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Prof. Nolon's Paper Makes SSRN Top Ten Download List

Vermont Law School — 15 Mar 2010 15:54:48 EST

Sean Nolon's paper "The Lawyer as Process Advocate: Encouraging Collaborative Approaches to Controversial Development Decisions" was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for Conflict Resolution, Prevention & Management.

ABA Journal Cites Professor Czarnezki's Blog

Vermont Law School — 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST

Empirical Legal Studies, a blog co-founded by Professor Jason Czarnezki, again made the annual ABA Journal Blawg 100 list, the best legal blogs as selected by the Journal's editors. The ELS blog is a collaborative project founded by Czarnezki, professors Michael Heise and Theodore Eisenberg of Cornell Law School, and William Ford of the John Marshall Law School.

Vermont Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments at VLS

Vermont Law School — 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in seven cases at Vermont Law School on March 17 in the high court's annual session at the state's only law school.

The court will consider the following cases:

• Crawford Gregory v. Poulin Auto Sales, 2009-147, 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.: Whether the Vermont Consumer Fraud Act is violated when a car dealer relies on a mistakenly issued clean car title and does not independently inspect the vehicle to determine whether it is salvaged or rebuilt.

• In re Montpelier WWTF Discharge Permit, 2009-286, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Whether a Clean Water Act permit violates the statutory five-year limitation on permits when it relies exclusively on data that is more than five years old. The VLS Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic filed an amicus brief in this case on behalf of former Vermont state officials responsible for water pollution control.

• Rino Crisafulli v. Kathleen Conley, 2009-368, 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.: What constitutes an intent to abandon residency in another state and establish residency in Vermont.

• State v. Thomas Pellerin, 2010-082, 1:10 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Whether the habitual offender statute can be used to hold someone without bail under a statute that applies to charges punishable by a life sentence.

• State v. Carl Devoid, Jr., 2009-208, 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.: What constitutes attempted voyeurism and when such a jury instruction can be given.

• State v. Brian Rooney, 2008-470, 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Whether the prosecution must turn over internal validation studies from DNA labs and whether it violates due process and equal protection to charge aggravated murder rather than felony murder in those instances where the elements of each crime are the same.

• State v. Randall Gokey, 2009-131, 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.: Whether a judge can contact a pharmacy and ask about the side effects of a drug that a defendant claims is preventing him from attending his trial.
The arguments will start at 9:30 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. in Oakes Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Vermont Court Rules apply for media coverage: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/MasterDocument/CourthouseEtiquette.pdf

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Panelists to Discuss VLS Ban on Military Recruiting

Vermont Law School — 08 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- In the wake of the nation's top defense officials calling for an end to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Vermont Law School will host a town hall meeting at 5:30 p.m., Tues., March 16, to discuss its ban of military recruiting on campus until openly gay men and women are allowed to serve in the U.S. armed forces.

The VLS Gay-Straight Alliance and Student Bar Association will host the JAG/Solomon Amendment meeting, which is free and open to the public in the Chase Community Center. The meeting originally was slated for Feb. 24 but was postponed due to a snowstorm.

Vermont Law School is one of two law schools in the nation that bar military recruiters because of the "don't ask, don't tell" law, which allows gay men and lesbians to serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation secret.

Panelists will discuss the school's non-discrimination policy and the Solomon Amendment, the federal law that withholds some federal research money from law schools and universities that do not give military recruiters the same access to campus as other employers.

The panel will include Vice Dean Gil Kujovich; VLS trustee Robert Rachlin, the senior director of Vermont's largest law firm, Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC; professors Greg Johnson and Jackie Gardina; and Dan Miller, a military veteran and current VLS student.

"Vermont Law School isn't non-military. We're non-discriminatory," Gardina said. "Repealing ‘don't ask, don't tell' will make the military more effective, and many VLS students are taking an active role in trying to repeal this law."

