spring 2011
A Global Legal Perspective
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Contents 3 4
Professor Gus Speth promotes post-growth prosperity, and the VJEL symposium explores how China and the U.S. can work together to meet global environmental challenges.
A Global Legal Perspective
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Faculty Highlights
24 Photos, cover and this page: Molly Mimier ’05
Discovery
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Most VLS grads won’t specialize in international law, but virtually all will face transnational issues at some point in their careers.
Letter from Dean Jeff Shields
Our International and Comparative Law Programs offer students access to “law for the world” through an exciting range of study abroad options, courses with global perspectives taught by global faculty, and experiential learning opportunities overseas.
Professor Betsy Baker helps the Inuits strike a balance within a delicate ecosystem and economy; Professor Margaret Martin Barry joins VLS as acting associate dean for clinical and experiential programs; and VLS launches distance learning degree programs.
Thirty Years of Dispute Resolution at Vermont Law Dispute resolution is on the rise for good reason. Professor Sean Nolon has energized summer courses, launched a Certificate in Dispute Resolution Advocacy, and helped students appreciate the value—for both sides—of creative alternatives to litigation.
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Class Notes
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In Memoriam
Read the latest on your classmates, including profiles of Stephen Hesse JD/MSL’89, Ingrid Busson ’99, and Javier Garcia-Lomas Gago LLM’10.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter from www.vermontlaw.edu.
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Loquitur Spring 2011 Volume 24, Number 2 President and Dean Jeff Shields Executive Director of Institutional Advancement Matt Rizzo Editor Carol Westberg Production Editor Jennie Clarke Contributing Editor Kimberly Evans Contributing Writers John Cramer Jackie Gardina Regina Kuehnemund Meg Lundstrom Mark McCrackin Julie Sloane Special Thanks To Jennifer Hayslett Mary Lou Lorenz Ariel Wiegard Design and Art Direction Glenn Suokko, Inc. Printing Capital Offset Company, Inc. Published by Vermont Law School 164 Chelsea Street, PO Box 96 South Royalton, VT 05068 www.vermontlaw.edu
Printed with soy-based inks on recycled paper Š 2011 Vermont Law School
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Kathleen Dooher
Send address changes to alumni@vermontlaw.edu or call 802-831-1313
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Letter from Dean Jeff Shields Dear Alumni and Friends, This issue features the rapid expansion of our international initiatives under the able leadership of Professor Stephanie Farrior. As law practice becomes more and more global, a structured approach for all of our students to spotting international law issues is crucial. In addition, a significant and growing number of our graduates each year are moving into international careers, often stationed abroad. To help us understand how best to approach both of these challenges—the dayto-day issues for the small-city practitioner and the one pursuing a global career—we have assembled an exceptional group of advisors from the broad range of public and private international practice. They are described in more detail at www.vermontlaw. edu/ICLPAdvisoryBoard. I invite you to become familiar with their backgrounds. These advisors have helped Professor Linda Smiddy and, more recently, Professor Farrior structure our extraordinary International and Comparative Law Programs. Another feature article deals with the return to excellence of our dispute resolution program led by Professor Sean Nolon. I am enthusiastic about Sean’s initiatives to incorporate dispute resolution techniques into first-year and upper-level “doctrinal” courses. He has also introduced weekend simulation exercises, broadened our dispute resolution internship programs, expanded a partnership with Pepperdine Law School (U.S.News & World Report’s number-one-ranked dispute resolution law school program), and expanded employment opportunities for our students interested in dispute resolution. The kind of leadership that we receive from our faculty on international law and dispute resolution is indicative of the verve and enthusiasm I find across this institution and explains the extraordinary depth and breadth of education available to Vermont Law School students.
Geoffrey B. Shields President, Dean, and Professor of Law
Laura DeCapua
Warm regards,
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Discovery Making History By Professor Jackie Gardina
On December 22, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010. The act defines the process for finally removing from the United States Code the only federal law that affirmatively discriminates based on sexual orientation. It was an historic moment, made even more so by the declaration just weeks earlier that the repeal was dead. Through my work with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), I, along with the entire Vermont Law School community, participated directly in the effort and witnessed the amazing events that led to repeal. Proponents of repeal have been persistent and unbending in their efforts to remove Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell from the books. Every March for six years, Vermont Law School sent 20 to 40 students, faculty, and staff to Washington, D.C., to lobby
for repeal. Thanks to faculty and trustee donations and student fund raising, we were able to join hundreds of like-minded veterans and civilians and visit every office on Capitol Hill, speaking about the necessity of repeal with legislative aides, military liaisons, and sometimes with the senators and representatives themselves. We sponsored letter-writing campaigns, one year sending out over 200 letters to representatives and senators throughout the country from constituents attending Vermont Law School. Vermont Law School was also involved in the behind-the-scenes efforts to effect change. On behalf of SLDN, Dustin Brucher ’10 and I examined the scope of Executive Power and combed through the Department of Defense’s implementing regulations to identify possible amendments that would at least soften the impact
of the law. Based on our efforts, SLDN submitted a Transition Paper to President Obama after the election. In February 2010, Secretary Robert Gates introduced new regulations intended to implement Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell “more humanely.” The new regulations closely tracked our recommendations. While short of repeal, the changes made it more difficult for the armed forces to investigate and discharge a gay or lesbian service member. They also allowed the Department of Defense to begin the slow transition to full repeal. The last chapter of this story hasn’t been written. The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 did not actually repeal the law; it simply provided a process for doing so. Nonetheless, we appear on the brink of ending this discriminatory practice. Vermont Law School played an active and important role in the process. We helped make history.
Progressive Fusion Needed to Save America
Professor Jackie Gardina (far left) at Lobby Day in Washington, D.C., with VLS students and staff members
The United States is doomed unless the American way of life is radically overhauled, Professor Gus Speth said in a January 13 public lecture, “Letter to Liberals: Liberalism, Environmentalism, and Economic Growth.” Speth, who joined the VLS faculty in 2009 and is a pioneer in the modern environmental movement, said Americans must abandon the belief that salvation lies in economic growth. Instead, the nation must create a new economy based on a progressive “postgrowth” platform of prosperity, peace, and well being. “The best hope for real change is a fusion of those concerned about the environment, social justice, and strong democ-
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Gus Speth
racy into one powerful progressive force,” he said. “Environmentalists should therefore support social progressives in addressing the crisis of inequality now unraveling America’s social fabric and join with those seeking to reform politics and strengthen democracy.” According to Speth, a “post-growth econ omy” doesn’t mean no growth. “America needs growth in good jobs, affordable healthcare, education, research and training, public infrastructure, green technologies, restoration of ecosystems and local communities, nonmilitary government spending, and international assistance for sustainable development,” he said. “A postgrowth economy would shift resources away from consumption and into investments in long-term social and environmental needs.”
Top 10 Environmental Watch List
ENRLC Prevails in Omya Case
Vermont Law School gained widespread media attention in January with the release of its first annual Top 10 Environmental Watch List, which analyzed 2010’s most important environmental law and policy issues and how those issues may play out in 2011. The project was reported by the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Forbes, MSNBC, High Country News, the Boston Globe and dozens of other news outlets nationwide and overseas. The Environmental Law Center faculty and Vermont Journal of Environmental Law students researched more than 75 judicial, regulatory, and legislative actions before selecting what they considered to be the most important environmental law and policy issues, based on their significance to public health and the environment, and whether a key development was expected in the coming year. Topping the list was Congress’s failure to enact climate change legislation. The project’s goal is to improve public understanding of environmental issues that significantly affect people and the natural world. The Environmental Watch List originated in the spring of 2010 when professors Gus Speth, John Echeverria, Pat Parenteau, and Jason Czarnezki were brainstorming ways to improve public understanding of environmental law and policy issues. Choosing 10 issues wasn’t an easy task—2010 was a prominent year for environmental news—but the project broadened VLS’s reputation for environmental scholarship and contributing to public understanding of environmental issues. Take a look at the Top 10 Environmental Watch List at http://watchlist.vermont law.edu.
The team at the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) was very pleased by the news that they prevailed on summary judgment in the Vermont Environmental Court after three years of litigation concerning groundwater contamination at the Omya mineral processing facility in Florence, Vermont. “For years, Omya dumped its waste into unlined pits, which caused the groundwater under its mineral processing facility in Florence, Vermont, to become contaminated with arsenic and aminoethyl ethanolamine,” according to the lead ENRLC attorney on the case, Sheryl Dickey. The citizens group Residents Concerned
A waste pit at the Omya mineral processing facility in Florence, Vermont
Caleb Kenna
Laura DeCapua
Discovery
Members of Residents Concerned about Omya, who are being represented by the legal team at the ENRLC
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about Omya (RCO) has been advocating for protection of the groundwater in the vicinity of the Omya facility for more than seven years. On March 3, Vermont Environmental Court Judge Merideth Wright handed down a decision to remand Omya’s final solid waste disposal certification, ruling that the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) must incorporate the public trust analysis required by Vermont’s groundwater protection law into the solid waste certification process. Wright’s ruling is the first interpretation of Vermont’s 2008 law designating groundwater of the State as a public trust resource. “The ENRLC faculty, staff, and students have played an important part in establishing a groundbreaking precedent that will help protect the groundwater resources of the State for future generations of Vermonters,” said ENRLC Acting Director Teresa Clemmer. On behalf of RCO, the ENRLC filed appeals challenging solid waste certifications issued by the ANR that allowed Omya to dispose of its calcium carbonate waste. In 2008, on behalf of RCO, the ENRLC appealed ANR’s issuance of Omya’s interim solid waste certification to the Environmental Court. In 2010, they again appealed to the Environmental Court on ANR’s issuance of Omya’s final certification. Omya may appeal the ruling to the Vermont Supreme Court, and the ENRLC will continue to represent RCO in those proceedings.
Laura DeCapua
Discovery
Bryan Mornaghi ’11, Bill McKibben, ELC Director Marc Mihaly, and Meredith Crafton ’11
of climate change on the planet’s ecosystems—from melting glaciers to severe heat waves, flooding, drought, and sea level rise. But McKibben also gave the crowd hope, detailing the growth of 350.org, the global grassroots movement he founded to fight global warming. His lecture, “The Most Important Number in the World,” focused on the massive changes being wrought upon the Earth’s landscape, water systems, and atmosphere by man-made carbon dioxide emissions. Those changes are radically damaging public health, food production,
water supplies, and humankind’s chances of survival, he said. McKibben said he founded 350.org in 2007 when he finally realized that writing and speaking about climate change weren’t enough and that mobilizing grassroots pressure on governments was needed. “A betting man would say the odds are against us, but the price of being a morally awake person is knowing you have to do whatever you can to change those odds,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ll win, but there are lots of people who will fight until the very last minute.”
McKibben Gives 2011 Williams Lecture Bill McKibben, one of America’s foremost environmental advocates, had a mixed message for the standing-roomonly crowd on February 17 at the seventh annual Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law. He detailed the escalating impact
The new Center for Legal Services breaks ground in May for the new home of the South Royalton Legal Clinic, the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, and Barrister’s Book Shop. This renovation of the former Freck’s Department Store will allow for significant expansion of pro bono legal services. The planned move-in date is late summer 2012.
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Discovery
Mike Lyness ’12 and Erica Lewis ’12 were among 50 legal internship candidates accepted for the Army JAG Corps this summer out of 1,600 applicants. Lyness, who likely will be stationed in Washington state this summer, said he’s honored to have been selected for the JAG internship—and that his and Lewis’s selection is another sign that the Defense Department continues to recognize the quality of VLS students and alumni. Lewis chose VLS because of the U.S.-China Partnership in Environmental Law. After her summer JAG internship, most likely based in South Korea, she’ll be an intern for the Beijing Arbitration Commission in the fall. Fluent in several languages, Lewis would like to practice international and operational law and also is interested in dispute resolution.
Laura Colangelo ’12, Ruth White ’12, and Hanna Jannicelli ’11 show their medals from the Dispute Resolution Triathlon Competition.
In January, Kendra Brown ’12 was elected 2011–12 chair of the Northeast Region of Black Law Students Association (NEBLSA). Brown is currently the copresident of the VLS chapter of the BLSA and served as convention coordinator for the NEBLSA Regional Convention, held in Mashantucket, Connecticut. In addition, the VLS chapter was the runner-up in the
Mark Washburn
Student Awards and Achievements
Panelists Eric Freedman (Hofstra University School of Law), Phillip Meyer (Vermont Law School), and Michael Radelet (University of Colorado–Boulder) discussed the work of VLS Professor Michael Mello.
Chapter of the Year competition, second to Harvard University. VLS teams in negotiations, client counseling, and trial advocacy competitions performed well this season. Ruth White ’12, Laura Colangelo ’12, and Hannah Jannicelli ’11 won the negotiations round of the St. John’s University School of Law/ FINRA Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon Competition held in October. Placing second at the regional ABA Negotiation Competition in November were Kayvon Hejazi ’12 and Jordan Wimpy ’12, who went on to represent VLS at the national competition in February. Jannicelli also served as Hejazi’s and Wimpy’s peer coach. This February in Boston, Andrew Muir ’12 and Nathan Thomas ’12 placed third overall at the ABA Client Counseling Competition, while Bradley Marshall ’12 and Jason Hart ’12 of the Trial Advocacy and Moot Court Team reached the semi-finals of the Texas Young Lawyers Regional Trial Competition.
Law Review Symposium Explores Capital Punishment Panelists at the Vermont Law Review’s 11th annual symposium on January 11 described capital punishment as unfair, inhumane, and unconstitutional. “New Perspectives on Capital Punishment” brought together legal scholars and litigators who explored current issues in capital punishment and its human rights implications. Topics discussed include applied theory, litigation strategies, international law, erroneous convictions, racial bias, public opinion, and medical issues. The Law Review also honored the work of the late Michael Mello, a VLS faculty member and champion of human rights. Capital defense lawyer Sean O’Brien, an associate law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said the death penalty was “societal violence.” Prosecu-
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Discovery
tors and capital punishment advocates try to dehumanize the accused “to the point that it’s permissible to kill because they’ve been relegated to the status of animal,” he said. “But litigation is about the intrinsic humanity of our clients. They are unique individuals possessed of fundamental human dignity. Being part of a capital defense team is the finest thing you can do as a lawyer.”
Symposium on China’s Environmental Governance China and the United States have vastly different legal systems, but the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases must work together to strengthen the Asian giant’s environmental laws and to bolster each other’s investments in renewable energy. That was the word from the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law’s annual symposium on March 2, “China’s Environmental Governance: Global Challenges and Comparative Solutions,” cohosted with the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law. The symposium hosted scholars from the United States and China for a day of discussion about current and prospective solutions to environmental issues, including climate change and energy needs. Assistant Professor Siu Tip Lam, director of the U.S.-China Partnership, welcomed panelists and audience members, saying improving China’s environmental rule of law would have a major impact on global warming. China’s rapid industrialization and urbanization have caused severe environmental degradation, including greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming worldwide and hundreds of thousands of deaths a year in China due to exposure to pollution. The crisis has prompted China’s leaders to seek new ways to allow steady growth, while
protecting the air, land, water, and public health. China’s environment minister has warned that unchecked development is harming the country’s air, water, and soil, and could limit long-term economic growth and feed social instability. In the panel discussion on enforcement remedies, Professor Wang Canfa of the China University of Political Science and Law gave an overview of China’s environmental enforcement agencies. Each year, more than 3,300 national, provincial, regional, and municipal agencies handle millions of plant inspections and complaints about environmental violations that result in some of the worst polluters being shut down and penalized with mil-
lions of dollars in fines, he said. Wang, who is a folk hero in China for his efforts to fight pollution, is director of the Beijing-based Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims. He said pollution remains severe, but that some progress is being made. He cited examples of heavy metal refineries, coal-burning power plants, and other polluting facilities being shut down because they were poisoning local children, contaminating rivers, and harming food production. Wang said China must remove bureaucratic hurdles, stiffen punishment, improve the quality and quantity of its enforcement agents and take other steps to improve its environmental legal system.
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Discovery
Career Services Boot Camp The Office of Career Services offered its first 1L Boot Camp—Professional Development Workshops on January 10 and 11. This event couldn’t have happened without the help of 35 alumni who volunteered as panelists and mock interviewers. Students especially appreciated the alumni perspectives on the career-building process, as well as a networking session that inspired more concrete thoughts about their summer and future plans. “Practice makes perfect. I hope all students truly appreciate the advantage that events like this provide VLS students going forward with their careers,” said Amity Barnard ’13. One especially popular session was Dan Post Senning’s (yes, that Post) from the Emily Post Institute on Business Etiquette. He gave sage advice and answered questions ranging from whether a man should hold a chair for a woman to where to place your napkin at the end of a meal. Corporate trainer and bestselling author Debra Fine gave a presentation on The Fine Art of Small Talk—How to Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills—and Leave a Positive Impression! Debra is a former engineer who teaches conversation skills and business networking techniques for use at conferences, meetings, and other business or social events. By all accounts this event was a huge success. Said Assistant Director of Career Counseling Misae Nishikura, who joined Career Services last summer, “I was overwhelmed by the level of commitment and generosity displayed by so many alumni, which reminded me again what a special place VLS is.”
