Understanding the Access to Civil Justice Gap Across New Hampshire
A new statewide report, the 2025 New Hampshire Legal Needs Study: Mapping the Geography of Civil Legal Needs in the Granite State, provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of civil legal needs and access to justice across New Hampshire, highlighting both the scale of unmet need and opportunities for targeted solutions.
The Legal Needs Study, available here, was developed through a collaboration involving the New Hampshire Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission, New Hampshire Judicial Branch, the state’s three primary civil legal services organizations (603 Legal Aid, Disability Rights Center-New Hampshire, and New Hampshire Legal Assistance), and the New Hampshire Bar Association. Drawing on data and information from New Hampshire’s courts, legal services providers, and the private bar, plus input from more than 120 community partners, the report offers a first-of-its-kind, data-driven assessment of where legal needs arise and where gaps persist. In addition to the report, the project produced an interactive Public Data Atlas and a Story Map summarizing the Study’s findings.
“The Legal Needs Study makes clear that access to justice is not an abstract concept—it is shaped by where people live and the unique barriers they face,” said New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald. “By bringing together data from across our civil justice system, we now have a clearer understanding of where needs are greatest and how we can respond more effectively.”
Among its key findings, the study concludes:
Demand far exceeds available legal help. More than 33,000 requests for civil legal services were made between 2022 and 2024, with thousands going unmet due to limited capacity.
Structural barriers drive legal need. Over 25,000 households lack access to a vehicle, nearly 32,000 lack home internet, and only about half of court locations are reachable by public transit—factors that significantly limit people’s ability to represent themselves and seek help when needed.
Poverty, disability, and age compound access barriers. Poverty is concentrated in the North Country and western counties, which also have the highest rates of disability (up to 31% in some areas) and the largest shares of older adults living alone.
Court data reveals large-scale unmet need. Of the almost 40,000 small claims debt cases filed during the core study period, nearly half were resolved by default, meaning defendants did not meaningfully participate in proceedings that resulted in enforceable judgments.
Free legal help reaches only a fraction of cases. The report introduces a new metric, the Civil Legal Aid Coverage Coefficient (CLACC), to measure how civil legal services reach people facing court-based legal problems. The CLACC aligns civil legal aid data with court filing trends to make patterns visible, helping policymakers and providers identify where additional investment could expand access to justice.
Attorney access is uneven statewide. Attorney access is uneven across the state. Only 2,263 active attorneys are physically based in New Hampshire, and just eight serve all of Coös County—leaving large regions functioning as legal deserts.
Partners from across the state consistently emphasize that civil legal issues—such as housing instability, family safety, consumer debt, and access to benefits—are essential and deeply connected to broader community well-being.
“Free legal help is essential infrastructure for strong communities,” said Mark Rouvalis, Co-Chair of the New Hampshire Access to Justice Commission and an attorney and director at McLane Middleton. “This report gives us the data we need to align resources with real-world need and make smart, strategic investments.”
“Publication of the Legal Needs Study marks a turning point for how we understand access to justice in New Hampshire,” said New Hampshire Supreme Court Associate Justice Melissa Countway, Co-Chair of the Access to Justice Commission. “The findings challenge us to think differently about how we measure access to justice and ensure that all Granite Staters, regardless of where they live or their unique circumstances, have a meaningful opportunity to be heard in court.”
Leaders of the state’s civil legal services providers emphasized both the urgency of the findings and the opportunity they present.
“Every day, we hear from people navigating serious legal problems without the help they need,” said Ariel Clemmer, Executive Director of 603 Legal Aid. “This report confirms what we experience on the ground and outlines potential solutions to expand access, strengthen partnerships, and better serve Granite Staters.”
The report calls for a range of strategies, including increased staffing for civil legal services programs, expanded remote access and technology use, greater investment in community-embedded assistance, and stronger collaboration across the justice system.
About the Study:
The 2025 New Hampshire Legal Needs Study was authored by Katherine Alteneder, Esq., of Access to Justice Innovation and Suzanne Wade of More Than Maps. It was funded by the New Hampshire Bar Foundation and the New Hampshire Judicial Branch, with substantial data contributions and collaboration from the Judicial Branch, the New Hampshire Bar Association, and the project team, led by 603 Legal Aid, with sustained partnership from Disability Rights Center-New Hampshire and New Hampshire Legal Assistance.