About the Appellate Defender Program
The Appellate Defender is housed at the University of New Hampshire School of Law and is charged with the responsibility of handling virtually all of the indigent criminal appeals from New Hampshire state courts. For approximately twenty years, James Duggan, now a Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, served as the Chief Appellate Defender.
The Appellate Defender, along with the Attorney General's office, appears more often before the New Hampshire Supreme Court than any other entity; accordingly, it plays a very important role in the development of criminal, constitutional, and statutory law in New Hampshire. The Appellate Defender files approximately 100 briefs per year in the New Hampshire Supreme Court and orally argues some 80 cases per year in that Court. A Supreme Court rule change has made it possible for Clinic students to present oral arguments on behalf of Appellate Defender clients in the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The first two UNH Law students to present arguments under the new rule will do so in the fall of 2011.
The Appellate Defender serves the University of New Hampshire School of Law community directly by offering a clinic for upper level students in which students assist Appellate Defender attorneys in writing appeals and in preparing oral arguments. The Clinic, through that direct participation in the work of the Appellate Defender, and through formal classroom instruction in appellate advocacy, seeks to give students a thorough introduction to the essential skills of an appellate lawyer applicable to any appellate practice specialty.
