Helping Veterans Seek Justice

Our client “Rachel” joined the Air Force in 1997 when she was 18 years old. After serving honorably for nearly four years, she experienced a traumatic event that led to a shift in behavior that the military perceived as a deterioration in her service. In 2000, she received a less than honorable discharge, leaving her without access to any VA services such as health care and disability benefits.

Rachel did not think that she deserved this status, but felt powerless to dispute it. For more than two decades, she carried around the weight of her less than honorable discharge. She avoided mentioning her four years of service to employers, and chose to leave a gap in her resume so that she didn’t have to explain her status or revisit her trauma.  

Finally, in 2024, Rachel sought help from a Veterans’ Service Office, where she was referred to Pine Tree Legal Assistance. Dylan Maeby, a staff attorney in our Veterans Unit, took on her case and built an argument that demonstrated how Rachel’s behavior had been a response to trauma and that her status warranted reconsideration.

Earlier this year, they prevailed: Rachel now has honorable discharge on her record.

With this updated status, she has access to a whole suite of VA benefits and feels more open to speaking about her time in the military. “There’s a lot of freedom in that,” Rachel says. She’s even considering pursuing a career at the VA – a path she never would have considered prior to seeking justice.

The Power of Community Partnerships



Through a statewide partnership with VA Maine Healthcare System, our Veterans Unit trains nurses, social workers, and doctors to identify legal issues that may be contributing to a patient’s medical condition. Patients can seek a referral to Pine Tree’s Veterans Medical-Legal Partnership team if their needs align with the services that we offer.  

Learn more about our Medical-Legal Partnership here.

Supporting Mobile Home Park Tenants

Last month, several Pine Tree staff met with mobile home park organizers from the Maine Labor Climate Council to discuss the rights of mobile home park tenants and the role that Pine Tree can play in enforcing those rights, including by protecting tenants from retaliation for engaging in protected organizing activity.  

Pine Tree has seen an uptick in housing instability at mobile home parks in recent years as private equity firms increasingly purchase these properties and increase rents without keeping up with maintenance.

This fall, we will welcome Skadden Fellow Brandon Dodds to our Bangor office to help expand our capacity to take on mobile home park cases throughout rural Maine.

Expanding Our Reach in Bankruptcy Law

Staff attorneys Peter L. Hatem and Perry O’Brian participated in a panel discussion at the Maine State Bar Association’s annual bankruptcy conference in March, where they covered topics including zombie second mortgages, prepetition tort claims, and property tax claims. Hatem and O’Brian collectively have more than 50 years of debtor bankruptcy experience. 

In April, Hatem joined paralegal Ashley Smith at the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney’s Annual Convention in Boston, where they attended sessions that examined bankruptcy from a variety of different angles, including through the lens of AI. 

We’re glad to be sharing and expanding our expertise in this area of consumer law and look forward to helping more Mainers navigate the challenges of bankruptcy. 

29th Annual Muskie Access to Justice Award Ceremony

June 3 | 5pm - 7pm

Ocean Gateway, Portland

Please join us as we honor Christine Hastedt and Mary Henderson, and celebrate the resilience, dedication, and impact of Maine’s Civil Legal Aid community. Enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres while taking in views of Casco Bay at Ocean Gateway.

Members of the Maine Bar can support PTLA’s work by donating to the Campaign for Justice, a special collaborative fundraising effort by Maine’s legal community to support legal aid.