1. October 7, 2009
Board of Overseers of the Bar
97 Winthrop Street
August Maine
Dear Overseers Board;
On May 18, 2009 I filed a request for an investigation into Michael Waxman’s behavior as
opposing counsel in my case including:
• His personal involvement in the case and a clear attitude of a personal vendetta against
me, for reasons unknown to me.
• His threat to use improper influence; to use "the very substantial resources of my family”
against me.
• His constant action of improper legal action with the intent to harass and maliciously
injure both me and my daughter.
• His systematic harassment and intimidation of all my care-givers in a clear effort to
render it impossible for me to maintain employment because I am left with no childcare.
I am grateful to hear that both the Bar Counsel and Grievance Panel has recommended action be
taken against Mr. Waxman for what he has done to me and my daughter. However, I understand
that this will only consider all actions taken prior to August 14th. His behavior since August 14th
has been even more out of control and destructive than anything he did prior to August 14th. I
was told by the Overseers that in order to consider new behavior I must file a new complaint—
which is what this letter serves as.
Mr. Waxman has sent emails to my new lawyer Bill Harwood comparing me to Charles Manson,
claiming that I should be deemed a client of “mental diminished capacity” and my child should
be taken from me. Please see attached.
I have a third lawyer because no one, wants to deal with Mr. Waxman. As I reported to the
Overseers before, when Jamie Wagner was considering becoming my lawyer—Mr. Waxman left
so many voice mails on Jamie’s home phone and sent so many emails, calling me a “despicable
human being” that Jamie’s wife said there is no way you are going to take this case. Mr.
Harwood has already informed me he also has no intention of letting Mr. Waxman ruin his
personal or professional life and he also plans to withdraw from the case.
Mr. Waxman has been filing a motion against me almost every day. He, apparently, has no
other legal practice and spends all day every day, working to destroy me and my daughter. He is
using his bar license as a weapon. He is completely out of control and his legal practice and
tactics are purposefully malicious and destructive.
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2. I originally said that based on what Mr. Waxman has done to me he should be forbidden from
practicing family law in Maine. Now, I believe he should have his bar license revoked entirely.
He is misusing, in the worst manner, his professional license to practice law.
We have attempted, again and again and again to settle. We have offered everything possible for
a settlement. Mr. Waxman will accept no settlement. He is obsessed with this case and with
destroying me and my daughter. He has said the only settlement he will accept is sole custody
for his client with me on supervised visits only.
He is, with purpose, driving me and my daughter into poverty and bankruptcy. He is using his
law license to do this. He must be held accountable. I am requesting that he be ordered to pay
my entire legal costs, which run well over $200,000. My legal bills have drained my savings,
retirement, my daughter’s college fund. None of his money has even gone to his client, Igor
Malenko. All of it has gone to all the other lawyers I have been forced to hire to defend myself
against Mr. Waxman.
Mr. Waxman has embarked on a campaign to scare and intimate my friends and care givers in
Sorrento, as he did in South Portland, continuing to try, very successfully, to isolate me and Mila
from everyone. Please see an email he sent when I had gone to Ellsworth for one hour and left
Mila with a close friend of mine for over a decade and a wonderful mother. She made the
mistake of answering the phone, a normal activity in any other home—but not in mine anymore
—and Mr. Waxman was calling. Please note what he said to her.
Mr. Waxman has employed a private detective who is trailing me and my friends in Sorrento—
taking photos of me and my daughter when we were kayaking and watching my home.
The Overseers can check with lawyer Sophie Spurr in Blue Hill who attempted to settle with Mr.
Waxman and Bill Harwood at Verrill Dana. Sophie Spurr was shocked at Mr. Waxman’s
obsessive drive to control and destroy me.
Sincerely,
Lori Handrahan, Ph.D.
S. Portland Maine
207-221-7706
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3. From: mjwaxy@aol.com [mailto:mjwaxy@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 5:59 PM
To: Norton, Leslie; Harwood, William
Cc: igormalenko@hotmail.com; Igor-Malenko@idexx.com
Subject: Re: Handrahan
Leslie and Bill:
I am enclosing my response to your Motion to Consolidate, as well as a copy of the Motion to
Dissolve that Igor "filed" the other day. I put the word in quotations because the Ellsworth PFA
file had not yet been received down here. Thus, I do not know when the PFA hearing will be
scheduled, but very likely it will be sometime next week.
