Lawyers in Maine

The judicial system in the state of Maine, United States, has many divisions. While the three broad segments are the Supreme Court of Maine, the Superior Courts, and the District Courts, there are also eCourts, drug treatment courts, business, and consumer courts, and small claims courts. Unlike many other states in the country, Maine does not have an intermediate appellate court. The Supreme Court of Maine, as is the norm, is the highest court in the state – the court of final appeal. The Superior Courts hear all cases except for family matters, juvenile cases, and cases of civil violations. The District Courts of Maine preside over cases about civil, criminal, and family matters. It also looks into cases that deal with the aspects of domestic relations including divorces, separations, custody, property disputes, etc. 

eCourts in Maine are available for most of the civil suits and cases relating to family matters. eCourts are nothing but the Maine judicial branch’s online payment and information system. The drug treatment courts, popularly known as treatment courts, oversee the progress of the community-based treatment of individuals with a history of serious substance abuse. The Business and Consumer Court hears cases relating to business or consumer disputes. These courts are managed by trial court judges who get their appointment from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The small claims courts have been set up to resolve cases that involve $6,000 or less. These courts are informal ones whose aim is to settle small-amount disputes in a fast-track manner. 

Latest estimates show that the state of Maine has a total of more than 5,300 active attorneys. However, nearly 4,000 of them are resident attorneys. The concentration of lawyers per capita in Maine is less than the national average. While, nationally, every 10,000 of the US population has 40 lawyers, the state of Maine has nearly 30. 

The studies on attorney distribution in Maine indicate that four out of sixteen counties in the state contain almost 80 percent of the total attorneys active in the state. Cumberland county alone contains 51 percent or more than half of the active resident attorneys of the state. Combined with the other three counties, which are Kennebec, Penobscot, and York, the percentage goes as high as 80 percent. Since only 20 percent of the total number of lawyers active in the state are spread among the rest of the 12 counties, it is highly difficult for residents of those states to get a lawyer quickly. Moreover, the annual inflow of new lawyers into the profession is much low in the state of Maine. The state has only one law school in the University of Maine School of Law in Portland. Each year, anywhere between 70 to 90 law graduates pass out from this school. This number is not adequate to make the unevenly distributed legal service landscape of the state robust. Hopefully, the number of active resident attorneys in the state of Maine will increase in the days to come and it will become more homogeneous across all the counties in the state. 

The judicial system in the state of Maine, United States, has many divisions. While the three broad segments are the Supreme Court of Maine, the Superior Courts, and the District Courts, there are also eCourts, drug treatment courts, business, and consumer courts, and small claims courts. Unlike many other states in the country, Maine does not have an intermediate appellate court. The Supreme Court of Maine, as is the norm, is the highest court in the state – the court of final appeal. The Superior Courts hear all cases except for family matters, juvenile cases, and cases of civil violations. The District Courts of Maine preside over cases about civil, criminal, and family matters. It also looks into cases that deal with the aspects of domestic relations including divorces, separations, custody, property disputes, etc. 

eCourts in Maine are available for most of the civil suits and cases relating to family matters. eCourts are nothing but the Maine judicial branch’s online payment and information system. The drug treatment courts, popularly known as treatment courts, oversee the progress of the community-based treatment of individuals with a history of serious substance abuse. The Business and Consumer Court hears cases relating to business or consumer disputes. These courts are managed by trial court judges who get their appointment from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The small claims courts have been set up to resolve cases that involve $6,000 or less. These courts are informal ones whose aim is to settle small-amount disputes in a fast-track manner. 

Latest estimates show that the state of Maine has a total of more than 5,300 active attorneys. However, nearly 4,000 of them are resident attorneys. The concentration of lawyers per capita in Maine is less than the national average. While, nationally, every 10,000 of the US population has 40 lawyers, the state of Maine has nearly 30. 

The studies on attorney distribution in Maine indicate that four out of sixteen counties in the state contain almost 80 percent of the total attorneys active in the state. Cumberland county alone contains 51 percent or more than half of the active resident attorneys of the state. Combined with the other three counties, which are Kennebec, Penobscot, and York, the percentage goes as high as 80 percent. Since only 20 percent of the total number of lawyers active in the state are spread among the rest of the 12 counties, it is highly difficult for residents of those states to get a lawyer quickly. Moreover, the annual inflow of new lawyers into the profession is much low in the state of Maine. The state has only one law school in the University of Maine School of Law in Portland. Each year, anywhere between 70 to 90 law graduates pass out from this school. This number is not adequate to make the unevenly distributed legal service landscape of the state robust. Hopefully, the number of active resident attorneys in the state of Maine will increase in the days to come and it will become more homogeneous across all the counties in the state.