Johnson added: "As Congress and the military begin to reconsider the wisdom of ‘don't ask, don't tell,' VLS's longstanding opposition to that policy deserves renewed attention. This event offers an opportunity for everyone in the community to weigh in on an issue of national importance."

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law in 2006, but President Obama opposes the law and Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate committee on Feb. 1 that the policy should be repealed. The Pentagon plans to conduct a year-long review before Congress is expected to vote on the matter. The House of Representatives has had a bill pending since 2006 to repeal the law, and the Senate introduced a bill earlier this month. More than 13,000 members of the military have been discharged since the law was enacted in 1993.

"This JAG/Solomon Amendment panel will open some eyes because most people have no idea how ‘don't ask, don't tell' really operates," said Kathy Stickel, a VLS student who served in the Army and who is also bi-sexual. "The law is wrong, it's inefficient and it violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection on due process of law. I'm proud to attend a law school that refuses to break the highest law of the land even when religious conservatives in government positions threaten or cajole others into trashing their principles for fiscal expediency."

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Vermont Law School Delegation to Lobby Against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Law

Vermont Law School — 08 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- A group of Vermont Law School students will travel March 19 to Washington, D.C., for "Lobby Day" to push for the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" law.

Vermont Law School is one of two law schools in the nation that bar military recruiters from campus because of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allows gay men and lesbians to serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation secret.

The annual Lobby Day is hosted by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a non-profit legal services group that opposes the "don't ask, don't tell" law.

This spring's event coincides with a call by the Obama administration and the nation's top defense officials for an end to the "don't ask, don't tell" law. The House of Representatives has had a bill pending since 2006 to repeal the law, and the Senate introduced a bill earlier this month. The Pentagon plans to conduct a year-long review before Congress is expected to vote on the matter. More than 13,000 members of the military have been discharged since the law was enacted in 1993.

Two dozen VLS students, faculty and staff will join thousands of other activists in the nation's capital for Lobby Day to oppose both the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and the Solomon Amendment, the federal law that withholds some federal research money from law schools and universities that do not give military recruiters the same access to campus as other employers.

Lobby Day participants will try to meet briefly with all 535 voting members of Congress, their chiefs of staff or legislative and military liaisons or they will drop off information packets at their offices if they aren't available.

"The only way to fix the problem is to repeal ‘don't ask, don't tell' and the Solomon Amendment," said Associate Professor Jackie Gardina, an SLDN board member who will lead the VLS delegation. "Vermont Law School isn't anti-military, but we are anti-discrimination, and Lobby Day is an opportunity to educate members of Congress and their staffs about the very real problems created by the ban."

The VLS delegation raises funds from faculty and staff to pay for the Lobby Day trip.
"It's exciting for our students to be walking the halls of Congress and taking an active role in repealing this law," Gardina said. "It reminds you that our elected officials are supposed to be representing the people."

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Week of Feb. 22

Vermont Law School — 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST

Bizjournals quoted Mark Cooper in a Feb. 27 story about the nuclear power industry. Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the VLS Institute for Energy and the Environment.
In his Feb. 26 column for SI.com, Associate Professor Michael McCann wrote about NFL teams releasing players who have suffered concussions.
In a Feb. 25 story by VPR that also aired on NPR, Professor Pat Parenteau discussed efforts by the EPA to reduce pollution in the Long Island Sound.
VPR talked to Professor Michael Dworkin for a Feb. 25 story on the Vermont Senate's vote to not relicense Vermont Yankee.
The TaxProf Blog weighed in on Feb. 24 about the L3C, an issue explored at the Vermont Law Review's annual symposium in February.
Professor Pat Parenteau talked to the Original Vermont Observer for a story Feb. 25 about inaccurate information given out by Vermont Yankee about the plant's radioactive leaks.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution quoted Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford on Feb. 23 in a story about nuclear power.
Vermont Business magazine had a Feb. 23 story about Vermont Law School and its partners in the "Minds on the Edge" project receiving a national mental health award.
Professor Michael Dworkin was quoted in the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Red State on Feb. 22 about Vermont Yankee's radioactive leaks and the plant's relicensing efforts.
In his Feb. 22 column in SI.com, Associate Professor Michael McCann wrote about the possibility of a civil action being filed in the death of an Olympic luger.
Assistant Professor Don Kreis offered his perspective on the L3C in an op-ed column in vtdigger.com on Feb. 22.

