By Christopher Williams,Staff Writer

AUBURN – A Poland lawyer disbarred for misconduct six years ago is suing the local lawyer who argued his case before the state bar.

The Board of Overseers of the Bar launched a complaint against Thomas M. Mangan in 1998 alleging:

• inappropriate use of client escrow;

• neglect of a legal matter entrusted to him by not fully accounting for payment of medical bills;

• two rapes; and

• sexual relations with a client.

He hired Leonard Sharon to represent him in the matter.

This time, he is representing himself. In his lawsuit, filed in Androscoggin County Superior Court last week, Mangan wrote that Sharon didn’t do his job well.

In explaining the five counts cited in the complaint, Mangan claims that Sharon failed to seek the prosecutor’s evidence in the case, until Mangan demanded he ask for it.

He also said that Sharon failed to point out that the woman Mangan allegedly raped repeatedly contradicted her own testimony.

Moreover, Mangan wrote that DNA evidence taken from the victim would have “exonerated” him had Sharon asked for it.

Mangan said he was left with the impression that Sharon was “afraid” of the board for “fear of reprisal.”

The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the ruling of now-Chief Justice Leigh Saufley that Mangan violated the rules of the Maine Bar.

The action stemmed from the complaint of a woman who came to Mangan for help settling her medical bills after receiving money for a personal injury. She also was seeking help in locating the fathers of her two older daughters. Mangan later began a consensual relationship with the woman, according to the ruling.

Contacted by phone, Sharon said, “I’m not the least bit concerned that I effectively represented him.”

Mangan has sued others involved in his legal dealings.

“He sued everybody involved. I’m all that’s left,” Sharon said.

Mangan’s suit against the Board of Overseers of the Bar got him a monetary award, according to a Superior Court clerk.

Mangan brought two lawsuits in the late 1990s against Samuel Mathis, an Auburn lawyer. Mathis had successfully represented a woman who claimed she was coerced by Mangan and one of his clients, Mathis said.

Mangan dropped the first suit. The second went to trial; Mathis won.

“I feel bad for Lenny,” Mathis said. “Tom Mangan is a desperate man and his goal in life is to make life difficult for people he doesn’t like.”

Mathis predicted Sharon would prevail. “Lenny is an excellent attorney and everybody knows it.”

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