Your gift to the Maine Law Annual Fund provides current-use resources that keep Maine Law affordable and accessible to all. Annual Fund gifts impact Maine Law every day, bolstering the Law School's annual operating budget to support student scholarships, legal aid programs, public interest fellowships, public events, and more. Annual support from alumni and friends helps Maine Law carry out its mission: to educate future lawyers and leaders, while contributing to the well-being of the people of Maine and beyond.
If one aspect of the Maine Law experience is especially important to you, please designate your gift to that area.
Highest Need
Unrestricted gifts to the Maine Law Annual Fund allow the Law School to effectively underwrite areas of teaching and learning that demonstrate the highest level of need each year.
Scholarships & Fellowships
Gifts to Scholarships & Fellowships allow Maine Law to continue to meet the financial needs of our students. These gifts support current spending to help Maine Law remain affordable and accessible to all qualified students who wish to attend as well as provide funds to support unpaid summer positions, such as fellowships for public interest jobs.
Maine Law Facility
Facility gifts provide current spending to support on-going Maine Law building needs such as maintenance or renovations for the current, interim, or new Law building.
Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic
The Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic is one of the oldest law school clinical programs in the nation. Established in 1970, the Clinic provides free legal aid to more than 600 low-income individuals and families every year. It is a defining program at Maine Law, providing practical skills training for students and helping to fulfill the Law School's commitment to social justice. All legal services are provided by law students who are enrolled in one of four clinical courses: General Practice, Prisoner Assistance, Juvenile Justice, and Refugee and Human Rights.
Rural Lawyer Project
In 2017, the Law School received funding from the Maine Justice Foundation for a 3-year pilot program to place Maine Law students with practitioners in communities that would otherwise have limited access to legal services. The students selected for the fellowships work in the summers under the guidance of practitioners on legal research and drafting, dispute resolution, general practice case management, real estate transactions, trial practice, and ethics. Students are also encouraged to volunteer for legal aid providers in the area where they are serving as fellows. Two student fellows were placed in summer 2017, with four students placed in subsequent summers 2018, 2019, and 2020. Student fellows have been placed in practices in Dover-Foxcroft, Skowhegan, Presque Isle, Calais, Damariscotta, Camden, Fort Kent, Farmington, and Belfast.