James M. Roux Legal Aid Fellow Selected; Funding from Maine Justice Foundation Supports Fellowship Program

16 July 2018 , Posted in: Uncategorized

The James M. Roux Fellow for 2018 has been awarded to Scott Dolan of South Portland. Dedicated funding from the Maine Justice Foundation will provide support for Dolan, a student at the University of Maine School of Law, while he works as a legal intern at the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic for the summer.

Dolan came to his legal studies after a career as a reporter and editor, including at the Portland Press Herald. He covered the courts, prisons and legal affairs, and was inspired to redirect his career so he could help the Mainers he so often wrote about. He lives in South Portland with his wife and children.

A program of the University of Maine School of Law, the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic provides an opportunity for law students to provide legal assistance, under close faculty supervision, to low-income Maine residents with a variety of civil, juvenile, administrative, immigration, and criminal matters, primarily in Cumberland, York, Androscoggin, and Sagadahoc counties. The Maine Justice Foundation’s James M. Roux Fund supports this Summer Intern Program.

Arnie Macdonald and Liza Moore of Freeport created the James M. Roux Fund at the Maine Justice Foundation to honor Jim Roux (Maine Law ’84). Jim grew up in Lewiston. He served in the U.S. Army as Judge Advocate General with the 82nd Airborne Division. In private practice, he became a pre­eminent trial lawyer but later shifted his focus to plaintiffs’ work, championing underdogs who might not otherwise be heard. He also developed an interest in the plight of the Nepalese Sherpa people after his treks to Mount Everest Base Camp and was headed to Southeast Asia when killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks. He was known as a dedicated lawyer and proud Mainer.

Arnie and Liza also were inspired to honor the passion, commitment, and engagement of Jim’s son, Jamie. Arnie says, “We make this gift in Jim’s memory but also out of our love and pride in his son. In their honor we want to help Maine’s aspiring lawyers not only to have excellent technical skills but to keep a watchful eye on the underdogs, underprivileged and underserved, where the civil rights so important to our society may first start to erode.”

The Maine Justice Foundation was founded in 1983 as the Maine Bar Foundation. The Foundation provides important funds to multiple civil legal aid programs throughout Maine and the more than 30,000 clients they serve each year. The Foundation has over $5 million in assets under management and made grants of $1.5 million in 2017.

For more information, contact Mathew Scease at 622-3477.