Like many veterans of long nights studying in the law library, Maine Law grads Jean Deighan ‘76 and Glen Porter ’78 became life partners. They married in 1978, and launched their careers near their home towns, in Bangor at a time when women were just starting to join the profession in significant numbers. Although both started out on the litigation track, their careers took them down widely different roads to success.
Jean came to Maine Law after earning her undergraduate degree from Tufts University. After a brief stint interning for Dan Lilley, she joined Twitchell, Gray and Linscott focusing on criminal defense and family law. A year into her career as a litigator, Glen and Jean announced their engagement. Fearing a loss of business due to anticipated conflicts of interest, the partners at her firm asked her to step down. After all, they explained, there were two women attorneys in the firm and one would be enough for a smaller firm to carry. Those were different times. Instead of finding a different job in traditional practice, Jean started a new career in trust banking. To her surprise and delight she loved the world of fiduciary law and investments. From there she became an independent investment advisor representative and later founded Deighan Wealth Advisors in 1994 which to her great relief, grew exponentially. Jean retired from the Bangor-based company in 2019, selling it to her colleagues, all women, who after rebranding the company as Birchbrook, have continued to serve clients across Maine and seventeen states.
Glen, a self-described “triple Mainer”, was born in Maine, earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Maine and his law degree from Maine Law. Although he was the top scorer in the bar exam that season, Glen too, was affected by the frost of marrying another lawyer. Fortunately, the then DA of Penobscot County was undeterred, and Glen started his career as an Assistant DA for Penobscot County, where he got plenty of courtroom experience, laying a firm foundation for his life as a litigator. After two years at the DA’s office, Glen joined Eaton Peabody in Bangor where he practiced for forty years, fully retiring in 2020.
Throughout Jean and Glen’s careers they have given back to their communities by serving on many local and statewide boards supporting causes near and dear to them, including Maine Law. Jean has been a member of the Maine School of Law Foundation Board since near its inception, and they are generous contributors to the school’s annual fund. “Neither of us could have had the successful careers we have enjoyed, nor made the contributions to Maine that we have made without the rigorous training we received at Maine Law. Maine Law is truly the unsung generator of intellectual capital for Maine. Our very different career paths underscore this. It is very important to us that others have the same opportunity that we had, hence we give, and make a point of giving generously. We have also made provisions in our estate plan to further endow Maine Law. We hope, upon reflection, others Maine Law grads will join us.”