Many of my colleagues in Maine practice the kind of law that I once did and they now continue to do. It concerns people with limited income. We experience an annual question when Law Day rolls around again each May: Who does the law help?

We know that many of the people, whose cases we have had to decline, do not end up experiencing the “rule of law.” They can’t afford to pay for a lawyer. We deplore the resulting discriminatory access to the system that has existed for a long time. They fear appearing in court alone. Many experts on the subject have the same convictions.

Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Andrew Mead recently stated: “I have witnessed, time and again, the heart-rending scenario, played over and over again, where people come to court — people from the absolute bottom rungs of the economic ladder, or otherwise rendered powerless by disability or circumstances — who try to navigate the complex waters of law. They are frightened, bewildered and sometimes distrusting of this institution that doesn’t seem to be designed for justice for them. They make mistakes, or sometimes just clam up, unable to speak for themselves. The results can range from unfortunate to downright tragic.”

It is time to end this unjust discrimination.

Donald Fontaine
Falmouth