[7] He graduated from Ricker College in Houlton and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maine School of Law.
Attorney General Janet Mills defended Governor John Baldacci's plan to cut mental health services.
[10] Since 2002, he has served as Of Counsel for Pierce Atwood LLP, a law firm which has an office based in Augusta, Maine.
[8] In April 2013, Governor Paul R. LePage nominated him to serve as co-chair of the Maine Unemployment Investigation Commission.
[11][12] Following a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, in 2023, committed by a mentally disturbed Army reservist, Governor Janet Mills appointed Wathen to chair a seven-member independent commission to investigate the tragedy.