Once again, I implore you to persuade your client to voluntarily dismiss the PFA and restart
visitations BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT IS BEST FOR THIS CHILD!!! Also, she should cure
her contempt by moving back here immediately. These things are also in your client's best
interest, since it is likely, in my very humble view, that Moskowitz is going to be outraged at her
behavior and throw the book at her.
Bill has tried to argue with me that this is just a tough case with clients who tell different stories,
and the fact finder must figure it out. That is not an accurate characterization. Ms. Handrahan
suffers from serious mental illness and has problems perceiving events and statements
accurately. Judge Moskowitz became keenly aware of this in the divorce trial. Frankly, you
could easily make an argument that she is a client with Diminished Mental Capacity and thus
you are authorized under the Bar Rules to take steps, including involving family members and
others and including disclosing client confidences in order to protect her interests. See Maine
Bar Rule 3.6(j).
In any case, unless you are able to corral Ms. Handrahan and persuade her to behave in a manner
that shows she actually understands and cares about what is best for Mila, my prediction is that
she will soon be stripped of all rights to this child. That would be very sad for Mila.
Michael
From: mjwaxy@aol.com [mailto:mjwaxy@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 7:23 PM
To: Harwood, William
Subject: Handrahan
Bill:
I'm sorry our efforts fell flat today. I thought I owed you an explanation.
You told me that Ms. Handrahan fervently believes that Igor molested Mila, in the face of the
DHHS investigation that unsubstantiated the claims and his taking and passing the lie detector
test. So, we discussed how she might agree to allow Igor SOME contact with Mila in the short
run while we try and figure out how to assuage or mollify her fears. There is no way that will
ever happen.
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4. At first, she was CONVINCED that Igor suffered from mental illness. She dragged him to over
10 different mental health providers in search of a diagnosis that would assuage or mollify her
concerns. Not one expert agreed with her heartfelt beliefs that he suffered any mental illness.
Indeed, several suggested that it was SHE, not Igor who needed psychiatric intervention. She
ignored those opinions and/or attacked those who had the audacity to suggest this. She filed
grievances against Dr. Sean McLoy and his pyschiatric nurse.
When that tack did not seem to work with either the guardian, Liz Stout, or the forensic
psychologist, Dr. Kabacoff, she changed her approach. All of a sudden in August 2008, after the
guardian recommended that Igor enjoy unsupervised visitation, she contacted Leslie Devoe and
asked her to look at this case "through a domestic abuse paradigm." That's like asking a roofer to
come look at your house to determine whether it needs any maintenance or improvements. No
surprise that the roofer will tell you you need a new roof!! So, domestic violence became her
next crusade, and she started to make up one story after another (I assure you that she created
tale after tale at trial, which she had never shared with Liz or Dr. Kabacoff.).
That did not work either, and the judge found her to be less than credible. So, her new approach
is this lie that Igor sexually abused Mila. Most parents are elated when DHHS concludes that the
child was not abused. Not Lori. Nope. Lori will not rest until someone agrees with her "heartfelt
beliefs."
Bill, Charles Manson may have had heartfelt beliefs that murdering those people was the right
thing to do. BUT HE WAS MENTALLY ILL!!! So is Lori!!
So, I do not care what she believes. She is mentally ill, has no empathy for her child, and will do
or say whatever she likes to destroy their bond.
There is no mollifying or assuaging her fears. And she will never stop as long as she has any
parental rights to Mila. At some point, she will lose those. No court will permit this kind of
conduct. It is harming her daughter and she could care less. I won't try and convince you any
more. Each time a new person gets involved in this case I try that. It is a waste of my energy.
I like you. I think you ought to get the heck out of this case because it will consume you, and
you are not helping Lori or Mila. Lori needs help, but you are not qualified to give it. She needs
psychiatric help.
There it is. Sorry to be so long winded. Thanks for trying. You are not magic, however, so you
can't make this case right. Be sure to tell her that I am not going anywhere, and I shall not rest
until justice is done and that beautiful child is in a healthy, loving environment.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________
From: mjwaxy@aol.com [mailto:mjwaxy@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 9:43 AM
To: Harwood, William
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5. Cc: igormalenko@hotmail.com; Igor-Malenko@idexx.com
Subject: Malenko
Bill:
We need to get this to a hearing ASAP. I am going to file a Motion for Contempt squarely
bringing the issue of whether Lori has relocated before the judge and asking him to order her to
return. Will you accept service of process or must I go through the hassle and expense of serving
her in Hancock County, knowing of course that I shall ask the judge to order reimbursement for
that unnecessary expense?
