Peter Rice has worked at Disability Rights Maine, (DRM), since 1997. He began as a staff attorney in the Developmental Disabilities Program before becoming Legal Director in 1999. In 2021, Peter stepped down as Legal Director and became a senior staff attorney.
Peter graduated from Vermont Law School in 1987. While in law school, Peter clerked with the chief counsel for the Vermont Department of Education and got his first exposure to special education law. Peter then moved to Alaska and clerked for two Alaskan Superior Court Judges. He then did contract legal work in Alaska before returning to Maine in 1990. Prior to joining DRM as staff attorney, Peter was in private practice focusing on municipal law and criminal defense.
Peter was co-counsel in the Risinger v. Concannon successful EPSDT class action litigation. The court, in that decision, also ruled that DRM had standing to represent Medicaid eligible children in Maine with developmental disabilities and mental health needs. Peter also co-counseled in the Rancourt v. Duby class action litigation, defining what reasonable promptness meant for Medicaid eligible adults with developmental disabilities in need of services. Peter represented the plaintiff in Dudley v. Hannaford , where the First Circuit affirmed the District Court, following a non-jury trial, that the defendant-appellant’s policy violated the ADA because the manager of the store was forbidden from reconsidering a clerk’s initial refusal to sell alcohol, even after the customer revealed his disability. Peter has represented numerous clients in federal and state courts, as well as before administrative bodies
Over the years, Peter has sat various advisory boards and work groups as well as submitting comments on proposed federal and state regulations and testifying before legislative committees. Peter lives on Chebeague Island.