Five years after founding the “Stories to Share” lecture series at the Jaffrey Civic Center, Joseph Steinfield will finally be telling his own story.
Steinfield will present “Gone Fishin’: A Trial Lawyer’s Memories,” Friday, May 1, at 5 p.m. at the Jaffrey Civic Center. The presentation is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, go to jaffreyciviccenter.com/stories.
Steinfield, who has been a trial lawyer for 60 years, was considered “the best attorney in Boston” throughout his career. He has been involved in many high-profile cases and has represented various celebrities, both famous and infamous, including Julia Child, Mitt Romney, Red Sox pitcher Aroldis Chapman, and Ozzy Osbourne. Steinfeld, a columnist for the Ledger-Transcript, wrote about his work for Ozzy Osbourne shortly after the singer’s death in July 2025.
“The fame of the client may or may not make the case interesting. The facts of the case are really what count,” Steinfield said.
Steinfield specializes in civil cases. He says he vividly remembers his first case, in which an attorney stole money from a client.
“It was 60 years ago this month, and I remember it like it was yesterday,” he said.
Before deciding to go to law school, Steinfield, who grew up in Claremont, NH, had a summer job as a door-to-door salesman.
“That was a good experience for a future trial lawyer, experiencing rejection. No one should become a trial lawyer expecting to win every case or every argument. It is very disappointing when you lose, but that is all part of it,” he said.
Steinfield is no stranger to storytelling. He is the author of two memoirs, “Claremont Boy: My N.H. Roots and the Gift of Memory” and “Time for Everything: My Curious Life.” Both are available from Bauhan Publishing at bauhanpublishing.com/shop/time-for-everything.
Steinfield reflects that it was “almost by default” that he came into a career in the law.
“I think I am a lucky person. I had no idea what I was going into; I’m not from a family of lawyers. I didn’t know what a tort was. I had never been in a courtroom. I didn’t even take trial law in law school. I only went to law school because I couldn’t think of what else to do,” he said.
Steinfield was the Chief Prosecutor for the impeachment of N.H. Chief Justice David Brock in 2000, which was the first impeachment trial of a chief justice of a state supreme court in U.S. history. Brock was impeached for four ethics violations involving a divorce case, but was ultimately acquitted.
“I went from being the special investigator to the chief prosecutor. That was my 15 minutes of fame,” Steinfield said.
Five years of ‘Stories to Share’
Steinfield, who has had a family summer home in Jaffrey for 40 years, founded “Stories to Share” after many years enjoying summer programs in the region.
“In the summer, we loved the Monadnock Lyceum, and we loved the Amos Fortune Forum,” Steinfeld said. “But there was nothing like that in the winter. We have 12 months in the year, but 9 months are empty.”
Steinfield said he had “three rules” when he created the “Stories to Share” series.
“The speaker has to have something interesting to talk about, they have to be local, and live here either full-time or part-time; and, we have no money, so they have to volunteer,” he said.
The series started with 20 or 25 people attending consistently, plus an online component.
“We had terrific speakers, and we always had 20 or 25 people come regularly, and it kind of took off because the people were interesting, and the word of mouth was really strong, and we had returning audience members,” Steinfield said.
The series initially streamed live online, but Steinfield said the technology proved too challenging. Lectures are now recorded and can be watched on YouTube the following week.
Steinfield says the success of the series is a testament to the Jaffrey community.
“It’s the same night as ‘First Fridays’ in Peterborough in the spring and fall, and there are other things happening, but people have supported it. People reach out to me and want to be speakers. The first two years, no one said no,” he said.
Steinfield says he mostly avoided having speakers who focused on the law, although the series has hosted a few local attorneys and judges over the years.
“We’ve had writers, we’ve had incredible nonprofit leaders like, we’ve had artists, local business people,” he said.
Steinfeld says organizing “Stories to Share” has been “a wonderful experience.”
“It has been gratifying to be able to give back to this community. I always say, lawyers who do nothing but lawyering are shortchanging themselves. You have to stay involved, you have to keep learning,” he said. “It makes you a better lawyer.”
This year, Steinfield handed “Stories to Share” off to Sean Driscoll, who he says has been “completely dedicated.”
“It’s just wonderful to see it keep going, and Sean is doing an incredible job,” he said. “I don’t think we will ever run out of fascinating people in this region.”