Dale F. Thistle
Attorney at Law
About Dale
Dale Thistle, Esquire
Thistle Law Office
Attorney Thistle graduated from Curry College in Milton, MA and continued his education at Drew Theological Seminary. Following Drew, he moved “back to the land” three miles from the nearest road in Cox’s Mill, West Virginia. While there, he made yogurt, grew a garden for the first time, and hunted. After a year or so, he moved to Maine with a wife and baby daughter, settling on a small farm in Dover- Foxcroft. He became certified to teach high school and did so at MCI in Pittsfield. After that, he bought a small restaurant in Dover- Foxcroft which became the much-reviewed Thistle’s on Monument Square.
In 1986, he was elected to the State Legislature and decided to attend law school two years later. During and after law school he had his own lobbying business representing, among others, the Maine Trial Lawyers Association, the Maine Sheriff’s Association, Guilford Railroad, the former telephone company MCI, and the Atlantic Salmon Federation. He began practicing law in Skowhegan for the firm of Wright & Mills. He has been a solo practitioner in Newport since 1995.
His practice involves personal injury, criminal defense, domestic relations, bankruptcy, and significantly, civil rights in Federal Court. Currently, he has many federal cases pending involving excessive force, two involving strip searches, and one involving the inappropriate use of a taser. One of the excessive force cases was on appeal to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston and recently settled, July 2011, for $725,000. Dale has argued numerous cases before the First Circuit Court of Appeals. He has successfully prosecuted numerous federal civil rights cases including a class action, (Dare v. Knox County). He, also, achieved the largest single settlement of a strip search case in Maine (Miller v. Knox County).
In addition to police misconduct cases, Dale has handled numerous criminal defense cases which include a juvenile case, adult murder trials, serious drug related offenses and cases involving operating under the influence. Dale's personal injury practice is extensive.
Thistle Law Office
Attorney Thistle graduated from Curry College in Milton, MA and continued his education at Drew Theological Seminary. Following Drew, he moved “back to the land” three miles from the nearest road in Cox’s Mill, West Virginia. While there, he made yogurt, grew a garden for the first time, and hunted. After a year or so, he moved to Maine with a wife and baby daughter, settling on a small farm in Dover- Foxcroft. He became certified to teach high school and did so at MCI in Pittsfield. After that, he bought a small restaurant in Dover- Foxcroft which became the much-reviewed Thistle’s on Monument Square.
In 1986, he was elected to the State Legislature and decided to attend law school two years later. During and after law school he had his own lobbying business representing, among others, the Maine Trial Lawyers Association, the Maine Sheriff’s Association, Guilford Railroad, the former telephone company MCI, and the Atlantic Salmon Federation. He began practicing law in Skowhegan for the firm of Wright & Mills. He has been a solo practitioner in Newport since 1995.
His practice involves personal injury, criminal defense, domestic relations, bankruptcy, and significantly, civil rights in Federal Court. Currently, he has many federal cases pending involving excessive force, two involving strip searches, and one involving the inappropriate use of a taser. One of the excessive force cases was on appeal to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston and recently settled, July 2011, for $725,000. Dale has argued numerous cases before the First Circuit Court of Appeals. He has successfully prosecuted numerous federal civil rights cases including a class action, (Dare v. Knox County). He, also, achieved the largest single settlement of a strip search case in Maine (Miller v. Knox County).
In addition to police misconduct cases, Dale has handled numerous criminal defense cases which include a juvenile case, adult murder trials, serious drug related offenses and cases involving operating under the influence. Dale's personal injury practice is extensive.
