An Ellsworth attorney facing disbarment and criminal charges has been suspended from practicing law in Maine.
Scott Fenstermaker Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press, file
Scott Fenstermaker, who was charged with assault and trespassing last fall, is no longer allowed to take any new clients and was ordered by the courts to surrender all of his existing clients and their files to another attorney.
In an order for Fenstermaker’s suspension Friday, Maine Superior Court Justice Thomas McKeon wrote that Fenstermaker’s misconduct “serves as an imminent threat to clients, the public and to the administration of justice.”
Fenstermaker was served the order on Monday afternoon, according to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court clerk’s office. But when reached shortly afterward, Fenstermaker said numerous times that he wasn’t aware of the orders and that his suspension is “illegal” under state, federal and international law because it prevents him from exposing “illegal conduct” within the Maine state government.
“It’s not surprising. This was a kangaroo court, a political act,” Fenstermaker said.
When asked if he plans to work with the attorney taking over his caseload, Fenstermaker said numerous times “I have no choice.”
Fenstermaker joined the Maine bar in May 2022 and briefly represented clients through the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services until he was suspended from taking new cases in November.
He was charged with assault and trespassing at a towing lot in Addison in September – he said he was just trying to help a client retrieve her car. He has since filed a racketeering lawsuit on behalf of that client and two others in U.S. District Court, alleging that several towing companies, state agencies, and local police are involved in a multi-county scheme to illegally seize and sell vehicles.
The district attorney’s office for Hancock and Washington counties then asked Maine court officials to prohibit Fenstermaker from representing any criminal defendants, and later asked the court to prevent him from contacting the DA’s office because he had not yet indicated whether he intends to represent himself or hire an attorney. Despite McKeon’s ruling, Fenstermaker could still choose to represent himself in that case just as any person has a right to do.
The Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar voted last Tuesday to file the petition for Fenstermaker’s suspension after receiving two complaints against him – one alleged he “made unsupported allegations of criminal activity against a sitting judge” and made “misrepresentations” to the court that he had been arrested; another said he was “physically aggressive” toward another attorney.
When Fenstermaker was charged in September, he was issued a criminal summons, but was not taken into custody.
“Attorney Fenstermaker allegedly attempted to remove his client’s vehicle from an impound lot when the lot was closed and without paying the fees,” the petition stated. “When the impound lot owner attempted to block the way, Attorney Fenstermaker allegedly hit the owner with his vehicle.”
An affidavit that describes the investigation into the complaints is still impounded.
In Friday’s ruling, McKeon also ordered Fenstermaker to vacate any physical law office, to immediately cease contact with current and potential clients and to stop using any websites or social media pages where he’s advertising legal services. Fenstermaker and any staff must immediately surrender all physical and digital client files and the technology for maintaining these files, the order states. The order also prohibits charging or attempting to charge any clients while he’s suspended.
In a second order filed Friday, McKeon appointed attorney Barry Mills to take over all of Fenstermaker’s open cases. Mills agreed to represent Fenstermaker’s clients on a pro bono basis “as a service to the bar,” the order stated. After six months, if Fenstermaker’s law offices have any “sufficient assets” the court will consider using those to reimburse Mills for his time. Fenstermaker’s clients are also “free to choose to employ any attorney” if they don’t want Mills, McKeon wrote.
It’s not clear how many cases will be turned over to Mills, which include lawsuits already filed in court and those in which clients have yet to file.
Mills did not respond to messages Monday asking to discuss the new assignments and his plans for representing Mainers in Fenstermaker’s larger lawsuits, including the racketeering case.
As of February, Fenstermaker, who once represented detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, said he was still representing several clients whom he picked up through MCILS pro bono, even after he was removed from the commission’s rosters and barred from accepting any new indigent appointments.
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