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V O L . X X I I I N O. X X V I I N OV E M B E R 1 3 , 2 0 1 7 22 L indsay Milne landed her dream job when she graduated from Fordham University law school in 2010, at Akin Gump in New York City. "I wanted to work for a big fi rm, and I wanted to work in private practice," she says. e 800-lawyer international fi rm provided the kind of experience she was looking for. e Long Island, N.Y., native also loved living and working in midtown Manhattan. But when she got married, she and her husband decided they wanted another kind of life. Milne, 31, has been at Maine's largest law fi rm, Bernstein Shur in Portland, since April 2015. With 99 attorneys, it's the state's largest law fi rm, but the move still meant a large decrease in salary. Despite lower pay, Milne is happy to be in Maine — and she isn't alone. Maine's largest law fi rms say that while they can't compete with larger out-of-state fi rms in terms of com- pensation, they are still able to hire quality lawyers who are willing to work for less to live in Maine. Following a dream e number of lawyers who have worked in larger markets before they were hired at Pierce Atwood, the state's third-largest law fi rm, is "sig- nifi cant," says Katy Rand, chair of the fi rm's recruiting committee. She says those lawyers "decided they were ready to follow their dream and relocate to Maine." Joan Fortin, director of attorney recruiting at Bernstein Shur, says, "People are really interested in being here." But there is often a gap between the dream of living in Maine and the reality. Fortin used to tell promising job candidates from larger markets what their salary would be during the third or fourth interview. " eir eyes would pop open and they'd say, 'I can't live on that.' "I've learned through experience that if I'm interviewing a lawyer from a larger market, to talk about salary in the fi rst interview." Fortin says "crippling" law school debt makes it diffi cult for many recent graduates to work in Maine. " ey make a rational decision to take that job at a bigger fi rm," she says. "And that's what it is, a rational decision." While Milne was able to pay down her debt at Akin Gump, the Portland salary still took her aback. "I hadn't had my expectations aligned for the decrease in compensa- tion," she says. 'We should consider Portland' Milne and her husband, Jordan, met at Dartmouth College, and they knew when they left New York City, it would be for somewhere in New England. Jordan Milne, who worked in fi nance, planned to open a distillery, and they wanted a good fi t. ey also wanted to start a fam- ily and spend more time with their extended families. ey wanted a dog, and a yard for the dog to run in. Portland wasn't on their radar until Hurricane Sandy knocked out their power in October 2012, prompting them to visit Lindsay's brother, a stu- dent at Bowdoin. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY P H O T O S / T I M G R E E N WAY Legal eagles Young lawyers find working in Maine has benefits B y M a u r e e n M i l l i k e n L AW F O C U S Joan Fortin, director of attorney recruiting at Bernstein Shur, in Portland. Because many recent law grads face student debt, the conversation about salary levels in Maine is broached much earlier than in the past. S O U R C E : Salary.com; U.S. Census ATTORNEY BASE SALARIES IN MAINE AND ELSEWHERE Auburn Augusta Bangor Biddeford Lewiston Portland Saco South Portland Westbrook Windham Boston New York City $90,485 $85,960 $82,341 $90,937 $90,485 $91,389 $91,208 $91,389 $91,389 $91,299 $102,971 $108,672 Maine median household income: $46,933

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