PORTLAND — Maine’s oldest and largest civil legal aid provider for people with limited incomes is marking its 45th anniversary.

Pine Tree Legal Assistance will mark the occasion with informal celebrations in the six Maine  communities where it has offices. Current and former staff and board members, representatives of state and tribal governments, the legal community and others in the civil justice system are expected to attend.

Pine Tree says its attorneys win nine out of every 10 cases receiving full legal service.

Over the past 45 years, Pine Tree’s had an impact on laws leading to an end to debtor’s prison, the right to court-appointed counsel for serious misdemeanors, elimination of solitary confinement on bread and water in the state prison and enforcing “truth in lending” requirements in consumer transactions.


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