Actions by suspended Bridgton lawyer draw reprimand

PORTLAND — A Bridgton lawyer was publicly reprimanded by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court for using his legal stationery and taking actions as an attorney during a time when he was suspended from the practice of law.

Neil D. MacKerron also was ordered to pay $500 to the Board of Overseers of the Bar for the costs of the case that led to the reprimand.

The actions were ordered in a two-page decision that was signed Wednesday by Justice Caroline D. Glassman and made available Thursday.

“As I do not feel that these acts constitute `engaging in the practice of law,’ I will appeal this decision to the full Maine Supreme Judicial Court,” MacKerron said after reviewing the ruling.

Documents filed in the case by the overseers’ board indicate that MacKerron was suspended from practicing law for 18 months, effective in September 1988.

The court found that MacKerron violated the terms of his suspension during that period by writing several letters under his legal letterhead, including one to a judge; acknowledging as an attorney his son’s signature on a quit-claim deed; and designating himself as “attorney pro se” in a lawsuit against his ex-wife and her attorneys.