Since its founding in 1952, Jensen Baird has provided clients with practical solutions to complex problems. Through collaboration and communication, our attorneys build client relationships based on honest counsel and creative thinking. We have a proven track record of establishing and maintaining long-term relationships with clients, and pride ourselves on delivering prompt legal services in a cost-effective manner. With a broad range of specialties and legal expertise, we strive to address the entire range of our clients’ problems, while also providing expert guidance to help our clients avoid future issues.
Our goal has never been to be the largest firm in Maine, but rather to be the most respected for our ability to advise clients. As a mid-size firm, our team of dedicated attorneys is small enough for a close, in-depth client relationship, but large enough to succeed against the larger, sometimes faceless, firms. Consistently recognized by clients and peers in numerous rankings and periodicals, such as Best Lawyers, Chambers and Partners, and New England Super Lawyers, our attorneys work together, sharing expertise and resources to serve the needs of our clients. Jensen Baird specializes in Business Services, Estate Planning, Government Services, Litigation, and Real Estate, where our approach has earned us a reputation of respect–a reputation that is rooted in our 60 year history as a premier Maine law firm.
OVER 60 YEARS OF LEGAL EXCELLENCE
The story of Jensen Baird begins when Kenneth Baird and Saul Sheriff formed the partnership of Sheriff & Baird in 1952. When Mr. Sheriff died suddenly of a heart attack in 1960, a new partnership was forged with Raymond Jensen, a Bowdoin College and Harvard Law School graduate. On January 1, 1961, it became official when Baird and Jensen joined with Robert Donovan and Merton Henry, both Sheriff & Baird associates, to form the new firm of Jensen & Baird.
In 1971, Jensen & Baird merged with Chapman, Chapman & Gardner, a partnership of Clark Chapman, Sr., and his son-in-law, M. Donald Gardner, a Colby College and Boston University Law graduate. Following Mr. Chapman’s untimely death and Mr. Donovan’s appointment to the Maine District Court Judge in 1978, the firm became known as Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry. Merton Henry, a Bowdoin College and George Washington University Law School graduate, served as its managing partner for many years.
In 2021, the firm transitioned its name back to Jensen Baird. Drawing on the traditions of its founding members, Jensen Baird maintains a commitment to legal excellence and civic responsibility in the state of Maine.
About JENSEN BAIRD
Founded in 1952
26 people in their team
Practice areas
Languages spoken
Practice areas
Real Estate
Jensen Baird has always been known for its expertise in real estate law and for helping clients achieve their objectives. Since its inception, the firm’s clients have included major real estate developers, lending institutions, private capital and equity investors, commercial landlords and tenants, and individual sellers and buyers. The firm’s reputation is based on years of experience in providing legal services on a wide variety of projects, including shopping centers, malls, multi-tenant office buildings, apartment complexes, hotels and other housing projects, HUD projects, commercial and industrial projects, energy generation facilities, retirement communities, residential and commercial subdivisions, condominiums and cooperatives, and tax increment financing districts.
Business
Our attorneys provide a full range of services for business clients with an emphasis on building productive partnerships. Ranging from small businesses to large multi-state and multinational corporations, financial institutions and banks of all sizes, as well as other commercial and consumer lenders, we offer clients practical solutions and expert counsel. As one of our clients recently reflected, “You can grow your business with Jensen Baird.” We advise clients commencing a business venture on the selection of the appropriate business form (e.g., sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or limited liability company), and ensure that all organizational requirements are satisfied. We provide assistance to ongoing businesses in connection with environmental and energy matters, the issuance and transfer of securities, mergers and acquisitions, sales and liquidations, financings, intellectual property, business and tax planning, and a wide variety of day-to-day and long-term business matters. Lawyers in our firm have extensive experience dealing with state agencies (e.g., DEP, PUC, Maine Revenue Services) and federal agencies (e.g., EPA, FERC, Army Corps of Engineers, Internal Revenue Service) in permitting issues and other regulatory and enforcement proceedings.
Lawsuits & Disputes
We have a wide ranging litigation practice representing plaintiffs and defendants in commercial disputes, condominium litigation, and easement and boundary disputes. Our team of attorneys is sensitive to the stress litigation can create, and works with clients to make the process as streamlined as possible.
We handle commercial disputes involving real estate transactions, construction contracts, business torts, personal injury, antitrust, securities, banking and lender liability, insurance coverage, professional malpractice, employment discrimination, environmental matters, trusts and estates, and school law. Our commercial litigators have been selected by their peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America and New England Super Lawyers for commercial and business litigation, construction law, antitrust law, legal malpractice, and estate and trust litigation.
Members of this group also represent plaintiffs and defendants in personal injury litigation, including product liability and negligence cases.
Employment & Labor
Committed to building partnerships with client organizations, Jensen Baird’s employment and labor attorneys advise employers in both the public and private sectors on all aspects of the employer-employee relationship. Specifically, we provide legal services in the following areas: negotiation and drafting of employment agreements; review and drafting of personnel manuals; workplace safety compliance; hiring, discipline and termination procedures; investigation and defense of workplace discrimination, harassment, retaliation and whistleblower claims; negotiation and administration of collective bargaining agreements; employee benefits and executive compensation; wage and hour matters; employee leave issues under FMLA and Workers’ Compensation; and mediation and arbitration of employment disputes. Our attorneys represent employers in state and federal courts, alternative dispute resolution proceedings, and before administrative agencies, such as the Maine Human Rights Commission and the Maine Labor Relations Board.