Each year during the Holiday Season, we take time to reflect on the challenges and accomplishments we have experienced during the year, as well as those of our families, friends, clients, and community.  We also understand that, as busy and chaotic as all our lives sometimes get, we are truly fortunate for what we have, and recognize that our problems can pale beside many of those less fortunate than we are.  As a member of the International Society of Primerus Law Firms, we engage in community service to aid in meeting those challenges.

Each year, we have striven to satisfy both the desire to thank you for your support, as well as our wish to help important programs and organizations that strive to make a difference.  In addition to our efforts to provide community service locally, this year we are proud to have taken a small step to address an access to justice issue in Maine.

The National Judicial College is the nation’s leading educator of judges, providing education to more than seven thousand judges annually on its campus at the University of Nevada, Reno, as well as at various locations throughout the country.  Peter Bennett serves the College as a Trustee and its Treasurer.  Because of this association, we have created two scholarships to help Maine judges attend a popular NJC course entitled Best Practices in Handling Cases with Self-Represented Litigants which the College will conduct in Maine next year.  The growth of self-represented litigants has been identified as an issue both in Maine and nationally as individuals now attempt to represent themselves in almost every type of case.  By educating judges on best practices in this area, the judicial system benefits by being able to process its caseload more efficiently and self-represented litigants get better access to justice.

We appreciate our continuing relationship with you, and thank you for the opportunity to work with you.  We offer our very best wishes for a happy, healthy, and successful 2017.

THE BENNETT LAW FIRM, P.A.

Peter Bennett      Rick Finberg       Joanne Simonelli      Ashley Arra