1L Janssen Willhoit and Misae Nishikura, assistant director of Career Counseling, at the 1L Boot Camp
First Woolley Memorial Scholarship Awarded Jessica Wilkerson ’12 has been selected as the first recipient of the Erin Woolley Memorial Scholarship. The $2,500 scholarship, an endowed annual award established by members of the Class of 2010 in memory of their classmate, was awarded to Jessica in recognition of her dedication to advancing the cause of social justice. Jessica’s focus on international human rights, reproductive rights, and gender equality issues includes serving as chair of the VLS Law Students for Reproductive Justice and as a member of the Equal Justice Foundation and the VLS Moot Court Advisory Board, and volunteering at Safeline. She is completing an independent research paper on feminist legal theory and birth choice.
You can order this Mother Nature’s Lawyer polo from Barrister’s Book Shop for $20.00. Call 802-763-7170 or go to http://vermontlaw.edu/shirts
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By Julie Sloane
warming, it’s increasingly obvious that all of humanity is in this together. “Our goal is to give every student the opportunity to gain a global perspective on the legal profession, whether by studying the law abroad for a semester, engaging in an international Semester in Practice, learning from visiting international students and professors, taking classes in international or foreign law, or earning a dual degree with one of our overseas partner schools,” said Dean Jeff Shields. Molly Mimier ’05
Few aspects of the legal profession are untouched by globalization. Business lawyers routinely deal with issues like exports and imports, arbitration of transnational contract disputes, or international protection of intellectual property. In family law, custody disputes often cross borders. Criminal lawyers handle international extraditions. In the realm of policy, laws developed abroad may provide templates for our own—and vice versa—while international treaties signed by a government will shape its own domestic laws. And when it comes to global
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“Our goal is to give every student the opportunity to gain a global perspective on the legal profession.” —Jeff Shields, President and Dean, Vermont Law School
Growing International Programs
Established by Professor Linda Smiddy ’79 in 1998, Vermont Law School’s International and Comparative Law Programs (ICLP) have become integral to the educational experience. “Professor Smiddy showed great vision in how she built the international law program at VLS,” says Professor Stephanie Farrior, who became director of the ICLP in 2008. “Her work exemplifies the VLS motto: Law for the community and the world.” Farrior, a prominent international law scholar and human rights activist, brings significant international experience to the directorship of the ICLP. Under her leadership, VLS has implemented a Certificate in International and Comparative Law program, added 10 international and foreign law courses to the curriculum, incorporated coverage of international and foreign law perspectives into the first-year courses, and developed the academic regulations for three new dual degree programs with foreign law schools. The number of students participating in VLS exchange programs with partner universities has nearly tripled in four years, going from 8 students four years ago to 23 this year. An additional study abroad seminar is currently being established that focuses on Canadian Law and Legal Systems. A new course that would provide students with experiential learning in international law has been approved and is awaiting resources. Vermont Law School’s international programs are designed to help students develop the competencies required to handle international, transnational, and foreign law matters, whether they work in nongovernmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, government service, other policy-making fora, in-house counsel, or law firms. “Increasingly, law schools today are understanding the importance and the necessity of offering a wider variety of international law classes,” says Judge Mary McGowan Davis,
retired acting justice of the Supreme Court of New York and assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, who now serves on the ICLP Advisory Board and is active in several organizations that focus on human rights and transnational justice. “That’s a real change in the last 10 years.” The nearly three dozen courses in international and comparative law include recent additions such as International Criminal Law, International Intellectual Property, and Introduction to Chinese Law. In the certificate program, students must take International Law and at least one comparative or foreign law course, participate in at least one study-abroad course, and choose among other preapproved courses in order to reach a minimum of 18 credits of international and comparative law. Most VLS grads won’t specialize in international law, but virtually all will face some transnational issue at some point in their careers. Farrior has designed a new course, Transnational Issues in U.S. Law Practice, to introduce students to international and foreign legal issues that U.S.-based lawyers and policy-makers most commonly encounter. The course takes a practice-oriented approach, with classes covering such areas as criminal law and procedure, family law, intellectual property, business law, and contract law. In this way, the course covers a range of fields in which international legal and regulatory systems are important in U.S.-based law practice while also raising awareness of cross-cultural issues that arise when handling transnational matters. Another initiative at Vermont Law School is to incorporate international or foreign legal perspectives into the firstyear curriculum. Torts students are learning about the duty to rescue in French law and exploring why it is so different from U.S. law. Contracts students learn rules regarding offer and acceptance in other countries, thereby gaining new perspectives on U.S. approaches. Criminal law classes are discussing differences in rules regarding homicide, and constitutional law classes compare views of rights in other countries. ICLP Advisory Board member Judge Stephen Schwebel visits Vermont Law School annually for discussions about our international programs. Judge Schwebel, who served on the International Court of Justice from 1981 to 2000, including as its president, and who remains active in international arbitration, remarks, “In the U.S., even some relatively leading law
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schools have very weak or thin international programs. For a law school of its size and relatively recent founding, I think Vermont Law School has a substantial program in the field.”
”For a law school of its size and relatively recent founding, I think Vermont Law School has a substantial program in the field.” —Judge Stephen Schwebel, ICLP Advisory Board Member
A Multitude of Study Abroad Options
Students can choose among a range of study abroad opportunities running from one week to a full year at a law school abroad. VLS offers one-semester exchanges with McGill University (Canada), the University of Trento (Italy), and the University
of Cergy-Pontoise (France), as well as three courses taught at VLS that include a week of study abroad. International experiential opportunities exist through our Semester in Practice program. Recent placements include the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Arusha, Tanzania), the U.S. Mission to the European Union (Brussels, Belgium), Centro de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente (Cordoba, Argentina), the Ministry of Fisheries (Wellington, New Zealand), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Legal Office (Rome, Italy). For those who want an intense and immersive international experience, the ICLP offers three dual degree programs that, for an additional one or two years, earn the student a master’s degree from the University of Cergy-Pontoise in France, the University of Seville in Spain, or the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. The University of Cergy-Pontoise, located on the outskirts of Paris, is the top-ranked school in France for business law.
International Degree, Certificate, and Study Abroad Programs Dual Degrees University of Cambridge
JD/MPhil in Environmental Policy JD/MPhil in Real Estate Finance JD/MPhil in Planning, Growth, and Regeneration JD/MPhil in Land Economy
University of Cergy-Pontoise
JD/Master I & II in French Business Law JD/LLM in French and European Law
University of Seville
JD/Master in Spanish Constitutional Law
University of Cambridge
Certificate in International and Comparative Law Semester Abroad
Courses with Component Abroad
McGill University University of Trento University of Cergy-Pontoise International Semester in Practice
McGill University
Spanish Constitutional Law: A Comparative Perspective—Seville European Union: Emerging Constitutional Law—Trento Comparative Environmental Law Research Seminar—Beijing and Guangzhou
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Michael Dean
Our dual degree program with Cergy offers a Master I and Master II in French business law along with a JD degree from VLS. Students completing this program may sit for the bar exam in the U.S. and in France, thus opening the door to the practice of law in the European Union. At Cergy, our students are subject to the same strict academic requirements as the French law students. French coursework includes contract law, tax law, labor law, corporate finance, commercial law, competition law, and trade regulation. The opportunity to get a master’s degree in French business ethics and law at Cergy was a key reason Ashley Santner JD/ MI’10 chose Vermont Law School. After two years in Vermont completing certain JD requirements, she spent a year of study at Cergy-Pontoise—taking classes in French with French law students. After graduation, Santner landed a job in Paris as legal advisor in the Directorate for Legal Affairs at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Her practice focuses on issues in public international law, in addition to drafting and reviewing contracts and providing legal support to the Global Marine Environment Protection Initiative, which is dedicated to sharing best practices related to offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and accident
Gretchen Oldham JD/MII/DJCE’10 and Ashley Santer JD/MI’10 at the Paris chateau that houses the offices of the OECD
In the Comparative U.S.-China Environmental Law course, students travel to Beijing or Guangzhou.
prevention. She also organized a major conference, “Toward Coherence in International Economic Law: Perspectives at the 50th Anniversary of the OECD,” held in Washington, D.C., in March. “Having an understanding of common and civil law systems is essential for my job. The curriculum at VLS trained me in common law, and Cergy gave me the civil law training,” says Santner, who passed the New York Bar in 2010 and will be eligible to sit for the Paris Bar in 2012. “The VLS-Cergy network after graduation helps reinforce the sense of community that started in Vermont.” Santner credits fellow alum, Gretchen Oldham JD/MII/Droit, specialité Business Law (DJCE)’10, an associate at the Paris-based international arbitration firm of Lazareff Le Bars, with providing professional support and friendship that has helped Santner her enjoy Parisian experience. Santner’s classmate, Hayley Williamson, opted for the dual degree program with the University of Cambridge, earning a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Land Economy. Williamson was accepted to do her degree at Cambridge “by thesis,” which means that her year of self-directed learning guided by an environmental law professor culminated in writing a 30,000-word thesis on the Endangered Species Act. At the end of the year,
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she faced an oral examination from two experts, one of whom was flown in from Australia for the occasion. “I couldn’t have been happier with the experience,” says Williamson. “It was a style of education I never would have been exposed to, and it allowed me to work with people from all over the world who study different aspects of environmental law. Being exposed to what other people are doing in land economy makes me want to keep spreading the word.” She recently had the chance to do just that. Combined with her JD, her MPhil gave her the academic credentials to land a position teaching an undergraduate class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the Endangered Species Act and habitat planning on private lands. As she studied to take the California Bar in February and geared up for a job search, Williamson said she hoped to pursue a career in academia, a passion she discovered through the dual degree program.
“It allowed me to work with people from all over the world who study different aspects of environmental law.” —Hayley Williamson JD/MPhil’10, VLS and the University of Cambridge
Not all the study abroad programs are for a full year. Many students have taken advantage of semester exchanges with McGill University in Canada, and the University of Trento in Italy. Todd Heine JD/LLM’11, who is currently enrolled in a full-year program at Cergy-Pontoise, previously spent a semester studying at McGill. “Any time you live in another country, you learn so much outside the classroom—things like tolerance for ambiguity, the self-confidence to navigate unfamiliar situations, how to act in ways that won’t offend local customs,” says Heine. Heine, who before coming to VLS taught reading and math in Chicago and began a degree in counseling, hopes to pursue a career in international family law. While in France, he has been conducting research for lawyers involved in crossborder divorce and child custody cases. “At no other law school in the U.S. could I have gotten this experience,” he says. “Hands down, the VLS programs and at-
titude are best—it’s ‘Yes, we can make that happen. Yes, we’re willing to work with you to make it possible.’”
“Hands down, the VLS programs and attitude are best—it’s ‘Yes, we can make that happen. Yes, we’re willing to work with you to make it possible.’” —Todd Heine JD/LLM’11, VLS and Cergy-Pontoise
For those who may not wish to spend a whole semester abroad, the ICLP offers courses that include a week overseas. For the course in European Union Law a professor from the University of Trento comes to VLS and teaches the first half of the seminar in a compressed timeframe. Over midsemester break, the students go to the University of Trento in Italy, one of the top law schools in Europe, for lectures by additional European law professors. Ashley Santner, who also took the seminar in Trento, credits the experience as solidifying her interest to work in Europe. The seminar in Spanish Constitutional Law, offered in partnership with the University of Seville in Spain, utilizes the same format as Trento. In the Comparative Environmental Law Research Seminar, VLS students work with students from several Chinese law schools in year-long, collaborative research projects on comparative environmental and energy law. The VLS students then travel to China to present their papers with their Chinese partners. The students’ research has been published in such leading journals as the Harvard Environmental Law Review and the Virginia Environmental Law Journal. “The two intensive law courses I took abroad—Seville and Trento—began to expose me to civil law traditions, and I’m grateful Vermont Law School offers them,” says alumnus Jamar Brown ’05, an associate in the International Commercial Arbitration department at Lenz Staehelin in Geneva, Switzerland. He credits study abroad with helping to ignite interest in this field. Inspired Leadership
It’s hard to imagine a more perfectly credentialed director for the International and Comparative Law Programs than Stephspring 2011 15
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anie Farrior. In a sense, she has practiced what she preaches. Farrior was the legal director and general counsel of Amnesty International at its International Secretariat in London. There, among other things, she oversaw the organization’s legal work on the extradition hearings of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and worked closely with the United Nations on many projects. Her articles have been published in Harvard, Columbia, and Berkeley law journals and have been cited by several UN special experts in their studies and reports to the United Nations. The child of a Foreign Service Officer, Farrior grew up in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C., and has since lived in Greece, France, and the U.K. She speaks French, Greek, Japanese, and some Spanish. “She had a distinguished background with Amnesty International before she turned up in Vermont, and I think that’s a really good credential for the program,” says Judge Davis. “She has actually done hands-on work in international human rights and wants to train others to carry it on.” Students describe her as “warm” and “engaging,” and they appreciate her commitment to their own careers. When
Students in the Spanish Constitutional Law: A Comparative Perspective course attend the University of Seville over spring break.
Molly Mimier JD/MSEL’05 works as a Foreign Service Officer in Lima, Peru.
Alison Milbury Stone JD’12 was trying to decide between the Cergy-Pontoise and Cambridge dual degree programs, Farrior discussed the options with her for an hour. “She really took the time to review my interests and career goals and help advise me on the options in light of those interests and goals,” says Stone. “I was impressed and encouraged that someone who has so much on her plate would take that much time out of her day to counsel a student.” Stone chose VLS because of its dual strengths in environmental law and international programs. Fluent in French and Swedish, Stone’s interest grew as she held positions at the international law firm White & Case in Sweden and The Nature Conservancy in Washington, D.C. Drawn to VLS by the Cambridge and Cergy-Pontoise programs, she also spent last summer as an intern at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES). “It’s nice to know that VLS was an attractive credential to the State Department in getting that summer position,” says Stone. This summer, Stone will be working for the Ayres Law Group, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm that counsels and represents clients in national and international environmental
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policy and litigation matters. The firm was founded by VLS trustee Richard Ayres, who cofounded the Natural Resources Defense Council and helped shape the Clean Air Act. Farrior appreciates how actively the VLS faculty and ICLP Advisory Board facilitate international opportunities for students. Professor Betsy Baker involves students in her cuttingedge research on Arctic oil and gas regulation and has arranged for students to present papers at international conferences. Professor Pamela Stephens brings the fruits of her research at the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies into the classroom as she trains future advocates. Board member Davis, who has done pro bono work with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, helped arrange a Semester in Practice there for Nicholas Campbell ’11. The Global Reach of VLS Alumni
VLS alumni work all around the world, and many have opened doors for others. Christopher Williams JD/MSEL’93 is the director of Freshwater Conservation at World Wildlife Fund-US. He coordinates everything from community-level projects that help preserve lakes and rivers to public-private partnerships that mobilize resources for conservation. Despite being a U.S.-based arm of the organization, WWF-US directs roughly 80 percent of its resources and work outside the United States. One of Williams’ current projects is to develop and implement a pollution abatement program in a village in the Upper Yangtze River basin in China. The project encourages villagers to use their sewage as biofuel to heat homes and cook meals instead of dumping it in the river. “The idea is to use these sorts of local projects to leverage large-scale change,” says Williams. “In this case, we’re using the results of this project to influence the development of regulation to require and incentivize similar conservation action across the Yangtze and eventually all of China.” Williams has had several VLS student interns over the years. Flavia Loures LLM’05 interned at WWF-US and now works with Williams full time, largely on international issues. She is currently working to improve transboundary management of groundwater resources and to bring the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses into effect.
“We’re using the results of this project to influence the development of regulation to require and incentivize similar conservation action across the Yangtze and eventually all of China.” —Christopher Williams JD/MSEL’93, Director, Freshwater Conservation at World Wildlife Fund-US
Another VLS grad, Molly Mimier JD/MSEL’05, is currently in Lima, Peru, on her first post as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She took advantage of VLS’s semester program at McGill, and then spent a summer interning for an NGO in the Philippines, where she developed a policy paper on genetically modified organisms. She then spent a Semester in Practice in Chile, working with Arturo Brandt LLM’04 on climate change contracts. After spending the first few years out of law school working at firms in Washington, D.C., in order to pay down her student loans, Mimier is now in her dream career, working regionally in South America on sustainable development projects. One of these projects helped to set up a national park in Peru that will help protect natural resources and provide income for rural communities. She looks forward to a long career with different postings around the globe.
Global Careers VLS graduates work around the world from Bangkok to Moscow. They hold positions in organizations such as: The World Bank, Human Rights First, United Nations Development Program, Diageo, Baker McKenzie, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Earthjustice, Grameen Foundation, The Center for International Environmental Law, and USAID. They advocate in such places as Tokyo, New York, Montreal, Moscow, Malabo, Bangkok, Beijing, Paris, Washington, D.C., and Geneva. For some of their stories, go to www.vermontlaw. edu/x9325.xml.
