Maine

Maine Lawyers Who Represent Indigent Defendants Will Have to Wait for $50-an-Hour Pay

Lawyers who are assigned to represent criminal defendants in Maine won’t be paid during the month of June because the Indigent Legal Defense Commission has run out of money. Lawyers will get paid in July when the new fiscal year begins, the Bangor Daily News reports. Bangor lawyer Aaron Frey,…

May 30, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Longtime Maine Lawyer Is Reprimanded re ‘Crusade’ Concerning Ex-Client He Thinks Is a Serial Killer

A recent ethics opinion by Maine’s top court offers guidance on what to do—and not to do—when faced with a presumably unusual problem: An attorney is convinced that a former client is a serial killer. “Obsessed” with the background and history of his ex-client, Rory Holland, who he represented in…

Apr 2, 2012 8:47 PM CDT

Maine High Court Says Verrill Dana Partners Violated Ethics Rules by Failing to Monitor Lawyer

Updated: Maine’s highest court has ruled that six partners at Verrill Dana violated ethics rules by failing to have procedures in place to monitor a lawyer after questions arose about his handling of a client account. The lawyer, John Duncan, went to prison for two years after pleading guilty to…

Dec 9, 2011 1:36 PM CST

Lawyer Gets 10 Days for Failing to File State Income Tax Returns

A practicing lawyer in Maine who fell behind on his state taxes will be spending approximately a week in jail. Alan Harding, 58, was sentenced to 120 days, with all except 10 days suspended, after pleading guilty in the Kennebec County Superior Court case to failing to file state income…

Oct 4, 2011 7:17 PM CDT

As Hackers Steal Up to $1B Annually from Biz Bank Accounts, Victims May Have No Recourse

Some $43 million was stolen in conventional bricks-and-mortar robberies, heists and stickups of U.S. banks last year. Meanwhile, cybercrooks stole hundreds of millions in what is being called a national security threat. The exact amount isn’t known. But security experts say up to $1 billion annually is being taken by…

Aug 5, 2011 12:28 AM CDT

Business Goes Back to Paper Checks After Losing $345K and Liability Ruling by Federal Magistrate

It’s less convenient. But a business in Maine that lost $345,000 in 2009 when cyber crooks tried to siphon well over half a million from its online account has now gone back to paper checks to try to keep its funds secure. Deciding cross-motions for summary judgment last week, a…

Jun 7, 2011 11:08 PM CDT

Maine Town Declares Food Sovereignty, Inspiring a Movement

As state lawmakers debate whether food such as raw milk can safely be sold to informed consumers, the residents of a Maine community have seized the day and recognized a right to do so. Under a so-called food sovereignty initiative unanimously approved at a March 5 town meeting by 100…

Mar 15, 2011 10:52 PM CDT

Former Top Drug Prosecutor Gets 16 Years in Child Porn Case

A former assistant state attorney general who at one time was the top drug prosecutor in Maine was sentenced today to a 16-year federal prison term in a child pornography case. James Cameron, 48, worked for the AG’s office from 1990 to 2008. Prosecutors, who sought a prison term of…

Mar 11, 2011 12:55 AM CST

Judge Denies New Trial to Law Firm re $7.3M Emotional Distress Verdict Won by Former Client

A judge in Maine has upheld a jury’s verdict of $7.3 million for emotional distress to a former client who said the Bernstein Shur Sawyer & Nelson law firm worked against his interests in a battle with his brother for control of a furniture company. Superior Court Justice Thomas Humphrey…

Feb 8, 2011 6:42 PM CST

Judge Clears 6 Verrill Dana Lawyers on All Ethics Charges re Ex-Partner’s $300K Theft

Tried on ethics charges in an attorney disciplinary case because they allegedly didn’t act quickly enough to investigate a then-partner’s theft of some $300,000 from clients and the firm and notify Maine authorities in 2007, six Verrill Dana lawyers have been cleared. The lawyers, who were targeted for discipline because…

Dec 30, 2010 12:41 PM CST

Secretary: I Told Managing Partner He Was Out of His Mind As He Defended Thieving Colleague

In an ongoing legal ethics trial of six attorneys from a prominent Maine law firm, a former secretary there has now given her account of what was said after she blew the whistle on a trust and estates partner who had stolen from Verrill Dana and its clients. In an…

Dec 16, 2010 12:39 AM CST

At Issue in Ethics Trial: Did Verrill Dana Try to Cover Up in $300K Partner Theft Matter?

After hearing on June 13, 2007 that a secretary had blown the whistle on a longtime Verrill Dana senior partner, then-managing partner David Warren asked to see check copies, bank records and a spreadsheet and confronted his accused colleague, John Duncan, on June 28. Duncan looked him the eye, Warren…

Dec 14, 2010 7:07 PM CST

Six Verrill Dana Lawyers Face Possible Discipline re Ex-Chair’s $300K Theft

After a secretary blew the whistle on her boss, John Duncan, other lawyers at a prominent Maine firm looked into the matter, eventually determined that the longtime senior lawyer and former chair of Verrill Dana had stolen some $300,000, and they ousted him. But it took about four months for…

Dec 13, 2010 11:41 PM CST

Humble Maine Home, Ex-Lender Lawyer at Epicenter of Storm Over Defective Docs in Foreclosure Cases

An unprecedented national furor over a deluge of defective filings in mortgage foreclosure cases largely centers on a single unlikely case. Nicolle Bradbury admittedly can’t afford to pay the $474 monthly mortgage on her humble Maine home after losing her job. But she won the mortgage foreclosure lottery when a…

Oct 15, 2010 3:45 PM CDT

How 2 Pro Bono Lawyers Uncovered ‘Robo-Signer,’ Halting Foreclosures in 23 States

A Maine pro bono lawyer’s suspicions helped uncover a “robo-signer” mortgage employee and halt mortgage foreclosures in 23 states. Pro bono lawyer Thomas Cox, who is retired from law practice, was representing a homeowner in a foreclosure case when he came across several documents signed by one GMAC employee: Jeffrey…

Sep 23, 2010 1:20 PM CDT