AUGUSTA — A longtime Lewiston attorney surrendered his license to practice law after a complaint was filed against him alleging inappropriate conduct with a client, including sexual advances.
Neil S. Shankman III, who had offices in Lewiston, Topsham and Portland and practiced law for more than four decades, represented a woman in a divorce who filed a complaint against him with the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar.
Shankman surrendered his license for five years as of Sept. 1. He will be allowed to petition for reinstatement after that time.
In a 21-page petition filed in December 2022 by assistant counsel of the the Board of Overseers of the Bar with the board’s grievance commission, Suzanne E. Thompson detailed the conduct alleged against Shankman by his former client.
In it, she said Shankman had represented a woman who had been seeking to modify her spousal support.
The woman, who was not fully identified, said Shankman had engaged in grooming behavior that included inappropriate and/or sexually explicit comments, gestures and innuendo “that culminated in an incident whereby (Shankman) insinuated that (his client) should show him her breasts.”
Shankman had called her “pet names” of affection, often remarked on her appearance and quizzed her about her dating life and made sexual comments, as well as taking her out for drinks after representing her at legal proceedings, according to the petition.
Shankman denied the alleged behavior.
He also took the woman into his personal living space at his home, which was connected to his office.
Shankman had hired an associate who had earlier represented his client’s husband in a civil personal injury lawsuit brought by his client against her husband.
Her husband refused to waive the conflict, requiring Shankman’s withdrawal from the case three years into litigation and shortly before a final hearing, which left the woman at a legal disadvantage, according to the petition.
Shankman said he was “sympathetic” to the woman’s “situation,” said he took the complaint “very seriously” and he “sincerely apologize(d) if” he “said or did anything to offend her.”
He questioned why she would have had him continue to represent her after he engaged in that conduct.
She said she had arranged for them not to be alone when she met with him in the future and that she was nearing the end of the her case, so it would have been “very difficult for me” to have started over at that point with a new attorney.
A panel of the board’s grievance commission found after an investigation that there was probable cause to believe Shankman had engaged in misconduct. That triggered the formal disciplinary charges petition that was presented to a different panel of the board’s grievance commission.
In June, a single justice appointed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, signed an order accepting Shankman’s surrender of his license to practice law in Maine for five years that took effect on Sept.1.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