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Faculty Highlights A Voice for the Inuits Spanning the far north of eight nations, the Arctic region holds great endowments of oil, natural gas, and minerals. It is also home to fragile ecosystems and to indigenous peoples determined to strike a balance between using those endowments for economic benefit and protecting their rights and lands. VLS Professor Betsy Baker and students in the Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE) are providing research to help the Inuit achieve that balance. In February Baker, a specialist in law of the sea and senior fellow for oceans and energy at the IEE, attended the Inuit Leaders’ Summit on resource development in Ottawa, Canada. She presented research comparing the regulatory schemes for offshore hydrocarbon development in Greenland and the Russian Federation and analyzed how they comport with best
practices recommended by the Inuit Circumpolar Council, an intergovernmental forum including indigenous peoples. Not surprisingly, the Inuit want a voice—and financial benefit—in any consideration of resource development in their regions. That voice is not unanimous, and the IEE’s research is one tool the Inuit are using to inform their collective position. “Russia has a morass of laws compared to Greenland, which has innovative and elegant legislation,” Baker says. “Where a developer must proceed through many Russian bureaus for information, Greenland provides a one-stop shop for all assessments and permits a developer needs.” Greenland, she notes, has a population that is 88 percent Inuit and only in 2009 achieved the status of a self-governing people within the Danish realm. “Greenland views its assumption of responsibil-
ity for mineral resources as an important exercise of its rights under the 2007 UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” Baker adds. “Their Mineral Resources Act requires consideration of effects of development on such matters as climate protection and sea level rise, and they require that any development assess the financial and employment benefits to the local communities.” The IEE documents have already circulated in regulatory agencies around the pole; next, IEE students will analyze Norway’s regulations. “I feel incredibly privileged to do this work,” says Baker. “I want to help train a new generation of lawyers who are expert in Arctic issues, whether via international law or domestic regulation. The State Department, NOAA, other universities and governments, indigenous peoples, all need this kind of capability.”
VLS Organizes Pivotal Takings Conference
The Inuit project research team: (back row) Ben Jones, a Canadian who represented First Nations in British Columbia; Katie Morris Peterson, who grew up in an Inupiat village in Alaska; Roman Sidortsov, a Russian‑trained lawyer now enrolled in the LLM program; (front row) Zhen Zhang, a global energy fellow at the IEE; Lisa Campion, who has engaged in commercial fishing out of Valdez, Alaska; and Professor Betsy Baker
Vermont Law School cosponsored the 13th Annual Conference on Litigating Regulatory Takings Claims together with Georgetown University Law Center and U.C. Berkeley School of Law. The conference, held in November 2010 on the Berkeley campus, brought together over 200 academic scholars, private practitioners, government attorneys, law students, and others for a discussion of the perennial question: when does a regulation go “too far” and result in a “taking” of private property? Professor Marc Mihaly, director of the Environmental Law Center, spoke on the continuing fallout from the controversial decision in Kelo v. City of New London upholding the use of eminent domain to promote economic development. John Leshy, a professor at U.C. Hastings Col-
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Faculty Highlights
Second Annual Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship
In December, the new governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin, named Associate Professor David Mears JD/MSEL’91 as commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. Mears joined the VLS faculty in 2005, and served as assistant director and then director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Clinic. Mears’s former students and colleagues had these thoughts to share upon his departure from VLS: “David Mears has inspired us all with his brilliant lawyering, dedication to public interest and environmental conservation work, and his commitment to upholding the sacred trust of the legal profession. Although we are sorry to lose the opportunity to work closely with him, we are excited about the work he will be able to do to improve Vermont’s environment in his new position.” — Teresa Clemmer, Acting Director of the ENRLC and Land Use Clinic “David Mears can translate his passion for the law through the strategy, frus-
Kathleen Dooher
Mears Receives Appointment from Governor
David Mears ’91
tration, and anxiety necessarily associated with litigation. David challenges his colleagues not to lose sight of the right and wrong, and the passion that drove all of us to practice law in the first place. In those moments of anxiety and frustration, I often ask myself, ‘What would David Mears do?’” — Lindi von Mutius ’08, Attorney, Flaster Greenberg “David bleeds VLS green. He epitomizes everything that VLS stands for: the highest standards of professionalism, competence, lawyering skills, and a lifelong commitment to public service. Plus he’s a heckofa nice guy who can still hit a gnat with a frisbee at 50 paces.” — Patrick Parenteau, Professor and Special Counsel, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic
Riding the momentum of enthusiasm from fall 2010, Vermont Law School will host the second Fall Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship on September 23, 2011. The colloquium offers environmental law scholars the opportunity to present works-in-progress and recent scholarship, get feedback from their colleagues, and meet and interact with those who are teaching and researching in environmental and natural resources law. The colloquium is designed as a works-in-progress event, attended by professors and academics doing research in environmental and natural resources law. All selected participants will be required to submit a draft paper no later than September 1, 2011 and will be asked to provide commentary on another participant’s paper draft at the colloquium. Final papers will also be eligible for publication in the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. For more information, please contact Professor Jason J. Czarnezki at czarnezki@gmail.com.
Laura DeCapua
lege of Law and VLS’s 2010 Summer Distinguished Environmental Scholar, gave a keynote address on climate change and water rights. John Echeverria, VLS professor and primary conference organizer, addressed some of the complex issues raised by alleged takings of private contract interests. Highlights of the conference proceedings will be published in an upcoming edition of the Ecology Law Quarterly. Planning is under way for the 14th annual conference in the fall of this year.
VLS Professor Jason Czarnezki talks with Eric Biber of Berkeley School of Law at the 2010 Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship.
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Faculty Highlights
New and Newly Appointed Faculty Faculty appointments thus far this year include five new arrivals at VLS and three faculty members currently teaching at VLS who were appointed to a new status after national searches. Betsy Baker has accepted a tenure track appointment as associate professor and senior fellow for oceans and energy. She joined VLS in 2007 and had previously taught at the University of Minnesota Law School and Harvard Law School, where she was also assistant dean for Graduate Programs and International Legal Studies. Baker’s extensive publications (in both English and German) include a wide range of international and environmental topics. She was elected to the executive committee of the AALS North American Cooperation Section and was named to the External Advisory Board of the Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security at UVM’s James M. Jeffords Center.
Professor John Echeverria
Echeverria Steps in as ELC’s Acting Director Professor John Echeverria will serve as acting director of the Environmental Law Center while ELC Director Marc Mihaly spends the 2011–12 academic year as a visiting professor at the law school at University of Seville in Spain. Echeverria, who joined the VLS faculty in 2009, previously served as the executive director of the Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. “The ELC is truly a national resource in terms of incubating new legal and policy tools for addressing the environmental challenges facing the nation and the world,” Echeverria said. “I am looking forward to supporting all the students, faculty, and others who make the ELC such a success.”
Margaret Martin Barry has been appointed acting associate dean for Clinical and Experiential Programs and visiting professor of law for 2011–12. Barry received her JD degree from the University of Minnesota, joined the faculty of Catholic University of America’s Columbus Community Legal Services (CCLS), and taught in CCLS’s Families and the Law Clinic. She has served as president of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) and chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Clinical Legal Education. She is a recipient of the Pincus Award, the CLEA Outstanding Advocate Award, and the Society of American Law Teachers Leadership Award. Christine Cimini joins VLS this summer as professor of law and in 2012 will be the director of Experiential Programs. Since 1999, Cimini served on the faculty of the University of Denver School of Law, where she has directed clinical programs and was named as the Ronald V. Yegge Clinical Director in 2010. She has also taught at Cornell Law School and Yale Law School, and was an attorney specializing in civil matters and civil rights issues. She received her JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Hillary Hoffmann has taught in the Legal Writing department at VLS since 2008 and is now on the normal appointment track for legal writing faculty. Professor Hoffmann received her BA in Spanish, with high honors, from Middlebury College. In 2003, she received her JD from the S. J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, along with a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resource Law. Hoffman has several years’ experience in private practice and two years of judicial clerkships.
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Faculty Highlights
Michele Martinez Campbell, who has been teaching at VLS since the fall of 2009, has accepted a tenure track faculty appointment. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1985, and received her JD with distinction from Stanford Law School in 1989. Before joining the faculty at VLS, she acquired eight years of experience as a prosecutor as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, including service as the deputy chief of the Narcotics Unit. She is also a highly successful author of what she describes as “legal thrillers.” Mary-Beth McCormack joins VLS as an assistant professor of law in legal writing and legal writing specialist in 2011. She was an associate at the Boston law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, PC, since 2001 and taught legal research and writing at Boston University School of Law since 2003. She has also worked in public law in a district attorney’s office and in a public defender’s office. McCormack earned her JD from Boston University School of Law.
René Reyes will join VLS as a visiting faculty member in the next year. Reyes recently completed a Climenko Fellowship at Harvard Law School, where he also received his JD and AB degrees. His prior experience includes several years of private practice, a fellowship at the Kennedy School of Government and, most recently, teaching at Villanova Law School. Reyes has already established an impressive record as a young scholar.
Jennifer Taub has taught at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for the past six years. Previously an associate general counsel for Fidelity Investments, she graduated from Harvard Law School and earned her undergraduate degree from Yale College. Taub’s research focuses on corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, mutual fund governance, and financial market regulation. In addition to academic work, her writing has appeared on influential blogs including The Baseline Scenario and The Big Picture, Taub’s practical experience combined with her scholarly interests will make her a valuable addition to the VLS tenure track faculty.
Finding Global Parallels at COP16 For the second year, VLS sent a faculty and student delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Professor Katherine Garvey LLM’10 and Daniel Miller ’12 observed this year’s COP16 negotiations in Cancun. Garvey is the staff attorney for VLS’s Land Use Clinic. She attended in part to learn from Latin American countries that, like Vermont, have significant greenhouse gas emissions from land use, agricultural sources, and forestry. “At the Land Use Clinic, many of our projects are designed to mitigate climate change or adapt to the effects of climate change.” says Garvey. “For example, we have smart growth projects, which encourage compact settlement and the reduction of vehicle miles traveled. We are currently developing training materials for local development review board members related to flood hazards. We are also working with the University of Vermont’s Department of Community Development and Applied Economics to study the legal framework guiding transportation decisions in Vermont. One of the goals of the project is to ascertain the capacity of states, regions and towns to adequately respond to increased flooding events expected from climate change.” Professor Garvey’s full blog about her experiences at COP16 can be read at http:// vlsatcop16.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/292/.
Professor Katherine Garvey LLM’10, staff attorney for the Land Use Clinic, and Daniel Miller ’12 aboard a shuttle at the COP16 UN Climate Conference in Cancun, Mexico
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Faculty Highlights
Faculty News Find out more about our faculty achievements and activities at www.vermontlaw. edu/Our_Faculty/Faculty_Highlights.htm. Professor Tracy Bach was named to the Executive Committee of the AALS Africa Section at the January 2011 annual meeting. She returned to Senegal in mid-December to launch the Wiki Droit Senegalais, a project sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University to strengthen the rule of law in Senegal by making its laws available online. A press release, and links to the wiki and a video about the wiki can be found at http://lawlab.org/resources/ digital-law-library. Bach was recently elected chair of the board of trustees of the Visiting Nurses Association and Hospice of Vermont and New Hampshire. An article by Professor Teresa Clemmer was published in Lewis and Clark’s Environmental Law Journal. The article, “Staving Off the Climate Crisis: The Sectoral Approach Under the Clean Air Act,” discusses the use of the CAA to address climate change and is available online at www.lclark.edu/law/law_reviews/environ mental_law. Professor Jason Czarnezki’s first book, Everyday Environmentalism: Law, Nature & Individual Behavior, was published by the Environmental Law Society in May. Czarnezki also signed a contract for his second book, Food, Agriculture Policy, and the Environment: History, Law & Proposals for Reform with Mary Jane Angelo and William S. Eubanks LLM’08. He was a guest researcher at Uppsala University studying food policy in Sweden and in May is joining celebrity chefs and media personalities to participate in Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Cooking for Solutions 2011 event as a panelist discussing food eco-labels. Recent presentations include at the World Wildlife Fund–Hong Kong, “Current Issues in U.S. Climate
Policy,” January 2011; U.S. Consulate Public Affairs Weekly Forum on Everyday Environmentalism: Law, Nature & Individual Behavior, Guangzhou, China; and the Wallace Stegner Center Distinguished Young Scholar Lecture, “Food, Law and the Environment,” University of Utah S. J. Quinney College of Law, Salt Lake City, Utah, November 2010. Professor Stephanie Farrior spoke at an invitation-only session in November at the prestigious Chatham House in London on the subject of “Monitoring and Enforcing Human Rights Law.” She also spoke at a conference convened by the University of Michigan, “Human Rights: From Practice to Policy,” which brought together long-time human rights activists to discuss how the human rights movement has shaped international law. Farrior was asked to share her experience regarding the construction of the due diligence standard in international law and its application to private actors and domestic violence. Farrior spoke at the January 2011 annual meeting of the American Association of Law Schools about “Developments in International Law Relating to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” at an AALS session, “International Law: Year in Review.” At that conference, she was reelected to the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on International Law, this time to the position of secretary. In January, the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) elected Professor Jackie Gardina as copresident of the board of governors. Professor Oliver Goodenough was made a member of the LexisNexis Global
Legal Innovation Board. This is a group drawn from practice, government, business, and academia with the role of providing advice to senior management of LexisNexis on the emerging trends in law and legal practice. Professor Cheryl Hanna’s article, “Health, Human Rights, and Violence Against Women and Girls: Broadly Defining Affirmative State Duties after Opuz v. Turkey” has now been published by the Hastings Journal of International and Comparative Law, and Hanna presents the paper at the International Conference on Violence Against Women and Girls in Montreal in May. Hannah now appears in a monthly television segment on WCAX called Above the Law, in which she answers questions from viewers about the law. She was recently elected chairperson of the board of the Snelling Center for Government. Professor Greg Johnson will present “The Feedback Loop: How Teaching Informs Scholarship and Scholarship Informs Teaching” at the Biennial Conference of the Association of Legal Writing Directors in Sacramento, California in June. Professor Mark Latham was a panelist at the William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review Symposium in January, “Looking Beyond the Deepwater Horizon: The Future of Offshore Oil Drilling.” Professor Michael McCann authored a chapter on “Using Social Psychology to Evaluate Race and Law in Sports” in the book Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender, and Race in 21st Century Sports Law (A. D. P. Cummings and A. M. Lofaso, eds., West Virginia University Press, 2010). Professor Phillip Meyer will present excerpts from his book (with Anthony G. Amsterdam), Making Our Clients’ Stories Heard: A Guide to Narrative Strategies for Appellate and Post-Conviction Lawyers (2009) at the 32nd Congress of the Interna-
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John Sherman
tional Academy of Law and Mental Health in Berlin, Germany, in July. The Second Edition of a casebook for which Meyers is a coauthor, Law and Popular Culture: Text, Notes, and Questions, is anticipated for publication in the fall of 2011. Professor Janet Milne is serving on the Scientific Committee for the conference “Environmental Federalism: The Political Economy of the Design of Local Taxation and Environmental Protection,” which will be held in Italy in December 2011. Her chapter, “Green Taxes,” in The Law and Politics of Sustainability, Vol. 3 of the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability, was published in December 2010.
The Distance Learning Program is the most exciting development at Vermont Law School since the launching of the popular Summer Session back in 1979. Distance learning enables VLS to reach a global audience of professionals looking to hone their environmental expertise and advance their careers. And it does so with state-of-the-art technology and the same high-quality programs that have placed VLS at the vanguard of legal education. Plus it enables people to save money and carbon at the same time by learning from home or office with a rigorous web-based program of instruction. —Patrick Parenteau, Professor of Law and Senior Counsel, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic Vermont Law School will launch its inaugural online master’s degree and LLM degree programs in environmental law on May 16, 2011. For more information, visit www.vermontlaw.edu/onlinedegrees.
Vermont Law Review Professor Robert Rachlin, who also serves on the board of trustees of Vermont Law School, had his essay “The 1798 Sedition Act and the East-West Political Divide in Vermont” published in the Summer/ Fall 2010 issue of Vermont History, a peerreviewed journal of the Vermont Historical Society. Professor Stephanie Willbanks was nominated and accepted as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. “Selection as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation is a recognition of a lawyer as one whose professional, public and private career has demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of the community, the traditions of the profession and the maintenance and advancement of the objectives of the American Bar Association.”
