HB 361 - AS INTRODUCED

1999 SESSION

99-0655

03/09

HOUSE BILL 361

AN ACT requiring the suspension of attorneys who do not abide by a client's decision whether to accept an offer of settlement.

SPONSORS: Rep. Gilman, Graf 1

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

ANALYSIS

This bill requires attorneys to abide by a client's decision whether to accept an offer of settlement. An attorney shall be suspended from practice for second or subsequent violations of this requirement.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

99-0655

03/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine

AN ACT requiring the suspension of attorneys who do not abide by a client's decision whether to accept an offer of settlement.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 New Section; Occupations and Professions; Attorneys and Counselors; Regulation of Practice of Law; Client's Decision Whether to Accept an Offer of Settlement. Amend RSA 311 by inserting after section 8 the following new section:

311:8-a Client's Decision Whether to Accept an Offer of Settlement. An attorney shall abide by a client's decision whether to accept an offer of settlement of a matter. Actions for violations of this section may be filed in the superior court. An attorney shall be fined $100 for a first offense, and shall be suspended from practice for a period of 6 months for a second or subsequent offense. Copies of all complaints filed and all orders issued pursuant to this section shall be forwarded by the superior court to the supreme court.

2 Occupations and Professions; Attorneys and Counselors; Regulation of Practice of Law; Effect of Suspension; Reference Added. Amend RSA 311:10 to read as follows:

311:10 Effect of Suspension[, etc]. No person while suspended from practice pursuant to RSA 311:8 or RSA 311:8-a, or until the person's restoration to office, shall be permitted to practice as an attorney before any court or magistrate, or elsewhere; and any writ or other process made by such person for another, while thus disqualified, shall be void.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2000.