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Vincent McKusick began practicing law with Pierce Atwood in 1952. For twenty-five years until he was appointed by Governor Longley as Maine’s Chief Justice Vincent engaged in general practice with the firm. In 1977, Governor Longley appointed Vincent McKusick Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the first such appointment directly from the bar since the appointment of Chief Justice Prentiss Mellon in 1820. As Chief Justice, McKusick had responsibility for managing Maine’s entire court system as well as for presiding over its highest appellate court. Over the years, he had been deeply involved in modernizing the rules of procedure for the Maine courts, serving on rules committees appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court and co-authoring two editions of the classic work on Maine Civil Practice. Vincent’s fourteen and a half years as Chief Justice were marked by significant improvements in the structure and operation of all courts. Many of those improvements came about through the involvement of volunteer efforts from within the community, such as Maine’s pioneering Mediation Program and its Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program. | 