About NHLA
Become part of making better lives through legal advocacy!
Our Mission & Vision
New Hampshire Legal Assistance is a nonprofit law firm working to make justice a reality for and with people who experience economic hardship that threatens their basic human needs. Through representation and systemic advocacy, NHLA offers civil legal aid that addresses the effects and root causes of poverty.
We offer our clients high-quality civil legal aid to address the legal problems that affect their daily survival and most basic needs. These services range from simple legal information and advice to vigorous and thorough representation in all of New Hampshire's courts and before many of the local, state and federal agencies which play large roles in their lives. In providing legal services to the poor, NHLA helps ensure the legal system provides the fairness and justice that all New Hampshire residents deserve.
NHLA does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity, in the delivery of services.
Our History
NHLA was created in 1971 through the merger of two smaller programs, Southern New Hampshire Legal Services and Tri-County Legal Services, which served the North Country. The program’s initial primary source of funding was the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), founded by President Lyndon Johnson as part of the War on Poverty. A few years later, the OEO was replaced by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).
In 1996, LSC funding was drastically reduced and restrictions were added that would have barred NHLA from undertaking much of the work it had historically done so well. The NHLA Board of Directors at the time elected not to continue to receive the LSC funding, and instead supported creation of the Legal Advice & Referral Center (LARC) which accepted the LSC funding and put it to excellent use. Two of NHLA's five offices closed as a result of this courageous decision, but within two years NHLA had replaced all lost LSC funds with other sources of funding. For the next 25 years, NHLA maintained a close partnership with LARC, as well as with the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Pro Bono Referral System.
In 2021, LARC and the Pro Bono Referral System merged to form 603 Legal Aid. 603 Legal Aid serves as the centralized intake point for civil legal aid in New Hampshire. It also offers direct legal services, including through its continued operation of a pro bono program through which attorneys in private practice can take on cases for people in need as well as receive training and support. 603 Legal Aid remains NHLA’s most important partner. We also routinely collaborate with the Disability Rights Center-New Hampshire, the state’s protection and advocacy organization for people with disabilities.
Staff
Note: Visit the Contact Us page for office phone numbers and addresses
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Sarah Mattson Dustin, Executive Director
Justine Campbell, Financial Analyst
Patrick Donahue, Assistant Controller
Donna Giddings, Administrative Assistant
Jeff Kelcourse, Human Resources Manager
Lindsay Lincoln, Director of Grants Development and Administration
Dawn McKinney, Policy Director
Lori Wamser, Controller
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Ruth Heintz, Managing Attorney
Carol Graham, Administrative Assistant
Peggy Brick, Staff Attorney
Erin Cram, Paralegal
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Stephanie Bray, Managing Attorney and Foreclosure Relief Project Director
Mary Krueger, Staff Attorney
Karen Leahy, Administrative Manager
Jonathan Teller-Elsberg, Staff Attorney
Emma Reyering, Paralegal
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Cheryl Steinberg, Managing Attorney, Justice in Aging Project Director
Raymond Burke, Co-Director, Benefits Project
Brenda Grant, Administrative Manager
Eny Lopez, Administrative Assistant
Jessica Erazo, Staff Attorney
Elyssa Willadsen, Staff Attorney
Kerstin Cornell, Staff Attorney
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Stephen Tower, Managing Attorney
Megan Dillon, Co-Director, Benefits Project
Karen Dorr, Administrative Manager
Maria Eveleth, Co-Director, Fair Housing Project
Liliana Neumann, Fair Housing Testing/Bilingual Intake
Christopher Schott, Co-Director, Fair Housing Project
Pritisha Pradhan, Paralegal
Colleen Perry, Paralegal
Michael Merra, Staff Attorney
Rose Lamerand, Paralegal
Carol Kunz, Staff Attorney
Flower Fajardo, Administrative Assistant
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Kay Drought, Managing Attorney and Litigation Director
Ruthie Cartlidge, Administrative Manager
Lauren Greenwald, Housing Justice Project Director
Sofia Hyatt, Staff Attorney
Marta Hurgin, Staff Attorney
Erin Jasina, Domestic Violence Project Director
Aly McKnight, Staff Attorney
Meg Moran, Staff Attorney, Removal Defense Project
Michelle Wangerin, Youth Law Project Director
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Sarah Palermo, Director , Campaign for Legal Services
NHLA Board of Directors
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Anne Jenness, Chair
Sindiso Mnisi Weeks, Vice Chair
Claire Gagnon, Treasurer
Courtney Herz, Secretary
Matthew Streeter, Executive Committee -
Bartolome Almonte, Manchester, NH
Hilary Alvarez, Concord Family Medicine
John Beardmore, Fidelity Investments
Ophelia Burnett, American Friends Service Committee
Lauren Snow Chadwick, National Education Association
Catherine Flinchbaugh, NH Public Defender
Claire Gagnon, Easterseals NH
Elizabeth Greenwood, Community Bridges
Courtney Herz, Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green
Douglas P. Hill, Gilford, NH
Anne Jenness, Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell
Abbygale Martinen, Sheehan Phinney
Craig McMahon, Rath, Young & Pignatelli
Benjamin Ming, Hollis, NH
Sindiso Mnisi Weeks, University of Massachusetts Boston
Hilary Holmes Rheaume, Bernstein Shur
Matthew Streeter, North Country Healthcare, Inc.
Erin Vanden Borre, Orr & Reno
Our Funders
NHLA receives generous support from a broad spectrum of the New Hampshire community and beyond. Our largest funding sources are the State of New Hampshire and the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program of the NH Bar Foundation, which annually distributes IOLTA revenue and awards other funds. We also receive grants from numerous local, state, and national foundations, United Ways across the state, and municipal, state and federal agencies. Also important is the on-going support of local law firms, large and small, and individual lawyers, business people, and community members, through the annual NH Campaign for Legal Services. We hope that you will join this remarkable team of supporters and strengthen the effort to extend civil legal services to those in need in New Hampshire.
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Amoskeag Health
Bank of New Hampshire
NH Campaign for Legal Services
Clowes Fund
Dartmouth Hitchcock
Eastern Bank Foundation
Endowment for Health
Granite United Way
- North Country region
- Northern Region
- Southern region
- Central Region
- Greater Seacoast
- Upper Valley
-Youth Enrichment Program
Governor's Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery
IOLTA Program of the NH Bar Foundation
National Health Law Program
Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund
NH Bar Foundation
NH Bureau of Elderly & Adult Services
NH Division of Economic and Housing Stability
NH Charitable Foundation
- Community Crisis Action Fund
- Fanger Family Fund
- Geoffrey E. Clark and Martha Fuller Clark Fund
- Mary and Charles Howe Family Fund
- Rosebud Fund
- Tenney Flexible Fund
NH Children’s Trust
NH Department of Justice
NH Housing Finance Authority
NH Hunger Solutions
Norwin S. Elizabeth N. Bean Foundation
Point32Health Foundation
State of New Hampshire
US Administration for Community Living
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
US Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women
US Office for Victims of Crime
You Have Our Trust Fund