Tell Us Your Story

If you need immediate legal assistance, please contact a lawyer, your local public defender or pro bono organization, or 603 Legal Aid.  The ACLU of New Hampshire is not a direct services legal provider.  DO NOT WAIT for a response from the ACLU-NH.

TELL US YOUR STORY

The ACLU-NH welcomes input from our community about violations of civil rights and civil liberties. Although we review and retain the information we receive, we generally do not respond directly. If you submit a report or tell us your story, you should not expect to receive a response from our office. This applies to all requests for assistance, no matter how urgent, whether delivered to us by mail, email, or telephone.

The ACLU-NH receives hundreds of complaints each year, but our resources to respond are limited.  We are unable to take many cases, even those concerning real injustices. If you do not receive a response, it does not mean that your complaint or story is without merit. 

If you want to report a violation or tell us your story, please fill out this form. This form is not an offer by the ACLU-NH to represent you. Again, we cannot promise you that the information you provide will lead to a response or any specific action on the ACLU-NH’s part. You may fill out this secure online form or you may print out this form and mail it to:

ACLU of New Hampshire Foundation
18 Low Avenue
Concord, New Hampshire 03301

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR LEGAL PROGRAM

To better understand the types of cases we take and why, please review the information below.

The ACLU-NH does not generally accept this kind of case:

• A person has been fired from a job without a good reason or just cause;
• Domestic matters (divorce, child custody, wills, etc.);
• A person is being denied benefits, such as workers' compensation, unemployment benefits, or Social Security;
• Landlord / tenant  or neighbor disputes; 
• Immigration process matters (other than certain, specific cases brought by New Hampshire Immigrants' Rights Project); and,
• Criminal cases or complaints about a person's attorney in a criminal case. The ACLU-NH considers accepting criminal cases only in limited instances, such as when a person is being prosecuted for engaging in activity protected by the Constitution.

Before accepting a case, the ACLU-NH considers the following:

1. Does the case raise a civil liberties or civil rights issue?

Civil liberties include freedom of speech, press, religion, and association; due process; equal protection; and privacy.  Civil rights include, for example, voting rights; discrimination based on disability, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, or national origin; and police reform. Because of the nature of civil liberties claims, the ACLU-NH only rarely takes a case that does not involve the government.

2. How likely is it that a court will reach the civil liberties issue?

Generally, the ACLU-NH takes cases that do not involve complicated disputes of fact, and prefers cases that involve questions of law only. An example of a factual dispute is an employment discrimination case in which the employer claims he fired the employee because of poor job performance and has credible evidence to support that claim, but the employee disputes the evidence and has credible evidence of their own. Because employment claims are usually very fact dependent, it is not often that the ACLU-NH takes this kind of case.

3. The potential impact, including:

• Will the case set a civil liberties precedent?
• Will the case strengthen an existing but ignored precedent?
• What are the prospects of success and the risks of losing?
• How likely is the issue to recur?
• What educational opportunities does the case present?

Even if a case meets this criteria, our capacity to pursue it is still limited. Some cases may squarely meet one or several of these criteria, but do not allow for broadly applicable relief. Others may satisfy all of our selection criteria, but may arise at a time when our office’s resources are tapped out. Please understand that we are staffed with kind, compassionate, and hardworking people that are doing their best to advance our mission. We decline far more cases than we accept.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT DEADLINES

All legal claims have time deadlines. The deadlines may be different depending on who violated your rights and what rights were violated. For some kinds of violations, you may need to file a claim with a government agency before you can sue (such as the EEOC or New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights). These agencies usually have their own time deadlines. The ACLU-NH cannot give you advice about the deadlines that apply to your case.

Reporting an issue to the ACLU-NH does not pause, delay, or toll your filing deadlines. To protect your rights, please consult with an attorney promptly to find out what deadlines apply in your situation. A failure to do so could preclude you from obtaining relief in the future.