ABA Journal

Maine

124 ABA Journal Maine articles.

‘Desperate for lawyers,’ Maine considers alternative path to law license

Maine lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow aspiring lawyers to skip law school if they study under a supervising attorney for two years.

Lawyer accused of relying on staffer to take CLE classes gets sanction reprieve if he accepts indigent cases

A solo practitioner in Maine may find it difficult to comply with the terms of an ethics sanction imposed for relying on his assistant to take his continuing legal education classes.

Disability law ‘tester’ can sue hotel, despite no intentions of staying there, 1st Circuit rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that a disabled person has standing to sue a hotel for failing to provide accessibility information, even though she does not intend to stay there.

Chemerinsky: This SCOTUS term moved the law ‘dramatically in a conservative direction’

The U.S. Supreme Court's October 2021 term was one of the momentous in history. The only analogy I can think of is 1937 for its dramatic changes in constitutional law. This is the first full term with Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the high court, and we saw the enormous effects of having a 6-3 conservative majority.

Supreme Court sees ‘discrimination against religion,’ strikes down state ban on aid to religious schools

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Tuesday that Maine violated the free exercise clause when it banned state tuition assistance at schools that teach religion but not at most other private schools.

Maine will hire its first public defenders to aid struggling indigent defense system

Maine, the last state without public defenders, will soon deploy five of them after Democratic Gov. Janet T. Mills signed a bill earlier this month to create a rural public defenders unit.

Law firm earned $6.8M for indigent defense since 2016, according to state’s overbilling suit

A lawyer who was once the highest-paid public defense lawyer in Maine is facing a state lawsuit contending that she and her law firm misrepresented the hours that they worked on behalf of indigent defendants.

Weekly Briefs: Emmett Till probe closed; Black couple’s suit says appraisal changed with pretend white homeowner

DOJ closes Emmett Till investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its reopened investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black youth tortured and shot…

New prosecutors reopen investigations into deadly police shootings

Progressive prosecutors are reopening investigations of deadly police shootings that resulted in no charges under their predecessors, spurring pushback from police unions.

Weekly Briefs: ‘Copyright troll’ lawyer is suspended; law grad who married Japanese princess fails bar

‘Copyright troll’ lawyer is suspended in NY

A New York appeals court has suspended a lawyer once deemed a “copyright troll” because of the large number of

Supreme Court allows vaccine mandate for health workers that didn’t offer religious exemption

Maine’s vaccine mandate for health care workers, which doesn’t allow religious exemptions, is being enforced after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene Friday.

Do worker COVID-19 vaccine mandates have to offer religious exemptions? Courts differ; Breyer declines to act

Updated: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer on Tuesday refused to block a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Maine health care workers that did not include an exemption for religious exemptions.

Biden’s new picks for solicitor general and Manhattan US attorney once clerked for AG Garland

President Joe Biden’s new nominees for U.S. solicitor general and for U.S. attorney in Manhattan, New York City, both clerked for U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland when he was a federal appeals judge, and both clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Cases challenging expired COVID-19 church restrictions fail in Supreme Court and 8th Circuit

A Maine church and Christian residents of a county in Missouri have failed in their lawsuits challenging COVID-19 restrictions that have since been lifted.

Unvaccinated lawyer has to wear mask at client’s trial after top state court refuses to intervene

A criminal defense lawyer in Augusta, Maine, has to wear a mask in his client’s jury trial this week after the state’s top court refused to consider his claim that the face covering would prejudice jurors.

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