Hallowell, Maine—The Board of the Maine Justice Foundation elected three new Directors at its meetings of September 11 and December 4, 2020.
The work of increasing access to justice only happens because of the dedication of attorneys and other Maine people who volunteer their time on nonprofit boards, on state commissions and as pro bono counsel. The Maine Justice Foundation is fortunate to benefit from the governance of a talented and expert Board of Directors. Joining the Board in January 2021 are Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, Timothy Pease and Camrin Rivera. Frank Bishop, Jr., President Elect of the Maine State Bar Association, joins the Board as an ex officio Director.
Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte is an author, lecturer, business leader and human rights advocate. She is an Armenian refugee from Baku, Azerbaijan. After fleeing Baku in the fall of 1989 due to ethnic cleansing of Armenians, Anna and her family spent three years in Armenia as refugees before coming to United States in 1992.
Anna received Bachelor of Arts degrees in English & Literature and Philosophy & Religion, with a minor in Russian Language & Literature from the University of North Dakota. She received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maine School of Law. In 2004, Anna was one of the first Americans to clerk at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. In 2012 Anna published her book, titled “Nowhere, a Story of Exile,” which she wrote at the age of 14. Anna is the recipient of Mkhitar Gosh Medal, the Republic of Armenia’s highest civilian honor, awarded by President Serge Sargsyan for her exceptional achievements. Since 2015, she has served on the Westbrook Maine City Council and is currently a Vice President of the Council. Anna has a 16-year career in banking regulatory compliance and risk management, currently as a Vice President, Senior Risk Manager at Androscoggin Bank. Anna lives in Westbrook with her husband John and their son and daughter.
Timothy Pease is Vice President for Legal and Regulatory Affairs at Versant Power in Bangor. Prior to joining Versant Power in 2013, he was a partner with the law firm Rudman Winchell in Bangor from 2002 until 2013. Following graduation from the University of Maine in 1989, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Air Force and served on active duty in a variety of locations until 1996. Following his military service, Tim received his law degree from Seattle University School of Law and subsequently worked for a number of years for the Miami-Dade County School Board in Florida. Upon his return to Maine in 2002, Tim served on his local school board and was a Board member of the Eastern Maine Community College Foundation. A native of Appleton, he lives in Hampden with his family.
Camrin Rivera is a second-year law student at the University of Maine School of Law. Originally from Salt Lake City, Camrin came to Maine Law with a strong interest in the school’s Refugee and Human Rights Clinic and Maine’s tight-knit legal community. While at Maine Law, he has volunteered with both the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic and the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic, and he is a Co-Chair for the Maine Association for Public Interest Law (MAPIL) organization. During the Summer of 2019, Camrin interned at Pine Tree Legal Assistance in the Family Law and Victim’s Rights Unit. These experiences solidified his professional mission to increase access to free legal services and inspired him to apply for the law-student representative position on the Maine Justice Foundation Board. When not busy with his studies, Camrin and his husband spend time cross-country skiing with Tucker, their 5-year-old hound dog.
Frank Bishop, Jr. is a partner in the Portland office of Hudson Cook LLP, with a practice focused on compliance with financial services and privacy law. Frank is the President-elect of the Maine State Bar Association Board of Governors and the Vice President of the Board of the Maine School of Law Foundation. He is a member of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section, a member of the Maine Bar Association’s Consumer and Financial Institutions Law Section, and is admitted to practice in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Frank received his law degree (cum laude) in 2007 from the Maine School of Law and holds a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Maine and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Colgate University. Frank lives in South Portland with his wife, Annie, and their children.
The Foundation Board also elected H. Lowell Brown as President. Lowell Brown joined the Board of the Foundation in 2012. He succeeds Bill Harwood of Verrill as President. Lowell is an attorney whose practice focuses on white collar criminal defense and corporate compliance. He was Assistant General Counsel for Compliance at Northrop Grumman Corporation in California for ten years. Prior to joining Northrop, Lowell had been Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Assistant General Counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and a partner in the law firm of Heron, Burchette, Ruckert and Rothwell in Washington, D.C. Since moving to Maine, Lowell has been Counsel to the New York firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, and Associate General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Sig Sauer.
Lowell has been a member of the adjunct faculty of the University of Maine School of Law. He also serves on the board of the Wayfinder Schools, which provides secondary education to at-risk teen parents. He is author of the books The American Constitutional Tradition and High Crimes and Misdemeanors in Presidential Impeachment.
The following Directors continue their service on the Foundation’s Board: Albert G. Ayre, Mary Kathryn Brennan, Grady R. Burns, Representative Barbara A. Cardone, Janis Cohen, Jerrol Crouter, Virginia E. Davis, Thaddeus V. Day, Susan Faunce, John W. Geismar, Stephen P. Hyde, Kenneth Lehman, Michael J. Levey, Kelly McDonald, Gerald F. Petruccelli, Ronald L. Phillips, Robin Russell, Hon. Warren Silver, Katherine Tierney, and Judith A. Fletcher Woodbury.
The Maine Justice Foundation, founded in 1983 as the Maine Bar Foundation, is the state’s leading funder of civil legal aid for poor and vulnerable Mainers.