Money raised by the Muskie Fund supports six non-profit legal services providers which
provide legal services to Maine's low-income and elderly residents.
Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project
Legal Services for the Elderly
Maine Equal Justice Partners
Pine Tree Legal Assistance
Volunteer Lawyers Project
CUMBERLAND LEGAL AID CLINIC
University of Maine, School of Law
246 Deering Avenue, Portland, ME 04102
Professor Deidre M. Smith, Clinic Director
(207)780-4370 http://mainelaw.maine.edu/community-service/clac.jsp
The University of Maine School of Law provides clinical education and public service
through the Cumberland Legal Clinic. The Clinic provides free legal representation to
low-income individuals with legal cases in York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, and Androscoggin
counties, and to incarcerated individuals throughout Maine. Clients are represented by
third year law students who are specially licensed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court
and U.S. District Court. The Clinic provides approximately half of each graduating class
at the Law School with the opportunity to represent poor Mainers in court, benefiting
hundreds of residents who would otherwise have been unable to obtain legal counsel.
IMMIGRANT LEGAL ADVOCACY PROJECT
P.O. Box 17917, 309 Cumberland Ave., Suite 201, Portland, ME 04112
Beth Stickney, Esq., Executive Director
(207)780-1593 www.ilapmaine.org
ILAP is Maine's only nonprofit provider of immigration and related legal aid. ILAP's
mission is to advocate for and to improve the status and well-being of Maine's low-income
noncitizens and their families by providing affordable legal services, and by educating
and working with service providers, policy makers, and the public concerning legal issues
unique to noncitizens. Founded in 1993 as a purely pro bono project, since 2000 ILAP has
been an independent, staffed legal aid agency serving Mainers statewide. Annually, more
than 2,000 individuals, originating from over 100 countries, benefit from ILAP's free and
low-fee immigration services. Among these are education and outreach, consultations and
referrals, extended pro se assistance, full representation and systemic advocacy.
ILAP specializes in asylum, protection of noncitizen survivors of domestic violence,
family unification, permanent residency, citizenship, and removal defense.
LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY
5 Wabon St., Augusta, ME 04330
Jaye Martin, Esq., Executive Director
(800)750-5353 www.mainelse.org
Established in 1974, LSE's mission is to provide free, high quality legal services
to Maine's socially and economically needy citizen's age 60 and over. Thousands of
Maine seniors rely on LSE for representation, assistance and information on a broad
range of legal problems and questions, including physical abuse and financial exploitation,
nursing home eligibility and other long term care issues, consumer fraud, evictions,
debt collection, powers of attorney, public benefits programs, Medicare, MaineCare and
other health coverage matters. LSE has offices in Augusta, Bangor, Lewiston, Scarborough,
and Presque Isle and provides state-wide service through its toll-free Helpline and its
website.
MAINE EQUAL JUSTICE PARTNERS
126 Sewall Street, Augusta, ME 04330
Sara B. Gagne-Holmes, Esq., Executive Director
(207)626-7058 www.mejp.org
Maine Equal Justice Partners' mission is to advance and protect public policies that
assist Maine people to gain social and economic justice. In order to carry out its
mission, MEJP focuses its work on issues that affect people's daily lives - access to
adequate health care, food assistance, income supports, housing issues, fair working
conditions, and higher education and training opportunities. MEJP represents those in
economic need in class action lawsuits, in front of governmental agencies and through
advocacy at the administrative and legislative levels. MEJP's work is on behalf of and
informed by its primary client, the Maine Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods
(MAIN), a statewide coalition of low-income individuals and groups.
PINE TREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE INC.
P.O. Box 547, 88 Federal St., Portland, ME 04112
Nan Heald, Esq., Executive Director
(207)774-4753 www.ptla.org
First established in 1966, Pine Tree is Maine's largest statewide provider of free
legal services to low-income Mainers whose incomes are at or below 125% of the federal
poverty guidelines. Today, Pine Tree maintains offices in Portland, Lewiston, Augusta,
Bangor, Machias and Presque Isle, as well as special projects serving Farm Workers and
Native Americans, and KIDS LEGAL. Thousands of people receive some form of legal help
every year and most involved problems with housing, food, medical care and income
maintenance, as well as protection for victims of domestic violence. Pine Tree has
countered its limited staffing by developing user-friendly written materials on various
legal topics including "The Rights of Tenants in Maine", many of which are now available
to the general public on the Pine Tree webpage at www.ptla.org.
Federal auditors for the Legal Services Corporation, Pine Tree’s primary funding source,
have concluded that Pine Tree is one of the best legal services programs in the country.
MAINE VOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROJECT
P.O. Box 547, 88 Federal St., Portland, ME 04112
Juliet Holmes-Smith, Esq., Project Director
(207)777-4348 www.vlp.org
The Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project has opened the doors of justice for low-income people
through the collaborative efforts of community and attorney volunteers since 1983. A
joint project of the Maine Bar Foundation and Pine Tree Legal Assistance, VLP operates
a volunteer-staffed statewide hotline providing information and assistance to thousands
of people with civil legal problems every year, focusing on the areas of family and
consumer law and income maintenance. Self-represented clients get advice and coaching
through family law cases from attorneys and law students volunteering on VLP's Family
Law Helpline. Hundreds of VLP clients are referred annually to private attorneys
throughout the state for full pro bono representation and hundreds more receive limited
representation through the Domestic Violence Pro Bono Panel. Nationally recognized for
its innovative use of volunteers from the broader community as well as the legal
profession, VLP has provided free legal services worth well over $30 million to nearly
200,000 low-income Mainers over the past 25 years.
