The information contained in this article is not intended as legal advice and may no longer be accurate due to changes in the law. Consult NHMA's legal services or your municipal attorney.
A significant service that NHMA provides to our members is access to our legal services department. Made up of two attorneys, NHMA legal services provides a variety of different resources and benefits to our members. Every day, the two attorneys are available by phone or email to answer legal questions and provide general legal assistance to elected and appointed officials from member municipalities. The attorneys also prepare articles, handbooks, seminars, guidance documents, educational programs and publications and on-demand legal trainings.
In 2024, the legal services department saw an increase in both the number of legal questions received as well as the demand for specific legal trainings.
LEGAL INQUIRY CALL/EMAIL STATISTICS - 2024
Total Legal Inquiries: 2023= 3002, 2024= 3175
Top Ten Legal Inquiry Subjects - 2024
| Municipal Law Subject | # of Inquiries |
| Right to Know Law | 171 |
| Planning Board | 138 |
| Zoning Board of Adjustment | 126 |
| Budgeting | 124 |
| Public Meetings | 104 |
| Select Board Authority | 103 |
| Land Use | 92 |
| Governmental Records | 89 |
| Employment | 68 |
| Welfare | 59 |
On Demand Presentations: The staff at NHMA presented 36 times at various trainings requested by our members or other affiliate agencies. One of the benefits NHMA provides to its members is the ability to request one or two attorneys to present either virtually or in person for up to 2 hours on a specific subject.
New and/or Updated Publications: The attorneys and staff at NHMA update or rewrite several publications each year, most of which are now available free of charge to our members on our website. In 2024 we also added a new publication, The Volunteer Manual.
- Basic Law of Budgeting
- Basic Financial Policies
- Charter Government in NH
- Code Enforcement Handbook
- Court Update
- Final Bulletin
- Guide to Legislative Advocacy
- Hard Road to Travel Supplement
- Knowing the Territory
- Leg Policy Booklet
- Model Welfare Guidelines
- Municipal Calendars
- Right to Know Guidebook Supplement
- State Aid
- Town & Sch Meeting Handbook
- Art of Welfare
Workshops: NHMA hosted 23 workshops in 2024, including our annual conference. In total, over 1,581 people attending workshops hosted by NHMA in 2024. These workshops included:
- Moderators Workshop, SB2 and Traditional
- Right to Know Workshop for Law Enforcement
- Local Officials Workshop
- Right to Know Workshop on Meetings and Records
- Hard Road to Travel Workshop (2 workshops)
- Local Officials Workshop
- Code Enforcement
- Trustees Training
- Welfare Workshop
- Academy for Good Governance (7 events)
- Budget and Finance (Manchester and Littleton)
- Legislative Policy Conference
- Municipal Land Use Law Conference
- NHMA Annual Conference
Other Agencies: NHMA works collaboratively with other agencies to help provide training to their membership, much of which overlaps with NHMA’s membership. Some of the outside agencies NHMA worked with in 2024 include:
- NH Water Coalition
- NH Tax Collectors Association
- NH Timber Owners Association
- NH Government Finance Officers Association
- NH Office of Planning and Development
- Primex
- NH Library Trustees Association
- PBS
- NH Digital Government
- UNH T2