Available in May
Public trust doctrine, Indian sovereignty, and Chinese governance are among the topics in constitutional law you’ll find in Vermont Law Review’s Spring and Summer Issues, Volume 35. Both issues will be in print and available on our website in May 2011. Please contact us at Vermont Law Review, Attn: Business Manager, PO Box 96, South Royalton, Vermont 05068, or visit our website to subscribe or to order a single issue. www.vermontlawreview.org
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By Mark McCrackin Photos by Kathleen Dooher
Advocating Solutions 30 Years of Dispute Resolution at Vermont Law This story might begin: “Two Vermont Law students battled their way to the top, took on all comers, and won a spot in the American Bar Association’s National Negotiation Competition this past February.” But that’s just one way of seeing things. At Vermont Law School, Professor Joan Vogel would advise you to forget the military metaphors. And Professor Sean Nolon, director of the school’s Dispute Resolution Program, would compare negotiators more to poker players than gladiators. “The best,” he says, “are assertive without being offensive. They are intellectually nimble, work from a strategy, and remain flexible.” spring 2011 25
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So the professors would report the story like this: Kayvon Hejazi ’12 and Jordan Wimpy ’12 reached the ABA’s national competition through creative problem solving: thoroughly researching the issues involved, devising a strategy, listening and speaking carefully, understanding all options, working with the other side to reach common ground, and all along protecting their client’s authentic interests. This particular way of seeing things is nothing new to VLS; in fact, it’s become an important part of the school’s DNA. D ispu te R esolu tion on the R ise Thirty years ago, Professor Jack McCrory helped VLS launch one of the nation’s first programs to teach the skills of dispute resolution—negotiation, mediation, and arbitration—that provide highly effective methods of achieving client needs by cooperation outside of the courtroom. Through courses, clinics, student competitions, field work, internships, and educational programs with partner institutions, the VLS Dispute Resolution Program offers instruction to degree and nondegree students from across the globe. At its 30th anniversary, the program distinguishes itself through the success of our alumni who use these skills every day. “Thirty years ago,” says Jack McCrory, “awareness was just beginning to blossom.” Professor of law at Pepperdine Univer-
sity since 2001, McCrory introduced dispute resolution to the VLS curriculum. “I was influenced by my practice experience in labor law,” he says, “where dispute resolution is routine.” In 1981, he focused on three objectives: creating courses, engaging students, and developing a “national presence” for VLS. “Things were new,” he says. “VLS was developing its environmental law credentials, and we were given the support to establish ADR components in the curriculum.” McCrory and his “exceptional” students even staged three conferences in the first years and created four seminal publications that are still relevant today. Encouraged by where Vermont Law is now, McCrory recalls “at the beginning it was only the ‘ADR Project,’ and the ‘A’ for ‘alternative’ was controversial. Of course, we now understand that litigation is the real alternative; lawyers do a lot more negotiating, mediating, and arbitrating than litigating.” N ew C ertificate In January of this year, the school increased its profile by approving a new Certificate in Dispute Resolution Advocacy, available to students in the JD, Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP), and LLM degree programs and to nonmatriculated students as well. In its approval of the new certificate, the faculty noted “that Vermont Law School was one of the first domestic law schools to teach dispute resolution.” The school expects this program to appeal to prospective students who aspire to be leaders and recognize that difficult problems resist simple solutions. Us V ersus the Problem Sean Nolon begins his class sessions with an unusual exercise. He asks his students to pair up and hold hands. Most hesitate, fearing some “touchy-feely” exercise from the dispute resolution professor. Instead, he explains they are going to arm wrestle to “win as many points as you can.” The players win points by touching their opponents’ hands to the table. As expected, the students assume this is a win-lose setup where big biceps quickly trump small. There’s some struggling between more evenly matched pairs. But inevitably, says Nolon, there will be one or two pairs of students whose fists move back and forth like the pendulum on a fast clock: one touches the table, then the other, back and forth, each quickly racking up numbers of “winning” hand touches. “Some students see the opportunity right away,” says
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come of their work. “Students need to learn how to engage the conflict, to really feel the conflict,” says Nolon. “This will set their course in resolving it.” VLS students learn that there are two sides to every story, however clichéd that may sound, and that sets them up to handle the challenge in a different way. It can help create a cooperative mindset focused on finding the opportunities between the two sides. “We have learned from behavioral psychologists that language and attitude matter,” says Nolon. “If a lawyer enters a negotiation or mediation with only a competitive orientation, thinking of the other side as ‘adversary’ or ‘opponent,’ the outcome will probably be less creative and less satisfactory. But if she approaches the interaction more cooperatively, in terms of ‘partnering,’ the results will probably be better. We like to tell students to replace the us-versus-them attitude with an usversus-the-problem point of view.” Too I mportant for Co u rt
Nolon. “They listen carefully, understand that the objective is to win as many points as you can, and realize that the game is not about getting more points than the other side. Success comes to those who think creatively and can cooperate.” Nolon reminds us that the vast number of disputes in society are resolved by individuals in the same way, through creative, consensual negotiation. A relatively tiny percentage of our conflicts are resolved through litigation. “Judge-made law establishes norms, and that’s how we teach law, through cases,” he says. “But we want students to appreciate that there is a spectrum of processes available outside the courtroom, each with advantages for clients and attorneys.” Doing this well, according to Nolon, requires a complete understanding of the client’s objectives, and the other party’s objectives, as well as an awareness of process options. “I would like our students to think that being a process advocate is part of being a lawyer.”
“We want students to appreciate that there is a spectrum of processes available outside the courtroom, each with advantages for clients and attorneys.” — Sean Nolon, Director, Dispute Resolution Program
The heart of dispute resolution is the conflict itself, and how lawyers approach conflict has implications for the out-
Vermont Law School offers several skill-based courses focused on the components of dispute resolution, including interviewing, counseling, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and international commercial arbitration. But like the majority of U.S. law schools, VLS does not require JD students to take a specific course in the field. Instead, concepts are distributed through the required curriculum, especially in the Civil Procedure course. For students in the MELP program, however, study of dispute resolution is required, and VLS is the only school to offer a full range of dispute-resolution experiences in environmental issues. Professor Nolon explains that the number of stakeholders, decision makers, and issues in environmental conflicts are too numerous to be handled well in litigation. “Litigation,” he says, “is designed to identify who’s wrong and how much they need to be punished. This bounded effectiveness can assign blame and fault, but can’t solve complicated problems like managing phosphorus loads in a watershed.” Philip Harter, emeritus professor at the University of Missouri School of Law who taught public policy dispute resolution at VLS for 17 years, agrees. “Environmental issues are often too complex and too important to decide in a courtroom,” he says. Through his early, private-practice work as a mediator of complex, controversial, multiparty public policy issues and as head of several ABA task forces, Harter became a pioneer in both the theory and practice of using consensus in government. Through his scholarly writings, he provided the spring 2011 27
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A Passion for R esolu tion Another pioneer in the field is Jaclyn Brilling ’79, who enthusiastically admits that “dispute resolution puts the bounce in my step!” Judge Brilling, as the secretary to the New York State Public Service Commission, developed and continues to shepherd the commission’s Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) program, which handles issues among the biggest players— utilities, energy service companies, and large, direct customers. In fact, Brilling is so enthusiastic about dispute resolution that she also volunteers as a community mediator and serves on the board of Mediation Matters, a nonprofit dedicated to the management and resolution of conflict. But her five children, she says, offer more opportunities for arbitration than mediation.
“Through this process, disputants feel that they are being treated fairly.” — Judge Jaclyn Brilling ’79, secretary to the
theoretical underpinnings for federal negotiated rulemaking and the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act. He says much of environmental law is “about regulation and policy, and that is best created via negotiation rather than litigation.” So the idea behind negotiated rulemaking is to bring together people with expertise in process—mediation and negotiation—with the affected parties, experts, and agencies.
“Environmental issues are often too complex and too important to decide in a courtroom.” — Philip Harter, Emeritus Professor, University of Missouri School of Law
Professor Harter, who continues to teach at VLS, cites the small-scale issue of snow-making at Vermont ski slopes and the recent national reformulation of gasoline as typical situations. “All the stakeholders got together and figured these things out. Both cases demonstrate that collaborative decision making is the best—and only—way to deal with really difficult decisions, especially those with political overtones.”
New York State Public Service Commission
In addition to its most obvious objective—to arrive at satisfactory resolutions to disputes—the commission’s ADR program is intended to arrive at more creative solutions and to “preserve and perhaps enhance” relationships among utility constituents. Brilling admits that while the commission seeks ways to streamline its work (“we are effectively sharing work with the regulated parties”) and reduce the costs of adjudication, collaboration is not necessarily less labor intensive. “But through this process,” she says, “disputants feel that they are being treated fairly. We are very focused on building confidence in the process. We want these parties to come to us so that our staff is informed directly of the needs and concerns of those regulated.” And the information flow isn’t just one-way. “Written documents don’t always work,” she says, “and ADR offers a far more direct channel to knowledge for everyone. We make the process much more accessible and immediate to disputants and their experts.” One of the most intriguing results of the program is at the back end: stakeholders are more likely to comply with commission orders when they have contributed to the process, discovered solutions that provide mutual gain, and shared responsibility for regulations. “This sort of outcome gives real meaning to our search for ‘creative’ solutions,” says Brilling.
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L earn by D oing “You can’t be held in contempt of moot court!” Professor Vogel succinctly describes the advantages of the VLS system of teaching dispute resolution, which includes classroom work richly supplemented by simulations, role playing, moot court, clinics, internships, and the always-popular student competitions. Professor Vogel knows that negotiation and other tools of dispute resolution simply don’t make sense when all you do is talk about them. “You certainly won’t learn how to negotiate unless you do it,” she says. “Students need to take in the challenge, choose the words, and work out the strategy in real time.” So her classes offer problems that students, working in
And the winner is… Law student competitions at VLS In February, Kayvon Hejazi ’12 and Jordan Wimpy ’12 escaped single-digit temperatures of Vermont and headed to the national ABA Negotiation Competitions in Atlanta with their coaches, professors Laurie Beyranevand and Hillary Hoffmann. They were seeking to regain the national title that VLS won in 2004. Although the VLS team didn’t finish first, the competition electrified the school. It was an honor for all. Atlanta was the culmination of a season of success for VLS, with another ABA regional victory as well as a negotiation-round victory in the Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon held at St. John’s University School of Law. Student negotiations competitions at VLS are organized by the school’s Dispute Resolution Society. Ask Christine Breen ’12, the society’s cochair, why she competes, and she’s likely to say it’s a learning experience. But in a less-guarded moment, she’ll admit that she and her teammate Brandon Wrazen ’12 “had a blast!” For a student perspective on competitions, check out the frank and charming blog by Ruth White ’12, one of the competitors in the Securities Triathlon. In her narrative she gives good advice for any lawyer: “Speaking clearly, loudly, and directionally toward the judges became a huge competitive advantage….” http://vlsjd. wordpress.com/author/ruthhw/
teams, handle quickly. Rather than acting in front of their classmates, the simulated negotiations are taped and viewed in the classroom. Students also keep journals to help them critique their own work. “This gives them the chance to learn from their mistakes.” And, as might be expected of law students, Professor Vogel has found that they love taking on different roles in simulations. But she has also discovered an unexpected bonus: “some students discover that, despite their own expectations, they do these things and do them well.” The next level beyond simulations are dispute resolution clinics, which offer opportunities for students to practice nonlitigation dispute resolution skills and strategies in the real-world settings of New Hampshire and Vermont courts. Students observe and contribute to court-based mediation sessions and bring their experiences back to the classroom, where they review and analyze their cases in clinic-style rounds. They have the opportunity to participate in supreme court, superior court, family court, civil court, and small-claims mediations. Agents of Social C hange A benefit of dispute resolution that may be less obvious to the public is the potential for social change. “Conflict isn’t necessarily a negative thing,” says Professor Vogel. “Disputants may expose situations that need to be addressed, institutional problems that have been overlooked.”
“Conflict isn’t necessarily a negative thing. Disputants may expose situations that need to be addressed, institutional problems that have been overlooked.” — Professor Joan Vogel
Drawing on her experience in employment law—she has served as chair of the ABA labor and employment law sections and was a consultant for the drafting of Vermont’s employment law bill in 1997—she recalls a negotiated settlement for a female employee claiming Title VII gender discrimination. The settlement included an agreement that the employer would establish a clinic for battered women. “No court would have given her a domestic violence clinic as a remedy for gender discrimination,” says Vogel. “This settlement is a good example of the kind of creativity that is possible in the negotiations process. It’s for cases like this that my colleagues and I are eager to include it in our curriculum.” spring 2011 29
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Class Notes Notes from the Vermont Law School Alumni Association Dear Alumni and Friends: As VLS has been growing and maturing, so has your alumni association. The VLSAA represents over 5,000 VLS alumni who live in all 50 states. In addition to the long-standing Washington, D.C. regional group, there are vibrant and active VLS regional alumni groups in Boston, Delaware Valley, New York City, New Jersey, and the Albany Capital Area. The VLSAA is dedicated to serving and advocating for the alumni and the students. In that light, one of our long-term goals is to help organize, support, encourage, and foster regional alumni groups and activities. These regional groups operate under the umbrella of VLS and are formally recognized by the VLSAA. Their purpose is to enhance connections between and among alumni, to have fun, to reconnect with old friends and the law school, and to foster networking opportunities for alumni and students. One of the great pleasures of working with the VLSAA is attending regional events and meeting our interesting, committed alumni. The events are as diverse as the alumni themselves, as a recent sampling demonstrates. In Boston, we held a holiday party attended by the entire Career Services staff. D.C. recently hosted a VLS-focused job fair. Delaware Valley held an event in February with Professor Michael McCann to discuss the expiring NFL labor agreement, and in March the Albany Capital group held a CLE on environmental issue-spotting under New York conservation law. The VLSAA is committed to working with alumni to create new regional groups—all it takes is one motivated alumnus, a little time, and some coordination with the VLSAA and the Office for Institutional Advancement. If you have an interest in starting a VLS alumni regional
group in your area, please email me at the address below (or any other VLSAA director), and I will be happy to help get you started. I also invite you to attend any of our VLSAA regional events so you can reconnect with old friends, make new contacts, and learn firsthand how special VLS alumni are. Sincerely, Karis L. North ’95 President, Vermont Law School Alumni Association knorth@mhtl.com Find VLSAA contact information online at www.vermontlaw.edu/VLSAA Board.
A Message from the Chair of the MELP/ MSEL/MSL Alumni Committee Greetings to all MELPs, MSELs, and MSLs! I want to share an exciting project a number of us have been working on over the last two years. With the full support of VLS, we have created a MELP/MSEL/ MSL Alumni Committee (the 3M Committee). This committee, for the first time, gives a collective voice to the group of 3M alumni who did not obtain a joint JDMELP, MSEL, or MSL degree. Its mission is to facilitate 3M alumni involvement in the VLS community and to provide a conduit between 3M alumni and the VLS administration. It also promotes the professional interests of all 3M alumni and students, including joint degrees, by making useful environmental career information and advice available. Currently the 3M Committee consists of 12 MELP/MSEL/MSL members, including a member of the current MELP class and a specially elected member of the VLS Alumni Association who serves
ex officio. The committee works through five standing subcommittees to implement its objectives, including the Brown Bag Series, Mentor, and Special Projects subcommittees. To learn more about our activities and our organization, please visit our newly launched web page at www.vermontlaw.edu/3Malumni. Also, I invite all 3M alumni and anyone else to contact me with questions, concerns, and ideas about how we can fulfill our mission. In particular, we want to solicit your input on new committee initiatives. Finally, please be assured that our overall objective is to bring additional value to your 3M degree. Sandy Hauserman MSL’94 Committee Chair 3Malumni@vermontlaw.edu
VLSAA Regional News Ever wondered what the real issues are regarding the NFL labor dispute? On February 16, the Delaware Valley Vermont Law School Alumni Association was pleased to host Professor Michael McCann at Morton’s Steakhouse in Philadelphia to provide an overview of the NFL Labor Crisis. Professor McCann addressed the major areas of the dispute as well as his behind-the-scenes insight. Local alumni were able to discuss a wide range of issues including the future of the NFL and collegiate athletics. Special thanks to Professor McCann for also providing an informative and congenial atmosphere for alumni to stay informed regarding recent campus activities and for allowing them to reconnect!
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Class Notes If we don’t have your email address... Look what you’re missing! • De Facto, our alumni e-newsletter: faculty awards, campus news, student updates, career services announcements, and more • Reunion details and updates • Class Notes requests • Class-specific announcements • Annual Fund communications • Regional and campus event invitations Send your email address to alumni@vermontlaw.edu.
Interior Ministry’s general counsel. He served as sole civilian project manager in rebuilding legal services.
1977
alumni@vermontlaw.edu
1978
alumni@vermontlaw.edu Please email kevans@vermontlaw.edu if you are interested in serving as class secretary.
