DATE: June 28, 2006 CONTACT: Will Abbott 
Phone: 603-496-7019 
Katharine Eneguess 
Phone: 603-630-4149 
CITIZENS COMMISSION ON STATE COURTS ISSUES FINAL REPORT 
Study finds “customer services” need improvement statewide 
CONCORD---The New Hampshire Citizens Commission on the State Courts issued its 
final report today calling for improved “customer services” for users of the court system 
including a toll-free help line, non-traditional operating hours and appointment of a 
judicial branch ombudsman to address concerns raised by the public about the court 
system. 
The commission was convened in April 2005 by the Supreme Court to make an 
independent assessment of the state court system and make recommendations for 
change and improvement. Two-thirds of the commission members were non-lawyers. 
The volunteer commission was chaired by Will Abbott of Holderness, a vice-president of 
the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and Katharine Eneguess of 
Jaffrey, president of the New Hampshire Community Technical College in Berlin. 
In a 46-page report to the Supreme Court, the commission also said the court 
system should “significantly accelerate” installation of its new case management system 
which will improve court operating efficiency. “Information technology represents one of 
the key tools available to the judicial branch to improve quality of services and to lower 
costs,” the report said, citing opportunities for streamlined scheduling of court hearings, 
more use of video-conferencing and electronic filing and notification. 
“Using computers, video and teleconferencing is not without cost, but failing to do 
so is a failure to employ the single best means to render the judicial branch more 
consumer-friendly and less costly overall,” the Commission said. 

The commission also recommended: 
• Full funding of traditional legal services for the poor in civil cases. The report 
said only 20 percent of low-income people who need legal services are being 
served. The report also said that the state should examine whether poor people 
should have a right to a lawyer in limited civil cases in which essential rights, 
such as housing, are at stake. 
• Expansion of existing alternative dispute resolution programs, such as 
mediation, which make it possible to resolve legal claims without going to court. 
Such programs decrease conflict, cut costs, improve public confidence in the 
courts’ ability to resolve disputes and improve efficiency, the report said. 
• Providing “case managers” for all litigants in family court who do not have 
lawyers. Currently the Family Division, which is expanding statewide, has five 
case managers. 
• Implementation of comprehensive, statewide pretrial diversion programs and 
alternatives to prison “designed to protect public safety, compensate victims of 
crime and deter further criminal behavior.” The report noted that New Hampshire 
spends millions to incarcerate people with substance abuse problems but 
provides no treatment programs in jail, and “inadequate” treatment and 
supervision for those on probation or parole. Use of alternative to prison 
programs would “rehabilitate offenders, save money and reduce crime,” the 
report said. 
• Initiate a “vigorous educational outreach campaign” to address the broad lack of 
public understanding of the judicial branch. A May 2005 poll conducted by the 
University of New Hampshire Survey Center, found that more than 60 percent of 
the state population had little or no familiarity with the state courts. A more 
extensive UNH survey on the courts, conducted in August 2005, is included in 
Appendix C of the Commission’s final report. 
In total, the Commission made 30 recommendations to the Supreme Court, 
which the report said the commission believes “warrant action by state policymakers to 
improve the delivery of justice in New Hampshire.” The commission asked Chief Justice 
John T. Broderick Jr. and the Supreme Court to issue an interim report on the 
recommendations in six-months, and a final report on implementation within a year. 

In a letter to the Supreme Court, Commission co-chairs Abbott and Eneguess 
said many of the Commission’s recommendations “will require the collaboration of all 
three branches of state government.” The commissioners are ready to work with the 
judiciary, as well as the executive and legislative branches “to make these 
recommendations the subject of thorough discussion and constructive change,” Abbott 
and Eneguess said in the letter. 
The commission held 11 “listening sessions” around the state and then 
assembled into eight research committees which submitted recommendations to the full 
commission for consideration. The commissioners held two days of deliberations in 
Representatives Hall at the statehouse in Concord and voted on recommendations to 
be included in their final report to the Supreme Court. 
The Citizens Commission’s work was supported by grants from the New 
Hampshire Bar Foundation and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. 
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