Former Milbridge physician can’t be a lawyer for missing ‘good ethical character,’ board says
The Maine Board of Bar Examiners has refused to permit a former Washington County physician to be licensed as a lawyer as a result of she doesn’t meet the “good ethical character” requirement.
Dr. Cathleen London graduated from the Maine Faculty of Regulation in Portland in Could 2022 and handed the bar examination in July 2022.
Whereas practising drugs in Milbridge between 2015 and Aug. 21, 2022, when the follow closed, 18 complaints had been filed towards her with Maine Board of Licensure in Drugs, in line with the Board of Bar Examiners. Not being trustworthy on functions for legislation faculty and to take the bar examination had been cited as causes for denying her a legislation license, together with dashing tickets and citations for having harmful canines.
The Board of Bar Examiners is answerable for administering the bar examination in Maine and figuring out if individuals who take it are of “good ethical character.” As soon as legal professionals have been admitted to the follow of legislation, their conduct is overseen by the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar.
London’s medical license in Maine is inactive, in line with the licensing board. The Democrat introduced in 2018 that she would run towards Republican Susan Collins for U.S. Senate however London withdrew from the race a short while later after she was reprimanded by the licensing board.
James Bowie, London’s Portland lawyer, stated Thursday that his shopper would pursue her software for admission to the bar. The following step can be an attraction to a single justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Courtroom.
“We’re deeply disillusioned with the board’s determination and disagree with it utterly,” Bowie stated. “Dr. London intends to pursue her software for admission to the Maine Bar, having efficiently handed the bar examination final July and efficiently fulfilling a judicial clerkship with the Essex County Superior Courtroom within the New Jersey court docket system for the final 12 months.”
A four-member panel, made up of three legal professionals and one member of the general public, issued a 46-page ruling this week following a listening to final month. It described London as a “combative one who infringes the rights of others. She seems unwilling or unable to simply accept accountability for her conduct, often blaming others the place solely she is in charge.”
The panel additionally cited her lack of candor in her legislation faculty software and software to take the bar examination. London owes 5 years of state and federal again taxes however stated she was updated on submitting tax returns on these functions, the panel discovered.
Of the seven selections posted on the Board of Bar Examiners web site, only one dominated that an individual who had handed the bar had overcome his previous errors to be admitted. Christopher Poulos, 40, of Olympia, Washington, overcame a drug conviction along with his work within the restoration neighborhood to be admitted to the Maine bar in 2017. He presently is the chief director of the Middle for Justice and Human Dignity that advocates for alternate options to incarceration.
Poulos was convicted in March 2007 of promoting $7,780 price of cocaine to a confidential informant. He served two and a half years in federal jail and returned to varsity after his launch in January 2011. Whereas in legislation faculty, he was an intern on the White Home Workplace of Nationwide Drug Management Coverage.
Probably the most well-known lawyer denied admission to the bar in Maine was F. Lee Bailey, who died in 2021 on the age of 87. The movie star lawyer defended O.J. Simpson, Patricia Hearst and the alleged Boston Strangler, however his authorized profession halted when he was disbarred in two states, in line with the Related Press.
Bailey handed the Maine Bar Examination in February 2012. In November 2012, the board dominated 5-4 that he didn’t have the required good ethical character. As required, Bailey appealed that call to a single justice of the state’s excessive court docket who reversed the board’s determination. The Maine Supreme Judicial Courtroom disagreed with their colleague and in a 4-2 vote reversed former Justice Donald Alexander’s ruling and stored Bailey from practising legislation in Maine.
The Maine bar examination is obtainable in February and July. The following examination dates are July 25 to 26 on the DoubleTree Hilton Lodge in South Portland.