1979 1976 35th Reunion September 2011 alumni@vermontlaw.edu Scherline & Associates, an Allentown, Pennsylvania law firm, is pleased to announce that founder and owner, Jay Scherline, received the 2010 Silver Beaver Award for distinguished service to youth from the Boy Scouts of America. Established in 1931, the Silver Beaver Award is presented by the National Council for distinguished service to young people within a local council. Recipients implement the Scouting program and perform community service through hard work, self-sacrifice, dedication, and many years of service. It is an award given to those who do not actively seek it. Stephen John Stomber completed an eight-month assignment in February 2011 on behalf of L3-MPRI, a defense contractor, as the senior mentor and North American Treaty Organization legal advisor to the Afghanistan
Jay Scherline ’76
Deborah Bucknam dbucknam@vtlegalhelp.com Trine Bech writes “I have spent the last three years planning and establishing a new notfor-profit law and social work organization, Vermont Parent Representation Center, Inc., representing and supporting parents in our child protection system. A public/private partnership, we are the first rural implementation of an urban model with impressive outcomes. Using a multi-disciplinary team of a lawyer, social worker, and peer navigator we support parents to keep their children safely at home. (For more information, please visit www. vtprc.org.) On the personal front, two of our three children live in Vermont, with our third spending holidays here, so we have great fun with our seven grandchildren. Husband Beach now works part time and, with my crazy schedule, has taken over grocery shopping after almost 40 years. Who said people cannot change? Whatever recreational time we have is spent in the mountains cross-country skiing, kayaking on Lake Champlain, and using bikes as a vehicle of choice.” Deborah Bucknam writes “I am still practicing—haven’t got the hang of it yet—for 32 years. Daughter Jen is a partner in our firm (the Black in Bucknam Black Brazil), graduated from Boston University (BU) Law School, works out of her home in Stoneham, Massachusetts, is married, and has five children, including a set of twins, homeschools her kids, and manages to practice law. Daughter Serena also graduated from BU Law School, lives in Concord, New Hampshire, with husband and six kids, including a set of twins, and also homeschools her children. Charlie and I will
be celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary this year; he is retired from banking, works for me part time, and just was named chair of the Vermont Transportation Board. Having fun!” John Cross writes “I spent 16 years practicing in northern Colorado (until 1996), then the past 14 years with Idaho Legal Aid Services at its Nampa Family Justice Center office, representing domestic violence victims in protection order, divorce, and custody cases. The Justice Center includes prosecutors, police, health and welfare workers, and mental health, medical exam facilities, and counseling staff. Similar centers are up in Boston, New York City, and elsewhere, designed as one-stop facilities for victims. Spouse, Diana, retired from the northwest region of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (western water management). Two children—older son now with 10 years in the military, including active service in Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom; younger son is a professional musician.” Andy Jackson writes “I clerked in chancery in New Jersey 1979–80, and my first son, Jo, arrived. Next four years at the EPA Enforcement Division in Washington, D.C., where Rory was born. In ’84 I joined a practice in Middlebury, and went on my own in ’87. My daughter, Justine, was born here in Vermont. I ended up doing quite a bit of employment discrimination litigation on the plaintiff’s side. I ran into Bill Koch one day at the Second Circuit in New York City, both of us having arguments there. As a landlord I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Lindsey Huddle’s daughter, Tess, and Pat Biggam’s daughter, Kate. I took a sabbatical in ’06 in southern France (practicing only my French cooking) and then onto Alta, Utah (serving at the Alta Lodge). I’ve set up a charitable organization in Cape Three Points, Ghana, for a secondary school that my son Rory has set up there. Peter Kraft’s daughter, Hopestill, was there this January as a volunteer! I am just back from there. Check out trinityyardschool.com!” Jeannie Kiewel is practicing family law in Brattleboro, Vermont, and enjoying time with her husband, Stuart, and her daughter, son-inlaw, and grandson, who live nearby. Sharon Meyers writes: “It is interesting to try to summarize 31? 32? years of practice. I left VLS and found my way to Boston so my husband, Andy, could have his turn at graduate school. Took the bar with the only other person I knew in Massachusetts sitting next
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Class Notes
to me, classmate Bill Meyer. I worked as an assistant DA in Boston, became head of the appellate division, then on to the Essex DA’s office for a stint. Switched sides and did federal defense work, basically white collar crime, but came to hate the feds. I joined a growing suburban firm that had all the intrigue of LA Law. In 1992 I started a firm and have been in Salem, Massachusetts, since then. My work morphed from corporate defense to employer/employee relations. For the last 12 years, most of my work has been in the domestic relations field. We kept our ties with Pico/Killington, and my two sons both became avid ski racers in Vermont. I developed a small practice in Rutland. We thought about relocating when my oldest went to Killington Mountain School and then to University of Vermont (UVM), but Andy took a job that he calls the no-briefcase job—so, so much for Vermont. My older graduated from UVM, then went to work in the Caribbean/ Mediterranean on luxury sail boats; fortunately, he’s off the water, now working in Burlington. My second son just graduated from college and is taking a year off, working at Deer Valley and trying to hide the LSAT prep book from the pictures he sends home. We still try to ski every weekend from November through April but recently found that there is merit to sandy beaches and warm water.” Dave Millard writes “After law school I put off the bar exam for six months and went traveling in Europe for a couple months with my wife, Jann. Great Decision! Started in private practice with firm in Toms River, New Jersey, became a partner, and then later was appointed as Ocean County Prosecutor for a five year term. For the past nine years I have been on the bench, as a trial judge with the New Jersey Superior Court here in Ocean County. Until December I had been in the family division as presiding judge, which, for reasons I never would have expected, I really enjoyed. Maybe it’s the problem-solving aspect. Recently, I was named civil presiding judge, and am excited to be back to jury work where most of my practice was spent. I have two grown daughters I’m very proud of, Lauren and Sarah. Sarah is finishing her last year of law school in Denver and will clerk next year for the Colorado Court of Appeals. I’ve been to VLS a couple times over the years and it looks fabulous.” Mary Ann Neal writes “It hardly seems that 30-plus years have passed. This writing finds me living in Ludlow, Vermont, and doing civil litigation for the Vermont Attorney Gen-
eral’s office, assigned to the Department for Children and Families (DCF). In that capacity I handle termination of parental rights cases, Human Service Board appeals and other general counsel work. I have been back in Vermont since 1997. Prior to returning to Vermont, I was working for Rhode Island Legal Service, litigating federal housing issues and a variety of domestic matters. My husband, Bill Huber, and I enjoy skiing in the winter, golf and biking in the summer, and get away to our place in Florida when time allows. Last fall we enjoyed a cruise to Alaska.” Mike Shafer writes that he’s spent “30plus years back in my home town practicing with my brother Rick Shafer ’77 and a friend from high school. Both of them are retired from the active practice, and I am looking at that opportunity in the next few years. The practice goes great. We are in a town of about 3,500 people, and there are seven attorneys and about 25 staff. We sit between two county seats and have been very lucky to have an active litigation and commercial real estate practice. An attorney from our office is working with Peter Kraft on a federal court litigation project. My two best days professionally were an acquittal in an attempted murder trial and a $2.5mm verdict in a personal injury case. In the murder trial, my client insisted he was innocent, had more confidence in me than I did, and turned down a deal that would have gotten him out in about a year. He then walked at the end of a week-long trial. The personal injury case was for a young man injured in an electrical construction accident at Syracuse University. Hennessy and I will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in the spring. One daughter, Emma, is trying to find herself after her undergraduate work in St. Paul, followed by stints in Argentina, the United Kingdom, and New York City. Have kept active in community affairs. Twenty years on the board of our local soup kitchen, hospital board, United Way board, etc.” Michael Sullivan writes “I just retired in October. As a sole practitioner doing commercial litigation, I just tired of the endless travel. I still enjoyed litigation; I just came to loathe airlines and hotels. I have two children: my son, Kane ‘Nat,’ who is 14, and my daughter, Raani Erin, who is 18. They live with their mother in Florida. I am racing motorcycles, going sailing in the Bahamas, and writing a bit of fiction about, what else, a young lawyer. Tom Truman ’79 and I are still good friends. I miss Vermont (not in the winter). I found
my true home in South Carolina. Law school seems from another lifetime. We were well trained to serve our clients well, that’s what these past 32 years have taught me. VLS can be very proud of that.” Patty Whalen writes “Greetings from Sarajevo! Living in Sarajevo is a privilege and a great adventure. I am currently here as an international judge in the War Crimes Appellate Chamber after serving three years on the Trial Court. My cases involve genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. I also work in The Hague, serving with expert status on treaties involving private international law. I have continued in my work as project director for a joint rule of law project with the International Association of Women Judges and the Rural Women Leadership Institute of Vermont, now in its seventh year. The purpose is to acquaint Afghan women judges with our legal system and our communities, as well as to open our eyes to the challenges facing the Afghans as they try to rebuild their society. Fletcher and I are doing well with the international commute. Our children are great travelers and living full lives for which I am grateful.”
Patty Whalen ’79 Colon Willoughby writes “You probably won’t remember me as I was only at VLS for our first year of law school. I moved back to North Carolina to finish law school and practice. My wife Tricia and I have a lot of fond memories of the friendship and kindness we were shown by my classmates. We have remained in Raleigh, North Carolina, and I have practiced here since graduation. I have been the district attorney here in the state capital for the past 24 years. We were disappointed that we were unable to get back for the 30-year reunion but hope to get back to a reunion soon. I always enjoy getting news about classmates and will get an occasional call from one.” John Woodland writes “From a solo practice started straight out of school, my firm
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Class Notes
grew to three partners and an associate. My focus was land use, real estate, and title insurance claims defense. I also served my community on the school board and then as deputy mayor. In 1982, I married Patty Leonard. Patty had her own career, eventually becoming a vice president at Sovereign Bank. After Patty experienced some permanently disabling health problems, we changed paths. I sold out to my partners, effective 1/1/2004. We then traveled for two and a half years in an RV, sightseeing (Patty) and hiking (John) before settling in Montana’s Bitterroot Mountains. I took a parttime job as Fire Chief and we built a house on the Clark Fork River. We have dairy goats, chickens, and a big garden, producing most of our food.”
1980
Scott Cameron jscameron@zclpc.com
1981 30th Reunion September 2011 Tim McGrath timothy.mcgrath@va.gov Christopher Howe writes “As of February 1, 2011, I retired from the Probate Bench for the Fair Haven District. After 230 years, the district has been consolidated with the rest of Rutland County. I served this district faithfully for 24 years and in the race for consolidation won all nine of my western Rutland County towns. I will continue my general law practice in the town of Fair Haven for the next several years.” Richard Mott writes “Hi Guys: Hard to believe it has been 30 years since we left SoRo! Since then I’ve been doing criminal defense work almost exclusively in upstate New York. We have five kids. Our oldest is a 2007 graduate of New York University Law. She is employed at Cahill, Gordon & Reindel in New York City. Two other daughters are attending law school, one is a 3L at Columbia Law and another is a 2L at University of Connecticut Law. Regards to all. Hope to make it to our upcoming reunion.” Steve Parady was promoted to senior trust officer and chief fiduciary of First Advisors in 2009, where they manage $600 million in assets and have two locations in Maine. First
Advisors are the money managers for First Bank of Maine. Frederick Sciulli is advising the Navy command responsible for the Fleet-wide training and certification prerequisite to implementation of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010. Bill Kakoullis writes “My firm, D’Amato & Lynch, has relocated to Two World Financial Center. It is across the street from Ground Zero. So if any of the VLS Class of ’81 or any member of the VLS family wants a bird’s-eye view of Ground Zero and the construction going on, feel free to drop me a line and visit. My wife, Flora, after having serious health issues over the past few years, has turned the corner to recovery. Thanks to everyone for their prayers. Oldest daughter, Maria, is in the middle of going for her MBA, and youngest daughter, Faye, is finishing her junior year of college. I continue to work to make the world safe for insurance companies and to protect them from overzealous plaintiffs. After battling various orthopedic injuries for the past two years I am also on the way to recovery and should be back on the golf course soon, or as soon as the tons of snow melts. The golf ball manufacturers will be very happy.” Larry Walters writes “About three years ago I left the position of general counsel and business development for KX Industries LP, a world-leading supplier of carbon block water filtration technology, and joined a new coaching company, Relia-Serve Corporation. That position led to my current role as chief executive officer for Dr. Energy Saver, a new franchise company that helps residential contractors get into the home energy contracting business. We have been franchising for just about one year and have 15 franchises and two company operations across 12 states. Our focus is to help homeowners understand all the ways that they are using energy, losing energy, and wasting money and then help them with the
Larry Walters ’81
retrofits necessary to save energy and money and make their homes more comfortable. You can visit our website at www.drenergysaver. com. I hope to see you at the reunion in September.”
1982
Larr Kelly photolarr@tidalwave.net The Vermont Supreme Court recently announced the appointment of Steven Adler to chair the Judicial Conduct Board. This is the board charged with investigating any complaints against Vermont judges. These complaints range from issues of judicial temperament and demeanor to concerns about conflicts of interest, improper contact with parties in litigation or other violations of the Vermont Code of Judicial Conduct. Mr. Adler succeeds Robert Gerety Jr. ’80, who was recently appointed by Governor Douglas to a judgeship. Steven previously served as vice chairman of the Judicial Conduct Board and, prior to that, served for a number of years on the Professional Responsibility Board, which regulates attorney ethics in Vermont. He is the managing partner in the law firm of Axelrod & Adler, PLLC, based in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
Steven Adler ’82 Lisa Jacobowitz writes “As an adjunct to my family law practice at Gilmore and Jacobowitz in Beverly, Massachusetts, I’m forming a mediation partnership, Resolution Partners LLP, as I am a firm believer in Alternative Dispute Resolution. The partnership will offer mediation in a wide variety of fields; I will focus my efforts on divorce mediation. My only child, Sam Teatum, has just turned 18 and will be leaving for college in August. He has a strong interest in engineering. He has the math and science brain in the family! Life for us will
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Class Notes
change dramatically this fall; stay tuned…” Michele Kupersmith writes “Hi! Here is my update on life. Long story short: I worked at VLS for a (too) short period of time—the commute simply did not work. I followed my true passion and built a statewide internship program to create more opportunities for college students to work in businesses. Once I put that together, I decided to return to the Vermont House as a representative from South Burlington. Luck handed me an uncontested election and I am now heading up workforce initiatives for the House (and running the internship program at the same time). LOVE having Sarah Buxton ’10 here! Happy happy happy.”
1984
alumni@vermontlaw.edu Please email kevans@vermontlaw.edu if you are interested in serving as class secretary. Jonathan Moore writes “Ladd Ljungberg has resurfaced and is working in New York City. Last year, he, Jim Munsey, and I met for dinner in Manhattan, naturally followed by a couple of drinks. Dean Marcolongo also came up from southern New Jersey and met Ladd and myself at an Irish pub on 33rd Street. Not exactly Czonka’s. Dean insists Eagles will rule next year.”
Martha Lyons malyonsesq@hotmail.com
Joe Benning ’83
1985
alumni@vermontlaw.edu Please email kevans@vermontlaw.edu if you are interested in serving as class secretary.
1983
Last November’s election saw newcomer Joe Benning, a Republican, defeat the Democratic incumbent in the race for Vermont State Senate from the Caledonia-Orange District. Until his election, he was chair of Vermont’s Human Rights Commission. “Every day in the legislature I find myself surrounded by VLS graduates,” he says. “They can be found in the legislative council offices, all parts of the administration, and in both the House and Senate. The law school is having a tremendous impact on the direction of the State of Vermont. The education I received there and my experience as a trial attorney have served me well in the legislature.” Joe is a solo practitioner who lives in Lyndon with his wife, Deb. They have two children: Emily and Justin. He can be reached directly via email at: jbenning@leg. state.vt.us.
my spouse to New York City, where she had been transferred with the U.S. Public Health Service. Admitted to the New York bar on motion (no more bar exams for this guy), I was appointed last summer as an administrative hearing officer with the New York City Environmental Control Board. As such I will be hearing appeals regarding citations issued for alleged violation of the city’s health, safety, and environmental statutes. Back on the East Coast, I’m looking forward to my new role on the VLSAA Board of Directors.”
Carl Vahl ’84 Carl Robert Vahl officially retired from the practice of law in March of 2010 after 25 years and went on to study modern Italian cuisine in New York City and Italy. After graduating in October from Alma, la Scuola di Internationale di Cucina Italiana, in Parma, Colorno, Italy, he relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, with his wife, Mary, and they opened Chef Calle’s, Baltimore Distinctive Home Dining, a private chef service catering to small, elegant dinner parties. Carl and Mary will travel and cook anywhere in the world. He is also the author of a blog, “Italian Chef School, Journey from Lawyer to Italian Chef!,” chronicling his transformation from stressed out, unhappy, and overweight trial and divorce lawyer to a fledgling master of high Italian cuisine. In addition to cooking, Carl and Mary have moved their mediation practice, PeaceMaker Mediation, to Baltimore, where they continue to assist individuals, families, and businesses to resolve conflict without litigation. Chase Van Gorder writes “After five and a half years in Santa Fe working for the New Mexico legislature, I recently followed
Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney Kevin Bernstein, of the firm’s Syracuse office, was named to The Best Lawyers in America 2011 in Energy and Environmental Law. Norman Watts and his wife, Katherine, celebrated an important birthday in Argentina last November. They toured the Atlantic coastal areas, the wine country and, of course, Buenos Aires.
Katherine Watts, wife of Norman Watts ’85, poses with a recycled police cruiser in Buenos Aires. It was ironic to encounter the vehicle since Norman hails from California and, from his youth, was well acquainted with this enforcement mode.
1986 25th Reunion September 2011 alumni@vermontlaw.edu
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Class Notes
1987
Mark Ouellette mouellette01@gmail.com Rob Johnson was recently elected president of the Florida Legal Services Project Directors Association, a statewide organization that promotes the effective delivery of legal assistance to the poor throughout the state. He has been the executive director of Brevard County Legal Aid for nine years. Rob and his wife Shelley live in Indialantic, Florida, with their two children, Trip and Elizabeth. Kathy Reardon opened her own practice in July 2009, focusing primarily on criminal defense and family court appeals. She argued before the New York State Court of Appeals in March 2010. She ran her second Boston Marathon in April 2011 and made a family trip of it with her husband, Scott Young ’86, and daughter, Tegan. Cheri Ruch says “I am about to start my 15th year as a referee adjudicating unemployment insurance appeals for the Idaho Industrial Commission. Like my colleagues across the country, the Great Recession has kept us incredibly busy over the last two and a half years. However, I found time in 2010 to write an article for the Idaho State Bar journal on ethics in administrative proceedings—‘What Ethical Code Governs a $54 Million Pair of Pants in Idaho,’ The Advocate, official publication of the Idaho State Bar, vol. 53, issue 6/7, pp. 15-17, June/July, 2010. I took a break from the crush of unemployment appeals over the holidays to visit New Zealand. The fly fishing on the north island was outstanding for my husband, Mark. We hiked the Routeburn Track on the South Island and celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary in Queenstown. It was the trip of a lifetime!” Jane Sheehan continues working as president of the Foundation for Blood Research in Scarborough, Maine, and serving as chairman of the board of Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company. She recently became a trustee of the Nature Conservancy in Maine and was selected to serve on the new Governor of Maine Paul Le Page’s transition team.
1988
alumni@vermontlaw.edu
Thomas Hamel PC and Martin & Oliveira LLP have formed a new law firm, Martin, Oliveira & Hamel PC, with offices in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. After sold-out productions of Middlebury Does Motown, The History of Rock n Roll, and Woodstock, Bill van Zyverden and his wife, Shari, produced Middlebury Does Country at Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater in March as a benefit for the Foundation for Alcoholism Research (FAR) in memory of their son, Bob, who lost his struggle with alcoholism in November. Find out more at www.townhalltheater.org and www.alcoholismresearch.org.
