Biography

Crystal is an attorney with Preti Flaherty’s Environmental Practice Group in the firm’s Portland, Maine, office. She counsels clients on a variety of complex procedural, legislative, and regulatory issues related to environmental law. With more than two decades of service as a career law clerk in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, including eleven as Supervisory Law Clerk, Crystal’s deep institutional knowledge base spans the breadth of federal, state, and local law, with extensive experience in researching and analyzing a host of legal issues according to constitutional, statutory, administrative, and precedential law. 

Crystal is a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law in Portland, Maine, and Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia. As an undergrad, she served as an intern in the Behavioral Science Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Quantico, Virginia, researching issues regarding the intersection of law and psychology. While in law school, she held internships at the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office in Portland, Maine. After law school, Crystal worked as a litigation associate at a respected Maine law firm, practicing federal and state civil litigation in commercial, products liability, bankruptcy, tort, real estate, and land use matters.  As Supervisory Law Clerk for the Maine Supreme Court, Crystal served in the chambers of Justice Ellen A. Gorman, Justice Robert W. Clifford, and Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley, conducting detailed research, advising the Court and making recommendations regarding all manner of case dispositions, and writing and editing judicial opinions, in addition to supervising, training, and mentoring a team of attorneys on issues of legal substance and procedure, writing technique, and ethics.

Crystal lives in Westbrook, Maine.

Firm Highlights

Publication

Municipal Update: Maine Legislature Acts to Clarify Sales of Tax-Acquired Properties

Early this week, in response to the  United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in  Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota  (598 U.S. (2023)) , the Maine Legislature passed emergency legislation establishing a new process for...

Press Coverage

Maine Media Organizations Oppose Foreign Electioneering Ban

Question 2 on Maine’s November ballot asserts that corporations owned or controlled by foreign governments do not have the same rights to political speech as companies here in the U.S. and that foreign governments should be prohibited...

Publication

How to navigate the legal side of nondisclosure agreements

Preti Flaherty attorney Kristy Abraham has authored an article for  MaineBiz  on navigating the legal side of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), outlining six questions for organizations to review before entering into a NDA.

News

Jeffrey Talbert Named to American College of Environmental Lawyers

Jeffrey Talbert, Chair of Preti Flaherty’s Environmental Law Group, has been invited to become a Fellow in the distinguished American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL). Membership in the premiere association of environmental lawyers is by...

Publication

Schutz and Harriman Author Article for MLRC on Mill's Veto of Constitutionally Fraught Legislation

In an article for the Media Law Resource Center's July 2023 Media Law Letter,  Preti Flaherty attorneys Sig Schutz and Alex Harriman explore Gov. Janet Mills' recent veto of L.D. 1610, “An Act to Prohibit Campaign Spending...

Press Coverage

Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting Wins Public Records Dispute with York County Jail

Event

2023 Maine Employment Law Summit

For nearly 30 years, Preti Flaherty's Employment Law team has provided Maine employers with practical guidance and best practices at our annual Employment Law Summit. Join us  Thursday, October 5  for the 2023 Employment...

News

Preti Flaherty Litigation Practice Group Adds Four New Attorneys

Preti Flaherty is pleased to announce the addition of four experienced Associates to the firm’s Litigation Practice Group: Stephen Garvey, Michael Hanify, Hanna May, and Tiffany Ottenga. Stephen Garvey is a graduate of Boston...

Publication

131st Maine Legislature End of Session Update

The First Regular Session of the 131st Legislature was expected to end on June 15th or soon after. Instead, the First Regular Session ended on March 30th, and the Governor signed the “continuing services&rdquo...

News

Matt Warner Named to Cannabis Law Journal Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers 2023

Preti Flaherty attorney and Cannabis Business Group member Matt Warner has been named to the list of Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers for 2023-2024. A joint publication of  Cannabis Law Report and  Cannabis Law...