Lori has no right to move Mila to Sorrento. She can move there herself, certainly, just give Mila
to Igor. But she cannot take this unilateral action without the blessing of the Court, which she
has not even requested. You did what you could at the hearing, but I think you made incorrect
assumptions and representations about Lori. She is not "just traveling back and forth to her
vacation home now and then." She has enrolled Mila in day care up there, and she is
establishing other roots as well. She intends to remain in Sorrento as her residence.
What I would really like to do is get a date certain to have a day-long hearing on all Motions to
Modify. And I want that date soon. Can we do this by agreement, or must I proceed with the
Motion for Contempt and any other Motions I can think of? If Lori wants to use/manipulate you
to delay this case, then I promise you I shall file motion after motion after motion and you will
expend a prodigious amount of time on this case that is unnecessary.
If a GAL were in this case, we both know that she would be screaming at the Court to hold a
hearing ASAP and give this case and this child some closure and certainty. It is NOT in this
little girl's best interest to have her world constantly shifting because your client decides from
one day to the next that she will move, un-enroll her in an excellent day care and re-enroll her in
a different one, then move again once the house presently on the market sells.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Michael
__________________________
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6. From: mjwaxy@aol.com [mailto:mjwaxy@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 2:53 PM
To: lorihandrahan5@gmail.com
Cc: igormalenko@hotmail.com; Igor-Malenko@idexx.com; ken@crfsalaw.com; Beth.Fawcett@maine.gov;
Dean.Staffieri@maine.gov; Francis.R.Sweeney@Maine.gov
Subject: Contempt
Lori:
I just got off the phone with "Liza" at your Sorrento home. Apparently, you are off "in town"
and have left Mila in the care of a woman named Liza about whom you have shared no
information regarding her qualifications to take care of Mila.
Clearly, you have unilaterally decided to prevent Igor from enjoying his visitation today with
Mila, and you have elected to ignore the three previous emails that I sent to you today regarding
the visitation. For the record, those emails were sent at 8:50, 11:08 and 12:27. I saw the email
stream between you and the former GAL, Liz Stout, today, so I am aware that you were online
and emailing Liz at 7:10. This conduct comprises a clear and intentional violation of the
mandates of a Court Order. Although you might be able to argue that Monday's visit which you
failed to bring Mila for could be excused since you claimed to have an automotive emergency,
you have not even tried to explain to us why you have kept Mila away from her visit with her
father today. In the absence of a valid explanation that tells us why you were unable to make this
visit happen (you were in South Portland yesterday morning, and have apparently driven up to
Sorrento either yesterday or first thing this morning), this is unacceptable.
I shall file a Contempt action on Monday.
For Mila's sake, I would simply ask you to try and understand that she loves her father very
much, he loves her back, and it is absolutely in her best interest to have her father in her life.
Keeping Mila away from her father is hurting her, and I wish you would try and understand that
proposition.
Michael J. Waxman, Esq.
One Monument Way, Ste. 206
P.O. Box 375
Portland, Maine 04112-0375
(207) 772-9558 phone
(207) 772-9567 fax
P.S. I digitally recorded the entire conversation with Liza, in case there was any doubt about
what we discussed or the manner or tone that was used. I'll be happy to make this available to
you at your convenience.
_______________________________________
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7. From: mjwaxy@aol.com [mailto:mjwaxy@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 4:24 PM
To: lorihandrahan5@gmail.com
Cc: igormalenko@hotmail.com; Igor-Malenko@idexx.com; Beth.Fawcett@maine.gov;
Dean.Staffieri@maine.gov; Louise.I.Boisvert@maine.gov; Francis.R.Sweeney@Maine.gov;
clkabacoff@yahoo.com; estout@stoutlawmaine.com
Subject: Motion to Dismiss
Ms. Handrahan:
Here is an electronic copy of the Motion that is going out in the mail today. If you would like to
receive paper copies while you are unrepresented, please give me your mailing address. I have
determined that I do not wish to speak with you under any circumstances other than cross-
examination before a judge with court security present. Thanks.
Michael J. Waxman, Esq.
One Monument Way, Ste. 206
P.O. Box 375
Portland, Maine 04112-0375
_______________________________________
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