RAISING THE BAR: LOBBYING, CHRISTOPHER GALLAGHER

CHRISTOPHER GALLAGHER

Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell in Concord

Years Practicing Law: 37

Law School: Harvard Law School

With the third largest parliamentary body in the English speaking world, NH's citizen legislators grapple with complex issues affecting the lives of 1.2 million people, ranging from healthcare to education.

And helping to guide their decisions is Christopher Gallagher, a lobbyist who sees himself as an educator rather than a shaper of policy.

His ability to distill complex issues into something legislators can quickly and easily understand has made him the man politicians turn to for clarity and guidance.

"I love policy. My personal and professional life come together in utilizing the government to promote citizenship and effective regulation," Gallagher says.

"My job for the past 15 to 20 years has been to take highly complex concepts and regulatory frameworks and boil them down so these ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the legislature can understand them," he says.

Gallagher was drawn to government relations because it allows him to be "a catalyst for public policy that works. The other areas, of law are fine and I've practiced most of them, but the ability to create policy that is forward-looking and will be implemented is very gratifying and interesting," he says. "You get to participate in the democracy that holds this republic together."

A respected lobbyist both in NH and in Washington, D.C., Gallagher not only espouses the importance of public service, he also lives it.

For the past seven years he has served on the board of directors as vice chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service's Americorps program, which was recently endorsed by President Bush in his State of the Union Address.

"The president is committed (to Americorps). I intend to work with him to see that the commitment he has made (is supported by Congress). That's where my passion is. It's very fulfilling."

And it is his daily interaction with the "citizen volunteers" of the legislature who are trying to "make things work" that he says he finds most fulfilling about his job. "If it wasn't (fulfilling) every day, I'd stop working, but it is," Gallagher says of his lobbying efforts.