BILL HARWOOD

Bill is an attorney and the Public Advocate for Maine’s Office of Public Advocate. Prior to his current role, he was the Senior Advisor on Regulatory Affairs for the Maine Governor’s Energy Office after having a private practice at Verrill Dana. He has devoted most of his forty year career to representing energy companies and utilities before state and federal regulatory agencies and has been recognized numerous times statewide and nationally for his legal work. Bill has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maine School of Law teaching utility regulation and administrative law and has spoken at numerous industry conferences.

He has served on the Board and as Chair of the Maine Bar Foundation and Legal Services for the Elderly. He has received the Muskie Access to Justice Award (2017); ABA Pro Bono Publico Award (1999); and the Howard Dana Award for Outstanding Service (1994) for his work in promoting free legal services for the poor. He was a founder of Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence; chaired the Board of Trustees of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; chaired the ABA Special Committee on Gun Violence; and served on the U.S. Department of Justice Project Safe Neighborhood Task Force. In 2007 he received the Fitzgerald Award for his work on reducing gun violence. Bill has served on the governing boards of Hearthstone Inc., Katahdin Institute, The Jackson Laboratory, Yarmouth Historical Society, Waynflete School and Maine Justice Foundation, and now the Hurricane Island Foundation.

Bill lives with his wife Ellen in Yarmouth.  He has five adult children (Amy, Hannah, Bruce, Katherine and Julianna).