Eaton Peabody had a ‘profound impact’ on Bangor, local leaders say

Bangor Daily News – by Kasey Turman

Bangor’s legal scene, and the community as a whole, will soon feel a void when Eaton Peabody shuts its doors for good on June 30, local business leaders said.

The Bangor-based firm with offices in Portland and Augusta announced Thursday it would be closing after 85 years of business. The firm was the sixth largest in Maine in the past 10 years and represented clients in everything from banking to forestry and timberlands.

Eaton Peabody said it’s closing following “careful consideration of the evolving market conditions and the demographics of the firm.”

The lasting impact of the nearly century-long fixture in Bangor can be seen in the local clients it represented, said lawyer and state Rep. Joe Baldacci, who called it a “legacy firm.” Eaton Peabody’s influence in legal support won’t immediately rebound with the same caliber of knowledge, said Baldacci, who is a partner at the Law Offices of Baldacci, Sullivan and Baldacci.

“There’s going to be a reduction in legal expertise, and I think it’s going to take some time for that to be filled,” Baldacci said. “It’s a breakup or shake up from what’s been in existence for a long time.”

To fill the space created with this closure, Verrill, a Portland-based law firm, announced it will open a new Bangor office to “help meet the ongoing legal needs in the area.” The office will include lawyers coming from Eaton Peabody.

Verrill did not say where the new office will be located or how many employees will staff the location.

Although local firms and the new Verrill office will attempt to make up for Eaton Peabody’s closure, Lee Umphrey, president and CEO of the Eastern Maine Development Corporation, said the firm’s closure will affect the community in ways that go past the legal work it did.

“Eaton Peabody had a profound impact because of its generational work here,” he said. “Their lawyers have been very engaged in not just legal cases, but community engagement.”

Umphrey added that the loss of community interaction will be missed, but Bangor citizens are “going to be fine.”

“I think everything’s transformational,” Umphrey said. “It has a profound impact because they’ve been such a presence in the community, but it’s just something that happens in the scope of living.”