1989
alumni@vermontlaw.edu
1990
alumni@vermontlaw.edu Andy and Colleen de la Rocha and their four beautiful daughters are entering their fourth year at U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Andy is the agent in charge for the FBI Guantanamo Operations Unit. Chris and his wife, Sheila Harrington, continue to live the dream by owning their own practice in Rhode Island. They recently welcomed two Italian Greyhound puppies named Rico and Paco into their family. The puppies were born in Visalia, California, and Pam Pescosolido owns the parents. Cathyanne Pisciotta writes “I am a principal in Pisciotta & Menasha, Attorneys at Law. Our practice area is elder law and my particular focus is litigation. In 2009 I earned an LLM
in taxation from Temple University in Philadelphia. I am married, an avid golfer, and still play both drums and bass in classic rock and punk bands around New Jersey and New York City. I guess you could say I am still living up to my Bon Jovi nickname.”
1991 20th Reunion September 2011 alumni@vermontlaw.edu
1992
Margaret Olnek mlo@olneklaw.com David Frank and Catherine are living in Austin with their sons, Elias (7) and Isaac (3). David has had his own practice for 17 years focusing primarily on state and federal criminal defense work. He writes “In February, we got a blast of cold winter air. Unusual for these parts but makes me think of Vermont.” He would love to hear from everyone: Drav@aol. com.
Lyle Glowka ’92 at the Nagoya, Japan, airport celebrating adoption of the Nagoya Protocol in October 2010
Cathyann Pisciotta ’90
Lyle Glowka writes that 2010 was a great year for biodiversity with the adoption of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity. As senior legal advisor to the Convention on Biological Diversity, he and a colleague literally disappeared from the negotiations and were sequestered in a back room during the closing
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Stephen Hesse JD/MSL’89 Our Planet Earth—A View from Japan Twenty years in Japan have made Steve Hesse, as he says, “a consummate generalist.” He is a member of the law faculty at one of Japan’s oldest and most prestigious universities, Chuo University in Tokyo; he directs the Chuo International Center, which hosts programs for foreign students; he also writes an environmental column, “Our Planet Earth” for The Japan Times, consults with NGOs, and enjoys all of it. Postcollegiate travels first brought Steve to Japan, where he taught English for two years before returning to the U.S. for law school. “At the time I entered VLS I wanted to work for the UN Environmental Programme, drafting international environmental agreements,” he recalls. “But a three-month Semester in Practice externship at the UNEP in Nairobi convinced me that UN work wasn’t for me.” He felt that teaching was, though, and he was right. He’s still involved in the Semester in Practice program, advising students with Pacific-based externships. American-style graduate law schools are just catching on in Japan, he says— about 70 have recently been built, in part due to pressure from the Japan Bar Association to provide greater public access to civil rights and human rights representation. Steve notes that Japan’s hybridized legal system combines civil and common law, with civil law the focus of study for bar exams. Most of Steve’s own students are undergraduates with an eye on working in business, law firms, NGOs, or international organizations. He teaches primarily in English, but switches to Japanese when needed and includes among his courses Law and Society, Legal and Social Issues in Contemporary Japan, Debate, and several environmental classes: International Environmental Policy and Law, and a three-year Environmental Studies seminar. When it comes to his own legal training, Steve readily names a whole cadre of formative VLS teachers: David Firestone,
“Asia has limitless opportunities for law-related work and research.” Jack McCrory, Kathy Nelson, Susan Apel, Stephanie Willbanks, and Liz Ryan Cole. He’s kept in contact over the years and distance, for example hosting Fire stone during travels through Tokyo. Not shown on his transcript are the many lessons from “Lawn Review”—working with John Delemarre and Will Hastings on the buildings and grounds crew. “It was one of my best experiences at VLS,” he recalls, “having a chance to balance law study with manual labor and down-to-earth philosophies.” Steve sees opportunities for American law graduates interested in working abroad. “There’s no doubt that, for now, Asia has limitless opportunities for lawrelated work and research,” he says. “Even for people who do not speak an Asian language, the region is vibrant with possibilities for law students and legal professionals. If you can speak an Asian language, you’re that much more likely to find exciting opportunities, such as firm work, internships, and consulting to NGOs and governments.” You can read Steve’s column, “Our Planet Earth,” at http://search.japantimes. co.jp/cgi-bin/fe-sh-all.html.
hours of the convention’s Tenth Conference of the Parties to produce a compromise text of the protocol on behalf of Japan, which was chairing the conference. After two and half weeks of roller-coaster negotiations and the failure of negotiators to produce a final agreement by a midnight deadline, the compromise text was circulated by Japan’s Environment Minister the morning of 29 October and adopted with the change of one word at 1:30 in the morning on 30 October, concluding negotiations that had started in 2002. After working as an environmental attorney for the U.S. Army for four years, Patricia Kingcade accepted an attorney position with the U.S. Coast Guard, National Pollution Funds Center. In this position she practices environmental law, administrative law, and admiralty law, and is closely involved in the legal issues associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred in April 2010. Lisa Gale Peery is happy to announce the opening of the Law Offices of Lisa Gale, PLLC. The new firm will be located in Colchester, Vermont. In addition to residential real estate, Lisa will be continuing to provide service in commercial real estate, foreclosure mediations, family law mediation, business law, wills, and other transactional matters. Lisa can be reached at lisa@wgpc.com or lisa@ galevtlaw.com. Fred Zeytoonjian reports “This past September, Chris Lynch, Joanne Jordan ’90, my wife, Karen Sosnoski, and I joined a 12-person running team, Over the Hills, for the 200-mile/24-hour Reach the Beach Relay from Cannon Mountain to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. We raised over $6,000 for
Fred Zeytoonjian ’92 (center, back, in the red hat), his wife, Karen Sosnoski (third from left), Chris Lynch ’92 (fourth from left), and Joanne Jordan ’90 (second from right)
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Class Notes
1996
the Alzheimer’s Association, placed in the top eight in our division, and plan to run it again in 2011!”
15th Reunion September 2011
1993
alumni@vermontlaw.edu
Lainey Schwartz geowoman3@aol.com
1994
alumni@vermontlaw.edu John Danehey and Anna Osterberg ’95 were married in 1998 and have three children: Nicholas (10), Sadonna (7), and Braden (3). They started their own general practice firm in the charming seaside town of Scituate, Mass achusetts, where they live, and it has been great! They say it’s not often enough, but in the past few years they have managed to get together with VLS friends, including Kristine McDonald ’92, Carrie (Cogswell) Connelly ’95, Marietta (Smulewicz) Anderson and Chris Anderson, Mike McCann, Eileen Haynes, Tucker Hanson ’95, Beth Kubik ’95, Neil Heiger ’96, and occasional others who are otherwise spread across various states. Tracy Sala gave up practicing law in Denver, Colorado, and moved back to mid-coast Maine where she is currently the executive director of the Humane Society of Knox County. She and her husband, Peter, bought her childhood home and now live there with their two children, Toby (10) and Sophie (6), and their six cats (an occupational hazard). She encourages everyone to adopt their next pet from their local animal shelter. In 2006 Mary Stubblefield started a small charity, Fabulous Felines of Albuquerque, focused on the betterment of cats in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Our projects include: work with free-roaming neighborhood cats, therapy cats who visit Alzheimer’s patients at a memory loss residence, and education about cats. Information about additional projects and work can be found online at www.fabulousfelines.org.” Barry Weiner has been working at the Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division for the past 10 years. He has two children, Paul (4) and Isabelle (2), and is very much enjoying living in the D.C. area. He hopes all of his classmates are doing well.
Isabelle and Paul, children of Barry Weiner ’94
1995
Karen Moore kj.moore@judicial.state.co.us Craig Wells continues in his roles of deputy director of Community Research Initiative of New England and program director of the Massachusetts HIV Drug Assistance Program, a Health Resources and Services Administration-funded initiative overseen by the state’s department of public health. He lives in Green River Village in Guilford, Vermont, in an old house overlooking the hamlet’s covered bridge and restored crib dam, where VLS classmate and friend Meredith Hatfield ’99 is a regular visitor, enlisted to help with various renovation projects. Wells serves on the Green River Village Preservation Trust, the Guilford Planning Commission, and as board member of the Southern Vermont AIDS Project. Joel Wuesthoff writes “I’m currently a director in Protiviti’s New York City office. Protiviti is a global risk consulting company, and I am one of the leaders of our global eDiscovery and Records Management group. We work closely with lawyers and corporate counsel to identify emails, databases, and related documents relevant to litigation or investigations. I divide my time between New York City and Maine (NYC 90% of the time). I have an apartment on the upper west side in New York (for those of you thinking of visiting!), and my wife, Valerie, and I have a house in Portland, Maine. I have been an adjunct professor at the University of Maine School of Law, teaching eDiscovery, computer forensics, and legal issues in social media since 2006.”
Laya Dogmetchi and James Ganion are both partners at Ulich & Terry LLP in Newport Beach, California. They continue to enjoy sunny SoCal with their three children (11, 9, and 3) and hope to return to Vermont for a visit with old friends sometime soon. Andi Catalano Redcrow and her husband, Cyril Redcrow, welcomed twins on October 14, 2010: son, Kai, and daughter, Nora Grace. Eric Wilkinson is now working as an external affairs representative at ISO New England, the company that manages the region’s bulk electric system. This position takes him to Vermont frequently. He lives in a recently relocated and renovated old house in Amherst, Massachusetts, with Jessica and their sons, Josh and Ethan, and Blue the dog.
1997
Cheryl Deshaies cdeshaies@deshaieslaw.com Joseph Jean is an insurance litigator and recently joined Lowenstein Sandler as a member based in the firm’s New York office. Active in pro bono matters, Joseph serves as national counsel for a nonprofit professional association and provides insurance advice to Human Rights Watch. David and Erin Meezan send their greetings from Atlanta. Erin continues to head up Interface, Inc.’s sustainability efforts, which includes leading the implementation of the company’s Mission Zero goal of achieving zero environmental footprint by 2020. David has one year under his belt as a small-firm practitioner after leaving Alston & Bird to form an environmental law boutique with three of his former A&B partners. His firm, Mowrey Meezan Coddington Cloud LLP, has offices in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He wonders why he waited so long to leave the big firm practice. Jeremy Vermilyea is an attorney in Portland, Oregon, with Houser Bailey PC, a West Coast business and complex litigation law firm, and has been named as a Super Lawyer.
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Ingrid Busson ’99 The Changing Face of International Finance
“I couldn’t have designed a better work atmosphere.” The legal education Ingrid Busson initially sought as “background” for an NGO career is front and center in her international law practice. Since 2007 she has been assistant general counsel for regulatory issues in the New York office of Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, one of France’s largest banks and a global actor in investment, insurance, and corporate finance. Tighter financial regulations following in the wake of the economic crisis make Ingrid busier than ever translating U.S. restrictions to foreign constituents who want to do business here. “I couldn’t have designed a better work atmosphere,” notes the Canadian of her position. “I can use my languages and international perspective in a dynamic field.” (Fluent in the languages of her French father and German mother, she’s also conversant in Russian and Spanish.) Although she’d originally imagined a career negotiating international treaties for environmental NGOs, timing intervened. A Semester in Practice at the
Center for International Environmental Law in D.C. strengthened her skills and opened real-world windows, but Ingrid graduated to find herself in a soft job market without law firm experience. Fortunately, the bracing advice of a favorite professor, David Firestone, had pushed her to be practice-ready. “I’d mentioned that I wasn’t planning to take the bar exam,” she recalls. “He told me, ‘You’re crazy! You’re wasting your time and mine if you don’t!’” Ingrid found her an opening in mass torts at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York. “It was right before the dot-com bubble burst, and many young associates had moved west, thinking ‘hey, I can work with my dog in my flipflops in Palo Alto.’” Ingrid recalls. Three strenuous years litigating in the New York offices prepared her for a new opportunity. “A Skadden colleague mentioned they needed people in financial services regulation. I didn’t know what that meant— but being responsive and versatile is part of what I learned at VLS.” Over the next two years, she became involved in the U.S. Congress’s “oil for food” investigation representing BNP Paribas, the French bank that handled payments for the UN. The case set Ingrid squarely in the international law field and on the path to her job at Credit Agricole. “Much of my work is international—we advise constituents, for example, on sanctions related to Iran and Cuba. My practice is fascinating right now, because the market for so many products will change under last July’s Dodd-Frank Act.” Ingrid takes free time to work with the American Bar Association, encouraging career development in international law. When talking with recent law graduates, she recalls the encouragement one VLS mentor, Professor Stephen Dycus, gave her right before the bar exam. “He said, ‘Ingrid, I know you’re worried, but you shouldn’t be. You’ll do amazing things in your life.’ I repeat that to myself and to the recent grads I talk with.”
1998
alumni@vermontlaw.edu Pepper Hamilton LLP announced that Timothy Anderson has been elected to Of Counsel from within the firm’s Financial Services Practice Group in the Philadelphia office. Timothy lives in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Russell Booker is still in Puerto Rico enjoying his stint as a special assistant U.S. attorney detailed from the Coast Guard. He says, “The food is good, the people are nice, and I’m not cold. Unfortunately, there is no way to turn it into a permanent job, so I’m enjoying it while it lasts.”
1999
Joy Kanwar-Nori joy.kanwar@brooklaw.edu
2000
alumni@vermontlaw.edu In October of last year Kimberly Bryant started working for Casella Waste Management, Inc. as an environmental compliance and project manager in Montpelier, Vermont. Eric Columber and his wife, Kelley, are proud to announce the birth of Frances Harriett last November. Eric is a partner at Roy, Beardsley, Williams & Granger in Ellsworth, Maine. He and his family reside in East Blue Hill, Maine. Alexis Levitt is still enjoying practicing elder law and special needs planning on Boston’s South Shore at www.alexislevitt.com. She adds, “Little people are now 6 and 3. Had a lovely time at reunion with Jenny, Sarah, Jeff, Bill, and Antonin. We missed y’all—start planning now for 2015!” David White is a partner in the Litigation Department of Seyfarth Shaw. His practice focuses on issues regarding electronic discovery, information governance, international and domestic data privacy and security, and other IT-related legal issues.
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Class Notes
2001 10th Reunion September 2011 alumni@vermontlaw.edu Howie Kanner and his wife announce the birth of their daughter, Samantha Suri Kanner, on 08/10/10. Howie also says that his office, Kanner & Pintaluga, has opened offices in Massachusetts and Minnesota, in addition to offices in Georgia and Florida.
Samantha Suri Kanner, daughter of Howie Kanner ’01 Alexander Lee resigned as executive director of Project Laundry List in November and took a year-long job teaching English in Changchun, China, where he plans to learn as much Mandarin as he can and blog at www. waking-green-dragon.com. Monica Neronha was recently promoted to vice president, Legal Services, at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI). She joined the BCBSRI legal department in July 2005 and manages legal services, government relations, information assurance, business continuity and disaster recovery, special investigations, and audit and recovery services. Andy Welch III has been elected to serve as the state representative for the 110th District in the Georgia House of Representatives. Representative Welch has been selected to serve on the Children and Youth, Education, and Judiciary committees.
2002
Paige Bush-Scruggs paigescruggs@comcast.net Christina Anderson is still in Alaska and opened her own environmental consulting firm called Willow Environmental. She lives and works in Seward, Alaska, and loves the lifestyle. Her personal email remains Chris tina.cope@gmail.com. Alexander Arpad has been elected director and shareholder at Fennemore Craig in Phoenix. He is a member of the appeals and litigation practices and focuses on civil appeals, commercial litigation, and probate litigation. Paige Bush-Scruggs says, “Life is busy and good in Mississippi, where I now get to spend much more time with my family as I recently joined Harris-Leech & Scruggs, PLLC as a partner. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying practicing law as much as I am… now. Partnership in a small firm certainly has afforded much more of the relaxed lifestyle that I require. My family has expanded to maximum capacity with one little girl, Savannah (4), and one little boy, Charlie (2). Should you find yourself in Mississippi, please give me a call and we will show you a good time!” Joseph Champagne was elected the mayor of the Borough of South Toms River, New Jersey, on November 2, 2010. He is committed and passionate about serving his constituency and community. He is now married, with two beautiful daughters. He was a guest speaker at the Student Leadership Collective annual event at VLS on April 7. In January 2010, Brian Matula was made partner at Cooper Erving & Savage LLP in Albany, New York. On September 9, 2010, his second daughter, Jayden Addison, was born. His first daughter, Peyton Elizabeth, is now two and a half years old. He reports that his family is doing great. In February, Timothy Olson reported, “I spent the afternoon on the slopes at Stowe in Vermont and can say the snow was pretty good, global warming aside. I hope all is well.” Korrin Nygren Petersen and Brian Petersen, former IT employee at VLS, welcomed their second daughter, Gretchen Elizabeth Petersen, on January 7, 2011. Gretchen joins Charlotte June Petersen, born 2/18/09. All are doing extremely well. Korrin is the senior attorney for The Coalition for Buzzards
Bay, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Brian is an IT professional at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts. Korrin, Brian, and the girls live in Middleboro, Massachusetts. They hope all is well and they “REALLY do miss VLS.” Catherine Richmond says “Tom and I became empty nesters this fall when our younger son Chris headed off to University of Vermont as a freshman in the fall. He loves it. We headed to Colorado in September for an 11-day trip visiting Tom’s college friends in Aspen, hiking in Lake City and Breckenridge, and visiting for dinner our last night with VLS classmate Christine Gardner Gould and her adorable girls. The hiking was amazing and we made it up three 14,000-footers. Our other big news is that we became grandparents— really—on October 20. Our older son Erik and his girlfriend had a beautiful baby girl, Eliza Lynn Fulton.” Vanessa Vail moved to Austin, Texas, in July 2010 from Chicago, where she was an assistant attorney general at the Illinois Attorney General’s Office for the last five years. She is now in-house counsel at Tesoro in their environmental health and safety department. She reports that Austin is fantastic with lots of music and sunshine. “For those who do not know, Austin is an island in Texas.” Danny Victor reports that he is the managing partner at his family law practice, Victor and Victor, PLLC. Danny continues to live in Clarkston, Michigan, with his wife, Tracy, and their two sons, Davis, who turned four in December, and Stirling, who turned one in January. Jason West says “Christy Gobel ’03 and I have been in Hutchinson, Kansas, since she graduated. We’ve got four girls now (I’ve been informed that we are done!): Katey (6); Hannah (5); Caroline (3); and Addison (1). It’s been quite an adjustment with all the pink in my house now but no complaints because I’m surrounded by beauty! I took a job at Jacam Chemical Co. here and got promoted to president about a year ago. We manufacture oilfield treating chemicals intended to prevent equipment failure (such as the pipeline blowouts that you hear about on the news) and increase oil and gas recovery from existing producing wells. Something I’m particularly proud of: we’re something of a juggernaut in the indus-
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Class Notes
try from an environmental standpoint. We have no hazardous waste and incredibly low air emissions. We also have a complete line of green chemistry that (if we actually had a marketing budget!) could revolutionize the industry. Christy is working part time in the legal department and is planning to go back full time when the girls get older. We just got done building a house and we’ve got plenty of room if anyone is ever passing through central Kansas!”
