The temporary director of Maine’s public defense agency likened his first month on the job to a doctor performing “triage” as he has tried to restore financial and operational integrity to a fraught state agency.
Justin Andrus intended to reopen his private law practice late last year, but instead was asked to help the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, or MCILS, get back on track. It’s been one month since he joined as interim executive director of the agency responsible for training and supervising private lawyers who defend the poor against criminal charges and other legal matters on behalf of the state.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, criticized and withheld new funding from the agency after an investigation by The Maine Monitor and ProPublica revealed that its former director, John Pelletier, hired lawyers convicted of crimes and attorneys disciplined for serious professional misconduct. Pelletier, who resigned in December, also failed to adequately track the agency’s finances since the office opened in 2010, according to a government report released in November.
“It’s been hectic and fast-paced and high energy getting on top of all of that simultaneously,” Andrus said in a recent interview with The Maine Monitor.
His role is intended to last 90 to 120 days while the commission that oversees the defense agency searches for a permanent director. Two months into the search, it has received nine applications, one of which has already been withdrawn. Interviews are expected to begin in a week.
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