The NH Pro Bono Referral Program and the Legal Advice and Referral Center are merging to become 603 Legal Aid.
The merger, announced at the May 6 NH Campaign for Legal Services Virtual 2021 Campaign Kickoff Breakfast, will take effect June 1.
The product of over two years of planning, the merger is designed to help to meet a growing need of low-income people in New Hampshire seeking free legal services.
“This is the single most significant change in the delivery of legal services for needy citizens in decades,” said George Moore, executive director of the New Hampshire Bar Association. “While we started talking about the possibilities before the pandemic, the ensuing shutdown of the economy made the need all that more urgent.”
Newly hired Executive Director Sonya Bellafant, said the merger will provide full representation for some clients.
“We are committed to expanding the scope of the services previously offered by LARC and Pro Bono,” Bellafant told the Bar News. “603 Legal Aid will provide statewide, centralized holistic in-take to readily identify pressing legal issues efficiently. Our objective is also to expand civil legal aid capacity by providing direct representation via staff attorneys, pro bono counsel and other referrals. These changes will ideally expand access and capacity to free civil representation to those who are struggling to preserve the basic necessities of life.”
Bellafant was most recently director of the Tennessee Senior Law Alliance, and was selected to lead the new program after a national executive search conducted by a collaborative committee of leaders from the staff and boards of LARC, Pro Bono and NH Legal Assistance.
One of the changes the merger will bring for NHLA and 603 Legal Aid is the creation of a statewide in-take process for people seeking civil legal aid.
The consolidation is supported by findings in the latest statewide civil legal needs assessment, completed in 2020 by the NH Access to Justice Commission. The report, based on interviews with nearly 1,000 stakeholders, revealed on-going confusion with the in-take system for civil legal aid.
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