At Lawyer Legion, we understand the important role that Lawyer Referral Services (LRS) play in helping you find an attorney in New Hampshire. Consider the benefits of calling the New Hampshire Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) in Concord, N.H., when you begin your search for a local and qualified attorney.
Since the LRS established in the 1960s, this non-profit public service has helped connect qualified attorneys with individuals and businesses in need of legal representation or other legal services. With offices in Concord, NH, the NHBA Lawyer Referral Services (LRS) makes referrals to individuals and businesses statewide.
Read more about the New Hampshire Bar Association, the oldest statewide integrated (mandatory membership) bar association in the United States.
When you contact the LRS by phone or e-mail, then the trained staff will help you determine if you need an attorney. If so, the staff will refer you to a local attorney who handles your type of case. If you do not need or cannot afford an attorney, the staff will make every effort to direct you to another source for help.
Attorneys that participate in the service practice in nearly every area of the law, are members in good standing of the New Hampshire Bar Association, carry professional liability (malpractice) insurance, and provide practice profiles for your review
Issues Handled by the NH LRS
The most common legal issues handled by the lawyer referral service in New Hampshire include:
Administrative Law
Bankruptcy & Debt Collection
Business Law
Criminal Law
Employment Law
Family Law
Intellectual Property
Landlord – Tenant Law
Personal Injury/ Malpractice
Real Estate Law
Wills, Trusts & Estates
Workers’ Compensation
Bar Rules for Lawyer Referral Services in New Hampshire
According to Rule 7.2. of the New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct for Information About Legal Services, there are some situations in which it is permissible for an attorney to pay another entity to refer them a case. Read more about the bar rules in New Hampshire for attorney advertising. Comment 6 of Rule 7.2 explains:
[6] A lawyer may pay the usual charges of a legal service plan or a not-for-profit or qualified lawyer referral service. A legal service plan is a prepaid or group legal service plan or a similar delivery system that assists people who seek to secure legal representation.
A lawyer referral service, on the other hand, is any organization that holds itself out to the public as a lawyer referral service. Such referral services are understood by the public to be consumer-oriented organizations that provide unbiased referrals to lawyers with appropriate experience in the subject matter of the representation and afford other client protections, such as complaint procedures or malpractice insurance requirements. Consequently, this Rule only permits a lawyer to pay the usual charges of a not-for-profit or qualified lawyer referral service.
A qualified lawyer referral service is one that is approved by an appropriate regulatory authority as affording adequate protections for the public. See, e.g., the American Bar Association's Model Supreme Court Rules Governing Lawyer Referral Services and Model Lawyer Referral and Information Service Quality Assurance Act (requiring that organizations that are identified as lawyer referral services
(i) permit the participation of all lawyers who are licensed and eligible to practice in the jurisdiction and who meet reasonable objective eligibility requirements as may be established by the referral service for the protection of the public;
(ii) require each participating lawyer to carry reasonably adequate malpractice insurance;
(iii) act reasonably to assess client satisfaction and address client complaints; and
(iv) do not make referrals to lawyers who own, operate or are employed by the referral service.)
Comment 7 provides:
A lawyer who accepts assignments or referrals from a legal service plan or referrals from a lawyer referral service must act reasonably to assure that the activities of the plan or service are compatible with the lawyer's professional obligations. See Rule 5.3. Legal service plans and lawyer referral services may communicate with the public, but such communication must be in conformity with these Rules. Thus, advertising must not be false or misleading, as would be the case if the communications of a group advertising program or a group legal services plan would mislead the public to think that it was a lawyer referral service sponsored by a state agency or bar association. Nor could the lawyer allow in-person, telephonic, or real-time contacts that would violate Rule 7.3.
Additional Resources
Lawyer Referral Service in NH on Facebook - Find more information about the lawyer referral service in New Hampshire. For the last 40 years, the NH LRS makes referrals for lawyers practicing in virtually all areas of law. The attorneys accepting referrals must be members in good standing of the NH Bar Association, provide practice profiles, and carry professional liability (malpractice) insurance. Attorneys get results from full-fee referrals through the LRS. In fact, in 2017 and 2018, the LRS referred cases with nearly $3,500,000.00 in legal fees.
Finding an Attorney in New Hampshire
If you need to find an attorney in New Hampshire then consider the benefits of using the Lawyer Referral Service sponsored by the New Hampshire Bar Association. For the past 40 years, the NH LRS has operated a non-profit public service that refers clients to qualified attorneys. The trained staff person listens to a description of the legal problem and the location where the attorney is needed and makes a referral.
Although the New Hampshire Bar Association does not have attorneys on staff to review legal issues, answer legal questions or render legal opinions, it can refer you to an attorney for a low-cost initial consultation.
Lawyer referral services provide an important alternative to looking online, in attorney advertisements. or in online commercial attorney directories to find an attorney.
This article was last updated on Thursday, December 26, 2019.
