🔒Setting a bar

The first time I was ever fingerprinted was in preparation for taking the LSAT — the standardized exam that got you into law school (or not). (The second finger-printing was for a little participatory journalism exercise, but that story is for another time.)

I remember thinking the legal industry must take background checks very seriously if you have to offer up your fingerprints before you ever get to sit in a lecture hall and take an exam that assesses whether you could become an officer of the court. But I equally recall that if you made it through law school and passed the bar, you were pretty well assured that you'd have a job and a lucrative career.

So I read with interest Contributing Writer Doug Rooks' story about recent law grads who are having a tough time finding a job, and conversely, the opportunities that await them if they look beyond Portland's borders. His story, “Lawyers on the move," details some of the initiatives the Maine Bar Association and the University of Maine School of Law are undertaking to help recent grads find work. The bar has an expanded mission: to find a new generation of lawyers to replace those aging out of the industry. According to recent data, almost one-third of Maine lawyers are 60 or older.

Also part of this issue's focus on law, Staff Writer Lori Valigra talks with Jim Keenan, an attorney at Bernstein Shur, who has one of the largest trademark practices in New England. As he points out in “What's in a name?” the impact of the Internet on trademark and intellectual property rights has been phenomenal. And if your company is considering international business, you should make sure you read the primer Jim's put together on protecting your brand. 

If you're curious which Maine law firms are the largest, check out our latest list at the bottom of our current edition page. For the first time in years, the lineup has changed.

And to round out our focus on law, we have a commentary from Karin Gregory, a managing partner with Furman Gregory Deptula, who writes about new opportunities to find equity financing now that the SEC has changed its general solicitation rules.

Financing is a key part of Senior Writer Jim McCarthy's cover story, “Eyeing new markets,” which explores Thermogen Industries' position within the renewable energy market. Thermogen finished up its financing to build Phase I of its bio-coal plant in Millinocket, a project that could provide dozens of direct jobs in a part of Maine that desperately needs them. Related investment is projected to produce hundreds of jobs, but first Thermogen has to make and sell its signature bio-coal into markets that have already adapted to rival wood pellets. It's a race into renewables in which Maine has a huge stake.

And if all this talk about the law and energy markets makes your head swim, take a breath and read how Fred Stuart describes his company, ELMS Puzzles, and how a custom, jigsaw puzzle maker stays viable in a post-recession world. Here's a hint: his puzzles can sell for the thousands!

I suppose if I had aced that LSAT exam and passed the bar, I, too, could command thousands for my work product. I did well enough to get into a second-tier law school, but by the time I got my scores, my interest in law had waned and my interest in journalism had grown.

A friend at the time remarked that I had swapped crusading for justice for crusading for truth. Perhaps, but I pretty much see them as one and the same.