2003
Shannon Bañaga vlsmaher@yahoo.com Samara Anderson was recently hired as a senior attorney at the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board in a new litigation division created to bring affirmative lawsuits against employers not in compliance with providing Workers’ Compensation coverage. Rich Bianculli married Sarah Parrott on September 18, 2010, at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, Maine. It was a beautiful autumn day surrounded by family and friends. Many VLS alumni celebrated with the couple. Participants in the ceremony included Evan Brandes, David Brown ’04, and Cielo and Richard McCormick ’05. Rich is employed by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management as legal counsel. Sarah owns and operates Parrott Design Studio, a design and letterpress studio. They live with their two dogs in Providence, Rhode Island.
Sarah Parrott and Rich Bianculli ’03
Tom Blatchley was recognized as a New England Super Lawyer Rising Star (Environmental) for 2010, a distinction he’s earned since 2008. He was featured in the New England Super Lawyers and Rising Stars October 2010 edition and the February 2011 issue of Connecticut Magazine. Jill Desrochers recently joined McKenney Law Offices, PC in Amherst, New Hampshire, where her practice will focus on family law and appellate advocacy.
2004
Spencer Hanes spencer.hanes@duke-energy.com U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who chairs the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, recently appointed Chris Adamo as staff director of the committee. For the past four years, Chris worked as a legislative counsel on many of Senator Stabenow’s top priorities, such as the 2008 farm bill and energy legislation, where his primary focuses were agriculture, conservation, and a wide range of energy policies. Edward Demetriou joined Furman Gregory Deptula as principal in January. Edward’s area of practice is general corporate law with a focus on private investment funds, and he is based in the firm’s new Biddeford, Maine, office. Edward previously was a member of Proskauer Rose LLP’s Private Investment Funds group in Boston. Gregory Gotwald has been named partner with the law firm Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP in Indianapolis, Indiana. Greg’s primary practice areas include environmental and complex litigation matters, as well as insurance coverage law. Laura Hill-Eubanks and Marne Coit have formed Greenfield Research & Consulting LLC. The company provides research and other legal services in agricultural and environmental law and policy. Marne works in food and agricultural law with a focus on sustainable agriculture and food systems. Laura works primarily on environmental law, land use, and renewable energy policy. Greenfield offers services nationwide and is based in Vermont. Michael Kushner says “I’m just entering my third year as a solo practitioner, and 2011 already looks to be the best year yet! I prac-
tice federal criminal defense in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and receive funding to do so through the federal defenders’ Criminal Justice Act. I also spend significant amounts of my time prosecuting civil rights claims for police misconduct in the local federal courts against the City of New York and members of the NYPD. I recently began doing other plaintiffs’ work in the Bronx Supreme Court and am slowly learning the ropes of the ‘controlled chaos’ that is the preliminary conference. I have recently entered my third year of living in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, and can’t get over the Vermonty vibe that exudes from most of the people/restaurants/shops around town. I’m hoping to move to a larger place in Brooklyn in the coming months, so any and all are welcome to drop a line and visit. Wishing all of you well.” Kelleigh Domaingue Murphy welcomed a daughter, Alexandra Tenley, on September 21. On January 1, 2011, she opened her own law firm, the Law Offices of Kelleigh Domaingue Murphy, PLLC. In February Brian Potts was promoted to senior counsel at Foley & Lardner LLP. He practices in the Madison, Wisconsin office and is a member of the firm’s Environmental Practice Group and Energy Industry Team. Brian also recently published an article online in the Yale Law Journal titled “The Dirty Climate Debate.” Ryan Rausch writes “I accepted a position with SWCA Environmental Consultants, an employee-owned company based out of Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona, in early 2009. I’m an environmental planner working on an array of projects, nearly all NEPA-related. Currently I’m assisting the BLM, Forest Service, USGS, and NPS with a large-scale, internationally recognized Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that is analyzing the potential impacts to the human and natural environment that a permanent withdrawal of uranium mining would impose upon the globally significant landscapes surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. It’s a great project to be a part of. Other exciting projects include two solar power plant EISs located on BLM-land outside of Phoenix, an Environmental Assessment that would provide surface water to the town of Payson, Arizona (which has always relied on groundwater), and various other smaller-
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Class Notes
Childs Cantey Thrasher ’04 scale NEPA projects throughout the American West. I enjoyed a mini-VLS reunion this Presidents Day in Lake Tahoe, California.” Last September David Rugh became an associate with the Burlington, Vermont firm of Stitzel, Page & Fletcher, PC, where he concentrates his practice in the areas of municipal law, environmental law, land use and zoning law, and real estate. Childs Cantey Thrasher has joined the Spartanburg-based law firm of Harrison, White, Smith & Coggins, PC. She is a member of the South Carolina Bar and serves on the South Carolina Arts Foundation Board. She will practice in the areas of complex and business litigation, state trial practice, as well as criminal and environmental law. In May 2010, she married Ryan Thrasher ’06.
2005
Meg Munsey and Kelly Singer vermontlaw2005@gmail.com Lee Knight Caffery writes “In September I left Womble Carlyle Sandrige & Rice and
The Caffery-Draa family: Miller, Lee Knight Caffery ’05, Margot, and Dana Draa
joined former Womble Carlyle attorney and VLS alumnus Stan Green ’98 at his firm Strauch Fitzgerald & Green, PC. In nonlegal related news, on November 21, 2010, my partner, Dana Draa, and I welcomed our daughter Margot Caffery-Draa. Margot joins big brother Miller and completes our family. We couldn’t be happier.” Cindy Carson Hodge was married to Glenn Jared Hodge on October 17, 2010, on the front lawn of Primrose Cottage in historic Roswell, Georgia. Cindy and Jared shared their special day with many friends and family. The wedding party included Julia Belson Roberts and several close VLS alums/friends were in attendance, including Jerry Edwards, Ryan Klee, Brent Roberts ’03, Alex Manning ’06, and Chris Middleton ’06. Cindy is an attorney at Lueder, Larkin & Hunter, LLC, where she handles real-estate related litigation. Jared is an airline pilot for Delta Air Lines. Cindy and Jared currently live in Atlanta, Georgia, and are enjoying married life to the fullest extent. Zak Griefen was elected chair of the Executive Committee of the Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club in January. He continues to chair the Chapter’s Wetlands and Water Quality Committee. Zak is an environmental litigation attorney with the Montpelier, Vermont, law firm of Cheney, Brock & Saudek, PC. Christie Popp was made director of the Immigrants’ and Language Rights Center of Indiana Legal Services, Inc. in November 2010. She was previously a staff attorney for the organization. From her office in Bloomington, Indiana, she oversees the statewide center and practices immigration law full time, focusing on criminal removal cases and cases involving immigration benefits to victims of crimes. Jill K. Reymore has recently changed her last name to Wenner and her email address to jkwenner@gmail.com. She is living in the Saranac Lake, New York area, looking for steady part-time work and embarking on a freelance environmental/policy writing path. In September Pavel Reznikov provided live simultaneous translation of the Soyuz TMA18 post-landing activities on NASA TV. International Space Station Expedition 24 (with two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut) landed in Kazakhstan on Thursday, September 23; he translated from the moment of
the hatch opening through medical checks and post-landing conversations until the crew was put on a helicopter. He translated live from the NASA TV studio at the Johnson Space Center for the U.S. audience. He was excited about this rare opportunity. Julia Belson Roberts and Brent Roberts ’03 recently moved from Manhattan to Darien, Connecticut. Kelly Smith Singer and T. David Singer are thrilled to announce the birth of their son, William David Singer, born on August 25, 2010. Kelly, David, and Will are living in Bethesda, Maryland. David is working as assistant general counsel for Maxim Healthcare Services in Columbia, Maryland. Justin and Boolie Sluka ’03 welcomed their third child just before Thanksgiving. Mary Katarzyna Sluka, a.k.a. Kasia, was born November 16, 2010. Her big sister, Maya, and big brother, Joey, are thrilled with her. Scott and Melanie Bishop ’04 welcomed their third child on May 19, 2010. Kellan (1), Bodie (3½) and Emily (4½) all enjoyed the
William David Singer, son of Kelly and David Singer ’05
Justin ’05 and Boolie ’03 Sluka’s daughter Maya holds new baby sister, Kasia.
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Class Notes
mounds of snow that relentlessly fell in Vermont. Melanie is presently a stay-at-home mom keeping her dispute resolution skills sharp, while Scott is out starting a new business venture. Scott is busy with estate planning, to include life insurance, investing, wills, trusts, etc. They keep very busy with work, life, kids, and a small organic farm. They raise sheep, cows, chickens, goats, pigs, and an alpaca.
2006 5th Reunion September 2011 Ashley Carson ashleybrey@gmail.com Ebony Riggins erriggins@gmail.com Iyaz Akhtar and Merlyn Akhtar ’07 welcomed their first child, Aldrin Malik Akhtar, into the world on June 30, 2010, at 8:10 am. He is a very happy baby who loves to bounce, babble, listen to the Beatles, and play with his two dogs. Stacy Brooks married Luke Feeney on July 3, 2010, in Chillicothe, Ohio, where they live. Luke got his JD from Case Western Reserve in 2005 and they are both employed at Southeastern Ohio Legal Services. Stacy is also the current president of their chapter of the National Organization for Legal Service Workers (NOLSW, UAW Local 2320, AFL-CIO). They live in an historic community in a house built in the 1890s, and have a dog, Marlo, and two cats, Mr. Big and Steve. Carolyn Buckingham married Mike Biderman July 17, 2009, on the shores of Res-
Aldrin Malik Akhtar, son of Iyaz ’06 and Merlyn Akhtar ’07
Ashley Carson Cottingham ’06 and Carroll Cottingham urrection Bay just south of Seward, Alaska. Mike O’Brien ’02 officiated. Harper O’Brien was the “feather bearer,” providing beach treasures to the bride and groom during the ceremony. This past June, Carolyn and Mike threw a week-long wedding celebration near their home in Fairbanks, Alaska, complete with guests camping in their backyard, BBQs, and trips to Chena Hot Springs and Denali National Park. In addition to Mike O’Brien, Tara Chadbourn, Lucia (Schaefer) Singh, Kristen Campbell Stohler, Lyle Stohler ’04, Eve Soutiere ’07, Jeff Wildridge ’78, and Alex Foote ’11 were among the guests in attendance. Ashley Carson Cottingham has recently accepted a position with the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging as senior policy counsel. Ashley spent the last four years as the executive director of a Washington-based nonprofit called the Older Women’s League (OWL). During her last weeks at OWL, she generated a lot of media attention and appeared on MSNBC, in The New York Times, and on several radio shows. Ashley and Carroll Cottingham were married in Bend, Oregon, on New Year’s Eve 2010. They met through mutual friend and fellow VLS grad, Lauren Whitley ’07, in Washington, D.C. Carroll is a community planner in the Chesapeake Bay office of the National Park Service. Jeremy Clemans and Emma Sisti announce the arrival of Spencer Murphy
Stacy Brooks ’06 and Luke Feeney Clemans, born on September 19, 2010, at 2:35 p.m.. He weighed 6 lb., 6 oz. and was 18 inches long at birth. Jeremy and Emma are still staff attorneys at the New Hampshire Public Defender (Emma in the Concord office and Jeremy in the Nashua office). Viva Cooper, formerly Viva Coaxum, married her love, Clinton Cooper, on October 9, 2010, in Charleston, South Carolina (Viva’s home state). Viva and Clinton met at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center located in Glynco, Georgia, in 2007. The wedding party included Ebony Riggins as the maid of honor. Viva stills works for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as an immigration services officer in Baltimore, Maryland. She serves as the cochair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Committee and is the health and safety representative. In her local community’s Home Owner’s Association (HOA), she serves as a member of the board of directors. She plans to incorporate a Going Green section into the HOA’s newsletter. She hopes to connect with VLS as the primary resource for this section of the newsletter. “After all,” she says, “we are the top environmental law school in the country.” Katie Duke started working in December 2010 with Binder & Binder practicing Social Security disability law. She works out of the company’s main office in Long Island City, New York, and travels extensively throughout
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Class Notes
Viva (Coaxum) Cooper ’06 and Clinton Cooper the Northeast representing her clients in their administrative law hearings. Zoe Hanes and Spencer Hanes ’04 report that Spencer took a new position as the director of commercial policy with Duke Energy Generation Services early last year and Zoe is winding up her law practice with Blanco Tackabery to become in-house counsel for FLS Energy, Inc., a renewable energy company headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. Camille Kadoch joined the Regulatory Assistance Project in 2010 after being an associate with Davis Steadman & Ford in White River Junction, Vermont, in general practice litigation. Camille has had articles published on freedom of expression and linguistic rights
in Turkey, and Native American rights under federal Indian law. She also coauthored a comparative analysis of international approaches to implementing global climate change policy. Hart Knight was recognized by the Nashville Bar Association as a “Star of the Bar” for his work on the NBA’s Environmental Law Committee. The award is given to committee chairs who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their leadership roles. Andrew Mason won election to the Topsham, Maine Board of Selectmen on November 2, 2010. Todd Parker and his wife Lisa Parker MSEL’06 welcomed Charlotte Louise Parker on December 22. Charlotte was born at 8:39 a.m. and weighed 7 lb., 14 oz. Mom and Charlie are healthy and well, but dad is very tired. In fact, he says “I feel like I’ve pulled an allnighter every day of the week for eight consecutive weeks! Of course, VLS prepared me for the sleepless nights, so I shouldn’t complain!”
Charlotte “Charlie” Louise Parker with her sleep-deprived dad, Todd Parker ’06
Hart Knight ’06
Jen Shaver has accepted a position with the Virginia Gas Owners Litigation Group in Abingdon, Virginia. The partnership filed a class action lawsuit against the largest natural gas companies in the region. The suit alleges that the gas corporations, virtually unwatched by state regulations, established below-market royalty rates, failed to pay royalties into escrow accounts, and drained natural gas belonging to thousands of landowners without compensation. The suit also challenges the constitutionality of the Virginia Gas and Oil Act.
