Bernstein Shur’s Macdonald Leads Record Effort to Support Access to Justice for Low-Income Mainers

Demonstrating a fierce commitment to justice, Arnie Macdonald, a shareholder at Bernstein Shur, rallied the state’s legal community in an unprecedented show of support for legal aid for low-income Mainers.

As the 2014 chair for the Campaign for Justice, Macdonald led a group of more than 100 attorneys who raised in excess of $504,000 to provide legal assistance to ME families living in poverty. The amount is a new one-year fund-raising record and is in addition to other pro bono legal services provided by attorneys in the state.

“Arnie’s commitment to social justice, leadership and hard work are an inspiration throughout ME’s legal community, which responded in force to his call to help provide legal assistance to some of our state’s most vulnerable people,” said Pat Scully, the CEO of Bernstein Shur. “We’re proud of Arnie’s work and his dedication to public service.”

As a mark of Macdonald’s leadership, 100 percent of the attorneys at Bernstein Shur contributed to the Campaign for Justice in 2014 and the firm accounted for almost 12 percent of the overall total.

In part for his work on the Campaign for Justice, Macdonald was honored by the ME Bar Foundation with the Howard H. Dana Jr. Award, which recognizes an attorney who best exemplifies dedication to public and community service, including access to civil legal assistance for people with low incomes. The award was presented at the ME State Bar Association’s winter meeting in January.

Since its creation in 2004, the Campaign for Justice has supported legal aid organizations that have help one in six Mainers. Annually, the organizations handle nearly 15,000 cases and help nearly 30,000 people, including children and the elderly.

About Bernstein Shur
Widely regarded as one of New England’s most entrepreneurial law firms, Bernstein Shur has more than 100 attorneys in offices in ME and New Hampshire. Founded in 1915, the firm provides practical and innovative counsel in the areas of business law, litigation, and municipal law to clients throughout the region and around the world. Bernstein Shur is ME’s exclusive member of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms. More information is available at www.bernsteinshur.com.

About the Campaign for Justice
The ME Bar Foundation’s Campaign for Justice was created in 2004 as a way to unite the fundraising efforts of six ME legal aid providers and increase legal assistance to ME families. Those legal aid providers are Pine Tree Legal Assistance, ME Volunteer Lawyers Project, ME Equal Justice Partners, Legal Services for the Elderly, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, and the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic of the University of Maine School of Law. The Campaign’s chairs rotate annually among the leadership of the ME Bar, and its volunteers—over 100 annually—are members of the ME legal community.