New County Attorney brings broad experience to job

Andrew Livernois is congratulated by Laconia Circuit Court Justice Jim Carroll after being sworn in as Belknap County Attorney at the Belknap County Superior Court on Tuesday, Aug. 1.  (Alan MacRae/for The Laconia Daily Sun)

Andrew Livernois is sworn in; promises to listen to community

By THOMAS P. CALDWELL, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Andrew Livernois, the newly appointed Belknap County Attorney, said he is thrilled to return to the Lakes Region and hopes to apply his broad legal background in overseeing an effective and professional team.

Originally from Sanbornton and now living in New Hampton, Livernois is a Yale-educated attorney who formerly served as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and as assistant New Hampshire Attorney General. He also served as legal counsel to the Medicaid Department in Health and Human Services and, most recently, he has been in private practice where he focused on employment law, criminal law, civil rights law, personal injury, and municipal and county liability.

On Tuesday, he was sworn in as Belknap County Attorney, succeeding Melissa Countway Guldbrandsen, who moved on to serve as a judge in the New Hampshire Circuit Court system.

“I’m excited about this job and this opportunity,” Livernois said. “I’m thrilled to be able to make a difference in my home community.”

Livernois wants to start out by listening.

“My plan is to do a lot of outreach to community groups, police departments, town selectmen, to all the various stakeholders, to see what they care about, what their concerns are about the way things are being done,” he said. “I want to learn what people want and make sure the office is delivering that. The heart of what the county attorney does is to supervise the office and be a prosecutor."

His goal is to see that the office operates smoothly, “professionally trying the cases that need to be tried.”

Most county attorneys have mainly prosecutorial experience, and Livernois said his work as a defense attorney gives him is a “fuller picture of the process” — an understanding of the legal issues and defense tactics that come into play from the other side.

“A prosecutor’s job is to exercise prosecutorial discretion, and you want a pro who has good judgment, who is fair and reasonable, not a pure zealot ... Exercising justice requires the ability to analyze a situation and fully appreciate all the contours to get the right result. My job is to enforce the law.”

He said he has observed that the Belknap County Attorney’s Office already does a good job.

“My goal is to instill to the best degree I can an atmosphere of professionalism, and I can bring some of my practice and experience to help us become better at everything we do. I will take a hard look when I get in to see that we are the best lawyers we can be in the courtroom, and make sure, no matter what, we practice with integrity and fairness, and are fair shooters.”

Some county attorneys decline to get involved on the civil side but, with his background in defending municipalities in contract disputes, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, issues around finances, employees, and discrimination, he believes he can help out on the civil side as well.

“I need to get my feet under me on the prosecution side and figure out my time commitments first,” he said, “but it’s an area where I could definitely help out. The statutes contemplate work on civil matters.”

He also addressed the drug epidemic, saying, “There’s talk and effort being put into alternatives to incarceration. I want to focus some energy on that issue, and do everything we can to find ways to solve the problem in a way that saves taxpayers’ money, holds people accountable, and gets them treatment. We need to come up with more creative solutions to these problems.”

Livernois said he does not yet have a well-thought-out position on mandatory life sentences for juveniles guilty of violent crimes, another recent news topic.

“Studies have shown young people don’t have a fully developed sense of self-control; it’s one of the last parts of the brain to develop,” he said. “On one hand, I’d hate to have a juvenile’s life destroyed by a bad decision, but presumably these young people did something heinous. I take seriously the idea that we’re going to speak for the victims, so we want to hold them accountable.”

As to President Donald Trump’s advice to police, urging them to “rough up” people they are arresting, Livernois said, “I don’t want to get into partisan politics, but I was disappointed to hear Trump’s remarks. It’s not the message we want to send to police departments. The police officers I know take very seriously their responsibility to preserve people’s rights, especially with what’s happening around the country, to instill professionalism. The police officers I know would never do that sort of thing, and I think what Trump said was inexcusable and inappropriate. As a prosecutor, I would not approve of officers using excessive force. Some force is justified and appropriate. It’s an area I’m familiar with, and would not take it lightly.”

Livernois has lectured about social media and internet issues, and has dealt with First and Fourth Amendment issues. He does not anticipate many problems with social media as a prosecutor, saying police may use postings as evidence, but, in that case, someone posting on Facebook is giving up privacy.

“For the most part, if someone posts on Facebook, it’s usually fair game for law enforcement. It’s not punishing speech, but the act, and the speech is evidence.”

However, there could be issues with obtaining information from computers or smartphones, which require a warrant.

“Rules prohibit lawyers from posing as people to gain access,” he said.

“Social media is an area that in the past few years has expanded so rapidly the towns could not keep up with it,” he said. “On the criminal side, the tools it creates and the information it provides in criminal cases are changing the landscape quite a bit.”