Governor LePage Announces Judicial Nominees

December 22, 2015

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Contact: Adrienne Bennett, Press Secretary, 207-287-2531

Governor LePage Announces Judicial Nominees

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage announced today judicial nominations of three lawyers to serve in Maine District Court. Selected are Charles F. Budd Jr, Cynthia Montgomery and Thomas Nale Sr.

Charles F. Budd Jr. is a partner at Rudman Winchell who focuses his practice on criminal law, divorce and child custody, family law and personal injury law. Prior to law school, Budd worked for a member of Congress in Washington, D.C. and later for Massachusetts Governor William Weld. Prior to joining Rudman Winchell, he worked for the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow.

Budd was born in Toronto, Ontario. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Boston College, he graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as an editor of The Tax Lawyer, an ABA publication. He now resides in Bangor.

Cynthia Montgomery has served as Chief Counsel since February 2015 in the Office of the Governor.

A native of Texas, Montgomery is a graduate of Georgia State University, where she also received her law degree in 1994. She served as a union representative and in-house counsel for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, Local 623 from 1989 to 1995. In her private practice, she successfully litigated discrimination actions against several urban governments and multiple national and international companies.

Recognizing public service as her true calling, Montgomery worked as a trial attorney for the EEOC, representing the federal government in discrimination actions in Georgia federal courts. After relocating to Maine in 2002, she worked as EEO/ADA Coordinator for Maine DHHS. In 2003, she accepted a position in the Bureau of Employee Relations as a Labor Relations Specialist, then Counsel in 2006 and was promoted to the position of Chief Counsel in 2011.

Montgomery lives in Palermo with her former opposing counsel, who is now her life partner.

Attorney Thomas Nale Sr., of Nale & Nale Law Offices, has been practicing law since he was admitted to the Maine Bar in 1979. He is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire School of Law and Thomas College. Nale specializes in divorce, family matters and litigation. With over 35 years of litigation experience, he has tried cases before the Maine District Court, Maine Superior Court, Maine Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the District of Maine.

He is a member of the Maine State Bar Association and the Waterville Bar Association, where he serves as vice president. Nale served as the Mayor of Waterville from 1986-1987. He is a former President and Treasurer of the Waterville Bar Association and is a life-long resident of the Waterville area.