Grafton County Bar Association which in 1793 examined candidates for admission to the bar; a statewide meeting of New Hampshire bar members occurred in 1788. In 1873, a special act of the Legislature established "The Bar Association of the State of New Hampshire" as a voluntary membership organization, making it the oldest statewide bar organization in the United States. Its first President was Ira Perley. In 1967, NHBA petitioned the Legislature to amend its acts of incorporation to change its name to "New Hampshire Bar Association". The next year, the New Hampshire Supreme Court unified the bar (making membership mandatory for practicing law in New Hampshire) for a three-year trial period. In 1972 Court ordered that unification "be continued without limitation of time".

Structure

The NHBA is governed by a Board of Governors consisting of 6 officers elected statewide by the membership, 11 members elected by county, 5 elected at large, a public sector governor, and an ABA Association Delegate. The Bar enforces the rule that New Hampshire lawyers must complete 12 credits of

Continuing Legal Education Continuing legal education (CLE), also known as mandatory or minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) or, in some jurisdictions outside the United States, as continuing professional development, consists of professional education for attorneys ...

each year. NHBA publishes the scholarly quarterly ''New Hampshire Bar Journal'' and the newsier monthly ''New Hampshire Bar News''.

References

{{Authority control American state bar associations Government of New Hampshire 1873 establishments in New Hampshire Organizations established in 1873