DATE: December 2, 2005                             CONTACT: Laura Kiernan
                                                                                    Communications Director
                                                                                    271-2646 ext 359

 NEWS RELEASE

Peale sworn in as Clerk of Sullivan County Superior Court

CONCORD-- Attorney James I. Peale was sworn in Wednesday as Clerk of Sullivan County Superior Court during a ceremony in the Newport courthouse attended by Superior Court Justice Jean K. Burling, who is currently assigned to the Sullivan trial court, friends and co-workers. The oath was administered by Chief Justice Robert J. Lynn of the Superior Court.

       Peale, who has been with the court system for 18 years, had served since November 2004 as Deputy Clerk of the Merrimack County Superior Court. In Sullivan County, he succeeds Peter Y. Wolfe, who recently retired after 17 years as Clerk. Wolfe is now coordinator of the Judicial Branch Alternative Dispute Resolution programs.

            A 1977 graduate of Colby College, Peale received his law degree in 1981 from Mercer University's Walter F. George School Of Law in Macon, Georgia. Prior to coming to the Merrimack County Superior Court in 2004, Peale had served for 17 years as deputy clerk in  Cheshire County Superior Court in Keene. Previously he was employed by the New Hampshire Department of Corrections and the Rockingham County Attorney’s Office.  A resident of Keene since 1987, Peale is a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association and the Maine Bar Association.

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