2007
Greg Dorrington gregdorrington@gmail.com Liz Lucente liz.lucente@gmail.com Benjamin Blank reports, “I have relocated to California!” In September of 2010 Roberto Busó accepted an attorney-advisor position with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 4 offices in Atlanta, Georgia. Rob is currently working on RCRA, OPA, and UST enforcement cases in the Office of Environmental Accountability. Also working in this office are fellow VLS grads Adam Dilts, Keith Weisinger ’09, Rhelyn Finch ’08, and Brian Thompson ’08. Rob and his wife, Shelby Busó ’09, moved from Puerto Rico to Atlanta with their now two-year-old son, Sebastián, and are putting down roots and renovating a new house together. Shelby is a commuter services coordinator with the Clean Air Campaign, a Georgia not-for-profit committed to improving air quality and reducing traffic congestion. You can keep up with the Busós at www.babybuso.blogspot.com. Ellen Crivella joined GL Garrad Hassan (GLGH), the world’s largest renewable energy consultancy, as a project manager in the Environmental and Permitting Services (EPS) group. Ellen is GLGH’s first U.S. employee in the EPS group and is tasked with expanding GLGH’s presence in the U.S. wind, solar, and tidal energy permitting markets. She can be reached at ellen.crivella@gl-garradhassan. com. Karen Henderson married Brian Jensen on October 2, 2010, in Estes Park, Colorado. VLS alumni in attendance included Liz Vires Mulholland, Evan Mulholland ’05, Darius Lind, Kate Woods, Sarah (Miller) Logan, and Jonathan Cohen. Karen was also recently made senior associate at her firm Porzak Browning & Bushong LLP, which specializes in water law in Boulder, Colorado. In November 2010, Caroline Keefe joined the Environmental Permitting and Counseling Section of the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General as a deputy attorney general. Caroline and her husband relocated from Michigan to New Jersey in the fall of 2010 and are now residing in Haddonfield. Andrew Kohn recently left his job with the
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Liz Vires Mulholland ’07, Evan Mulholland LLM’05, Darius Lind ’07, Karen Henderson JD’07/MSEL’08, Kate Woods ’07, Sarah (Miller) Logan ’07, and Jonathan Cohen ’07 celebrating in Estes Park, Colorado White House to open Orchard House Bed and Breakfast with his partner in Granville, Ohio. If you’re ever in the area, stop by and feed the llamas! Pam Lundquist enjoyed catching up with fellow ’07 classmates last November in a whirlwind trip to the East Coast (Washington, D.C., and New York City), including Stephanie Altman, Jennifer Peterson, Tim Duggan, Christophers Mathias and Miller, and Bill White. In other news, Pam became a deputy public defender in Honolulu in March, after 19 months as a deputy prosecutor on Maui. She’s looking forward to life in the big city and seeing what it’s like to “switch sides.” Chris Miller and Sarah Fink were married in Manchester, Vermont, in September 2010 and currently reside in Hoboken, New Jersey. Chris practices environmental and redevelopment law at Maraziti, Falcon & Healey, LLP, and Sarah is currently a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, New York. Chris is also snowboarding, skate-
Brooks Biamonte Olson, son of Jessica Olson ’07, with his dad, Jodin
boarding, and playing in a pop-mashup band in and around New York City. Jessica Olson and Jodin Olson would like to announce the arrival of their son, Brooks, on February 3, 2011. They are already preparing him for the Class of 2035. Steve Wainaina works as an assistant public defender in the rural town of Milton, Florida. He is gaining valuable work experience; but, as usual, no one can pronounce his last name so his clients simply refer to him as “Mr. Steve.” Kate Woods and Darius Lind welcomed a baby girl, Hazel Falconer Lind, on 1/11/11. All are doing well.
the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Christopher Hayes, a civilian attorney with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, specializes in the areas of environmental and real property law in Norfolk, Virginia. He recently spent six weeks in New Orleans, Louisiana, serving as the Coast Guard’s onsite legal counsel to the Federal-On-Scene-Coordinator, the Unified Area Command (UAC), and the Incident Management Team in response to the Deepwater Horizon/MC-252 oil release in the Gulf of Mexico. During his time at the UAC, Chris advised the Coast Guard and other federal agencies on a wide variety of legal matters concerning the Oil Pollution Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Clean Water Act, and other federal and state laws pertaining to the cleanup. Additionally, Chris provided legal counsel on the transition process from concluding response
2008
Samantha Santiago Santiago.samantha@gmail.com Jamie Williams willjamie@gmail.com William S. Eubanks II LLM ’08 has been very active during the past few months. When not protecting watersheds, wildlife, and other natural resources as an attorney at Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal, Bill has been on the lecture circuit explaining to practitioners and law students how to avoid the potential conflict of renewable energy and wildlife conservation. Bill was invited to speak on that topic at the Villanova Environmental Law Symposium in January, the Florida Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in February, and the Tulane Environmental Law Summit in April. He also presented a guest lecture in March on “Environmental Law and Public Health” at
Daughter of Sara (Sullivan) Goodman MELP’08 and Jason Goodman ’08, Hailey Isabelle Goodman at two weeks old
Samantha (Simmons) Fredieu JD/MSEL’08 and Brian R. Fredieu JD/MSEL’08
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Class Notes
After finishing a two-year clerkship at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Megan Roberts joined the Bronx District Attorney’s Office in October 2010. Megan is an assistant district attorney in the Appeals Bureau, where she spends her time writing briefs, mooting arguments, and appearing in New York’s Appellate Division, Court of Appeals, and federal court. She is often surprised by the fact that she is an appellate attorney in New York City, but so far she is having a lot of fun.
2009 Sarah Wilson Merlo ’08 with son, Robert Sebastian Merlo, on his 3-month birthday (New Year’s Day 2011) efforts in the Gulf to initiating remediation activities at impacted areas. Sara (Sullivan) Goodman former assistant director of Admissions at VLS and husband, Jason Goodman, welcomed their first child, a baby girl, Hailey Isabelle, into the world on September 23, 2010. She came a few weeks early, but was healthy and happy. The family is doing well in Buffalo, New York, where Jason has been working as an associate attorney at a civil litigation firm, Gibson McAskill and Crosby. Sara has been working at the University at Buffalo and recently got a new position at the university as the directed energy administrator, assisting start-up companies with launching alternative energy products and technologies in western New York. Their dog, Takeo, is enjoying his new sister and is adjusting to life in Buffalo, but misses Vermont! Samantha (Simmons) Fredieu and Brian R. Fredieu were married on October 2, 2010, in Roanoke, Virginia, with lots of VLS alumni in attendance. They now live in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Since January 3 Julien Meillereux has worked at a law firm named Latournerie Wolfrom & associés, located in Paris, France. He was hired in the Corporate Law department and really enjoys the job. Sarah Wilson Merlo and her husband, Dan Merlo, welcomed a son, Robert Sebastian Merlo, into the world on October 1, 2010, at 12:14 pm. He was a healthy 8 lb., 7 oz., and 21 inches long at birth and is doing great!
John Miller johndmillerjr@gmail.com Tom Baker is a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard. He just got home from back-to-back deployments to Iraq and Louisiana over the last year. He was deployed to Umm Qasr, AlBasrah Province, Iraq, from August 2009 until March 2010 as an environmental engineer, where he was part of a multinational team training the Iraqi Army on oil spill cleanup in the Basra Oil Fields. Right after he got back from Iraq, he deployed for four months to Houma, Louisiana, in response to the Deepwater Horizon (BP) oil spill, and supervised Coast Guard oil cleanup crews from June until September 2010. He is now stationed at U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office Portland, Maine. After graduation, Kimberly Chehardy spent her four-month deferment period advocating for women’s reproductive rights at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women in NYC. In December 2009, Kim joined Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr’s Securities Litigation and Enforcement Practice Group. Now a second-year associate, Kim’s practice focuses on internal and regulatory securities investigations. Most recently, Kim has been working on a matter based out of Switzerland, where she has resided for the better part of the last six months. George Cilley is in California working for the Climate Protection Campaign doing some contract work, mostly advocacy for local action on climate change. A lot of his work involves working with policy organizations in Sonoma County and developing strategies to push a climate-friendly agenda from a political level. This mostly involves attending hearings and voicing views to policymakers. He has also
worked with a solo practitioner on some lowincome housing cases. Beth Freeman writes “My partner, Kathryn, and I have settled in to our new home in Washington, D.C., and are enjoying the more urban lifestyle after seven years in Vermont. I am currently an associate at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan in the state and local tax practice. My primary focus is in the area of tax policy and the taxation of digital goods and services. As such, I represent a coalition of major e-commerce corporations in an effort to simplify and achieve a degree of uniformity and fairness in the way states impose taxes on digital transactions through the introduction of federal legislation. I had two articles published in the last year in State Tax Notes regarding state efforts to overcome Commerce Clause restrictions on the imposition of tax collection obligations on out-of-state companies: Is Quill Dead? At Least One State Has Written the Obituary, Aug. 2, 2010, and Colorado’s End Run—Clever, Coercive, and Unconstitutional, April 5, 2010. I can be reached at beth.freeman@sutherland.com.” Kyle Lewis is currently working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Louisville District as an environmental attorney. John Miller writes “Since graduation I moved to the ‘big city’ of Montpelier and continue to work in the admissions office at VLS. It has been great to visit with many of you during my recruitment travels and I look forward to more. I recently had the honor of officiating two weddings for fellow classmates Lillian Kortlandt ’10 and for Jenny Saunders/RJ Donovan. Please keep in touch!” Gretchen Oldham writes “I am a graduate of the exchange between VLS and the University of Cergy-Pontoise. I earned my Master II DJCE (diplôme de juriste conseil d’entreprise) in the spring of 2010, with honors. This degree is the French equivalent of a law degree for inhouse counsel. I also passed the New York bar in July. I am currently working as an associate at the firm Lazareff Le Bars in Paris. Our firm is listed in the Legal 500 as one of the leading boutique firms in Paris in international arbitration. We handle cases as arbitrators and as counsel. I also teach courses in American law at the University of Cergy-Pontoise and work as a liaison for the VLS students currently participating in the VLS/Cergy exchange program. I plan to sit for the Paris bar in the spring of 2012.”
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Class Notes
Tom Baker ’09 in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, cleaning up oil and tarballs that washed up on the beach in July 2010 Staci Rubin is now working as staff attorney at Alternatives for Community & Environment, an environmental justice organization in Boston, Massachusetts. Staci represents residents from communities of color and low income communities who want to work together to eradicate environmental racism and classism and become decision makers in issues affecting their neighborhoods. Staci can be reached at Staci@ace-ej.org. On Saturday, January 15, 2011, Jennifer A. Saunders and Richard J. Donovan were married by fellow alum John Miller in a small ceremony at the Lands End Inn in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The couple had little time to celebrate with family and friends as they had both accepted employment at Adec Solution in Manila, Philippines, and left for the other side of the world on April 15, 2011. Mariah and Daniel Sotelino welcomed Vivian into the world on August 2, 2010. Both mother and baby are healthy and well. Marisa (who will be three in October) is very excited about being big sis. At Enhesa (www.enhesa. com), Daniel works with VLS alumni Jack Welsch ’97, Riaz Zaman ’04, Ana Santos ’06, and Frank Skiba ’08, on environmental, health, and safety compliance issues. This summer, current VLS student David Wheaton ’11 joined Enhesa as an intern, making the VLS block over one third of the workforce in the Washington, D.C. office. Since joining Enhesa in 2009, Daniel has become the principal consultant for Brazil and continues to work on U.S. compliance. The Sotelino family is enjoying Washington, in large part due to all
the VLS alumni who live in the area. Daniel plays music in Washington with friends Tim Duggan ’07, Chris King ’07, Dan Schramm ’08, Alfie Bartley, and Aaron Lotlikar whenever time allows. The Sotelino family is looking forward to attending three VLS alumni weddings in August and September; Marisa is sure to unveil new dance moves at each one. Micaela Tucker writes “I started with the Vermont Attorney General’s Office in Montpelier in September, prosecuting Medicaid fraud cases in the Criminal Division. As of February I will be moving into the Civil Division to take on different challenges for the State. I am still living in Norwich, though, which is great because it means I can have a social life spread out all over Vermont! I am also happy to report the publication of ‘Law and Neuroscience’ an article I cowrote with Professor Oliver Goodenough for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science. I will be presenting on ‘neurolaw’ related work at the S.E.A.L. annual conference this spring. As well, another piece, on Chinese Guanxi and rule of law, will appear this spring in the Vermont Law Review. I’d love to hear from fellow alums!” Kelly and Keith Weisinger live in Decatur, Georgia, with their dog, Guinness, and cat, Maximus. They just bought a house and
Richard Donovan ’09 and Jennifer Saunders ’09 with wedding officiant, John Miller ’09
are busy with home improvement projects. Kelly works for a nonprofit community development organization, Midtown Alliance, on transportation and sustainability initiatives. Keith is an attorney for the EPA in the CERCLA division. They both enjoy their jobs and living in the Dirty South!
2010
Cara Cookson caracookson@yahoo.com Laurie Wheelock lauriewheelock@gmail.com Dustin Brucher is living in Washington, D.C.; was at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, then Howard University for spring 3L semester, then bar, then work. “I was hired at the National Regulatory Research Institute as a research analyst and their technology manager back in September. I am also serving as the web manager for the Eastern Interconnect States’ Planning Council, a DOE-funded group focusing on producing consistent and coordinated direction to regional and interconnection-level analysis and planning.” Sarah Buxton jumped right into public service after graduating. A week after commencement, Sarah announced her candi dacy for Vermont state representative and went on to win a contested primary. She gained statewide attention when she unseated the incumbent Republican by only one vote in the general election. Her opponent contested the election—appealing to the court and ultimately the House of Representatives itself. Sarah prevailed and currently represents Royalton and Tunbridge in Montpelier. Sandra Cabrera got married in August and moved to Dover, New Hampshire. She is working as a law clerk for the Strafford County Superior Court. Andrew Delaney recently took a position as an associate with Martin & Associates in Barre, Vermont, last August. His practice is half criminal/DUI defense and half general civil. Anna Ellis recently moved and is spending her days learning the fine art of baking in a small village in the northwest mountains of Greece. Jason Gregoire married Kiele in September. He is also working as an associate at Shee-
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Javier Garcia-Lomas Gago LLM’10 Bridging the Transoceanic Energy Dialogue han Phinney Bass + Green, PA, a full service law firm in Manchester, New Hampshire. He is part of the Business Litigation group. Viktoriya Kovalenko married Jared Toon. VLS Alumni Hyun Lee and Sandra Cabrera were in the wedding. Cassie Duong, Scott Moll and Ray Kovarik attended as well.
Thomas Paul ’10 Thomas Paul has joined the Syracuse office of Hiscock & Barclay, LLP, as an associate attorney. He concentrates his practice in the area of environmental law, with a focus on renewable energy technologies, carbon capture and storage, and waste cleanup and management.
Seville attorney Javier Garcia-Lomas Gago has found that an LLM from a small Vermont law school has not only boosted his own career in Spain but has equipped him to engage in his country’s energy future. Javier was introduced to VLS during law school at the University of Seville, home of one of VLS’s dual degree programs. After graduation, he began practicing environmental law with his current firm, Perez Moreno, which specializes in land use, energy, and environmental law. When Javier decided to continue his education, Perez gave their blessing and the University of Seville provided a scholarship. With energy law research already under his belt from his Spanish practice, Javier was a natural candidate to work with Michael Dworkin as an Energizer in the Institute for Energy and the Environment. “It was one of the most positive experiences of my life,” Javier says. “I was inspired to specialize even further in energy law. And at VLS I started to compare Spanish and U.S. energy policies—I got the other side of the story.” Spain is a world leader in renewable energy, with a highly developed solar capacity and an even larger wind industry that accounts for one-third of the country’s energy production. “But production is different from consumption,” advises Javier, noting that Spain must buy nuclear energy from neighboring EU countries to meet demand. How do Spain’s challenges compare to those in the U.S.? “The countries share problems; they just express them in different ways. In my experience, there’s a lack of understanding between the EU and the U.S. on energy policy and energy law,” he continues. “As I’ve often discussed with Professors Michael Dworkin and Marc Mihaly, the EU and U.S. can learn from each other how to improve efficiency and policy. It’s one of the reasons I love staying in touch with VLS.”
“The EU and U.S. can learn from each other how to improve efficiency and policy.” Javier feels he can serve as a bridge in this transoceanic energy dialogue. In his more senior position at Perez Moreno, he’s working with Spanish utilities and renewable project developers. He’s also able to train future lawyers to engage in energy decisions. Javier’s firm maintains a tradition of teaching at the University of Seville Law School, where he now teaches administrative and public law courses. The balance of practice and teaching suits him so well that he’ll enter a PhD Program in energy law this fall. Meanwhile, he’ll return to his U.S. alma mater in June to teach comparative energy law. “It’s like a dream come true to return to VLS to teach,” he says of his summer plans. And for those who’d like to keep abreast of his comparative perspective on energy law, he’s launched a new website, www.ener gylawtoday.com.
spring 2011 47
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In Memoriam
David Hollis ’07
Marjorie Fowler
Marjorie B. Fowler, 87, of South Royalton died February 2, 2011, surrounded by her family at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, Vermont. Marjorie, who was a library circulation assistant, retired from VLS in 1993. During her 15 years at the VLS library, students came to know her not only from opening the library in the morning, but from her day-to-day gentle kindness combined with pleasant but stern cautions for compliance with library rules. Marjorie’s daughter, Marie is married to Raymond Obuchowski ’80.
Laura DeCapua
The Class of ’07 lost a good friend on December 25 when David Hollis passed away after a two-year struggle with brain cancer. David was a special friend of mine, and my law school experience was vastly better because of it. I recall that as older students David and I were also supposed to be wiser, but that is hardly how each of us felt. Law school handed us many humbling experiences, but together we managed to laugh off our shortcomings and push on. As 1Ls, David and I forged our friendship trying to unravel the mysteries of Civil Procedure. Usually when one of us was stuck, the other managed to see a
way out. In retrospect, it was the sort of friendship everyone needs to survive law school. I will especially remember David’s penchant to utter the unvarnished truth as he saw it and his readiness to suggest a remedy to whoever was in a position to change things. The man was not shy with his opinions. David never got the chance to practice law. He had planned to engage in mediation and would have excelled at it. He believed deeply in trying to rid the legal culture of what he saw as excessive and needless conflict. He was an exceptionally good listener and had looked forward to using his keen perception, conciliation and good communication to help people craft solutions to their own problems. Over the last three years, I was fortunate to be able to spend some memorable times with David in and around his hometown of Camden, Maine. David had deep roots in Camden and loved sailing with his father Frank and being among a community he had known since childhood. David took great joy in his lifelong love of music, fixing up old sailboats and houses, but especially in seeing his sons, Graham and Myles, develop into talented young men. He left behind a great number of people who were proud to know him. —Peter Clark ’07 Hanover, New Hampshire
Sendloquitur us your notes at alumni@vermontlaw.edu 48
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John Douglas/Flying Squirrel Graphics
Come back to South Royalton on September 16–18!
Reunion 2011 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 Josh Larkin
Welcoming classes
For more information, contact alumni@vermontlaw.edu or 802-831-1041
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Chelsea Street, PO Box , South Royalton, VT
Mark Washburn
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