First Circuit Nixes Maine Lawyers' Challenge To 'Compelled' IOLTA Speech

LitNews.ai Staff · April 2, 2026 · First Circuit

Panel: Chief Judge Barron, Circuit Judge Howard, Circuit Judge Rikelman · Opinion by: Chief Judge Barron

A First Circuit panel on Thursday affirmed a Maine federal judge's dismissal of a law firm and client's constitutional challenge to the state's interest on lawyers' trust accounts program, ruling they failed to plausibly allege the program compelled them to deposit funds in pooled accounts when those funds wouldn't earn net interest.

Russell Johnson Beaupain law firm and client E. David Wescott sued Maine Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill, State Court Administrator Amy Quinlan, and the Maine Justice Foundation in August 2024. They claimed Maine's IOLTA program violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by requiring lawyers to deposit client funds in special pooled accounts, with the resulting interest distributed to legal aid organizations supporting causes that "contravene the sincerely held beliefs" of the plaintiffs.

Chief Judge David Barron, writing for the three-judge panel, found the plaintiffs failed to show Maine's IOLTA program actually compelled their participation. "The District Court concluded, however, that this statement asserted a legal conclusion and so did not constitute a factual allegation," Barron wrote, noting that under Maine Bar Rule 6, lawyers must only use IOLTA accounts for funds "small in amount or held for a short period of time such that they cannot earn interest or dividends for the client in excess of the costs incurred to secure such income."

The case originated when Wescott transmitted a $2,500 retainer to RJB in June 2023, and the firm deposited the funds in an IOLTA account as required by state rules. U.S. District Judge Lance Walker granted motions to dismiss filed by both the state defendants and Maine Justice Foundation, ruling the plaintiffs lacked the necessary connection to the allegedly compelled speech and that MJF lacked enforcement authority over the IOLTA rules.

The First Circuit's ruling follows its 1993 decision in Washington Legal Foundation v. Massachusetts Bar Foundation, which established that IOLTA challenges must show "a connection between dissenters and the organization so that dissenters reasonably understand that they are supporting the message propagated by [the] recipient organizations." The decision reinforces that all 50 states, plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, maintain similar IOLTA programs directing interest from pooled lawyer trust accounts to legal aid organizations.

Counsel

Russell Johnson Beaupain and E.

David Wescott are represented by Kyle Singhal and Stephen C. Smith of Hopwood & Singhal PLLC and Steve Smith Trial Lawyers.

The state defendants are represented by Jason Anton, Aaron M. Frey, Thomas A. Knowlton and Heather A. Francis of the Maine Attorney General's Office.

Maine Justice Foundation is represented by Julia B. MacDonald and Gavin G. McCarthy of Pierce Atwood LLP.

Case: The case is Wescott v. Stanfill, case number 25-1324, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Court

First Circuit

Case Name

Wescott v. Stanfill

Docket

25-1324