Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 19 N OV E M B E R 1 3 , 2 0 2 3 F O C U S L AW / P O L I C Y Aroostook −5.26% Cumberland −0.15% Franklin 0% Hancock −2.83% Lincoln −2.82% Penobscot −1.50% Piscataquis −12.50% Somerset 0% Washington −3.23% York −2.17% Androscoggin +2.87% Kennebec +0.42% Knox +5.94% Oxford +2.22% Sagadahoc +7.06% Waldo +7.69% Out-of-State +1.33% E arlier this year, Ryan Fowler was a student attorney practicing in the Aroostook County town of Fort Kent. Some of his clients had legal troubles that could potentially cost them their driver's license — a huge problem in an area where public transit is scarce, driving distances are long, and many folks need their license to cross the border with Canada to get to their jobs. "It's not like Portland where they can catch a bus if they lose their license," says Fowler. As part of the University of Maine School of Law's inaugural rural practice clinic, "We're able to work with them and help them potentially negotiate with the district attorney and find alternatives that allows them to get on with their lives and keep their driving privileges," Fowler says. At the clinic, which launched in January 2023, Fowler also handled a full range of general practice work: criminal law, family law, protective custody matters, civil matters, wills and probate, and everything else a practitioner might encounter in a rural area. As a Maine Law student, he held a special student attorney license, recognized by Maine's state and federal courts, to provide legal services to low-income clients under the supervision of fully-licensed attorney faculty members. e goal of the clinic is to help meet the immediate need for lawyers in northern Maine while also training new lawyers to serve rural commu- nities throughout the state and beyond. "ere's a significant need," says Fowler, who is now the clinic's teaching fellow. "As lawyer of the day, we can go to court and we can speak to clients and pick up cases that way. A lot of walks-ins qualify for court-appointed attorneys — and then they would qualify for our services, so we pick up some of the criminal cases that way. For other cases, the phone rings. I've been averaging, three phone calls a week at least lately, and there were more when we first opened and put out the flyers." P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F T O R Y R Y D E N C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » The establishment of this clinic meets a pressing need in our state. — Leigh Saufley Maine Law Ryan Fowler, a teaching fellow at Maine Law's inaugural Rural Practice Clinic in Fort Kent, pictured earlier this year with Emma Pooler, who is now a lawyer at Eaton Peabody. LAWYERS IN MAINE BY COUNTY, VARIANCE OVER PRIOR YEAR S O U R C E : Maine State Bar Association, 2018 UP Maine's first rural practice clinic seeks to build attorney ranks while showcasing rural life B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r Lawyering

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