Vermont Law School Selects U.S., Chinese Environmental Justice Young Fellows

Vermont Law School — 27 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law has selected 18 young American and Chinese professionals for an exchange program focused on environmental justice issues.

The Environmental Justice Young Fellows Exchange program is funded by a $350,000 grant to VLS from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The bureau's goal is to promote mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other nations.

Vermont Law School's partners in the exchange program include the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., Sun-Yat Sen University in Guangzhou, China, and the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims in Beijing.

Nine participants from each country will receive education and leadership training this summer to work on environmental justice and climate change issues. They will spend six weeks together - three weeks in China and three in the United States.

Participants will jointly examine the environmental burdens on minority communities and low-income populations in the United States and China and will design projects to advance environmental justice for those communities.

Minority groups and low-income populations in China and the United States bear a disproportionate amount of harmful health and environmental impacts from pollution, and climate change is further affecting these marginalized groups. Environmental injustice in China has not attracted the same level of attention as in the United States, but many Chinese citizens are starting to speak out and seek solutions through laws, regulations and community projects.

The U.S.-China exchange program will aim to cultivate leadership among young environmental professionals and give them insights into legal tools, policies and activism to help vulnerable communities solve environmental challenges. The program's participants will attend a series of roundtables, study tours and hands-on internships in both the United States and China.

The U.S. fellows are: Erick Boustead, online coordinator for Fresh Energy; Jonathan Ostar, adjunct professor at Lewis and Clark Law School; Chandra Taylor, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center; Elizabeth Kronk, assistant professor at the University of Montana School of Law; Courtney Smith, research analyst at the Pacific Institute; Debbie Lowe Liang, environmental scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency; Emily Enderle, legislative associate at Earthjustice; Arelys Rosado-González, legal aid clinic specialist at the University of Puerto Rico; and Cindy Chang, program associate at William Shutkin Consulting.

The Chinese fellows, who will be notified this weekend of their selection, include non-governmental organization activists, a judge, a government official, an academic scholar and an environmental researcher.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Vermont Law School Provides Pro Bono Aid to Katrina Victims

Vermont Law School — 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- While attending the Association of American Law Schools' annual meeting in New Orleans in January, Johanna Dennis was so moved by the ongoing need for legal services more than four years after Hurricane Katrina that she decided to do something.

Dennis, an associate professor at Vermont Law School, is organizing a group of VLS students who will travel to New Orleans in May for a pro bono legal assistance and research project to benefit needy residents.

Dennis also is organizing a showing of the documentary, "Trouble the Water," at 5:30 p.m., Wed., March 3 in the Chase Community Center. The film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, explores the underlying issues that remained after the floodwaters receded -- failing public schools, record high levels of incarceration, poverty, structural racism and lack of government accountability.

Dennis said she and Stefanie Sidortsova, a writing specialist at the VLS Legal Writing Program, were moved to take action after viewing the documentary at the AALS meeting and touring the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

"I felt guilty that I had been living in my own little world and haven't done something to help," Dennis said. "Like a lot of people, I didn't realize the extent of the continued devastation in people's lives."

Dennis and Sidortsova plan to take 12 to 15 students to New Orleans for two weeks. They will work with non-profit legal assistance groups on a range of legal issues, including real estate, health care, estate, education and gentrification. They also will use the experience as part of a larger academic research project to be completed in the summer or fall. Dennis said she hopes to make the New Orleans project into an annual summer endeavor for students.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Vermont Law School and Partners Receive Mental Health Award

Vermont Law School — 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Public Television, in collaboration with Vermont Law School, the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the Vermont office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will receive a 2010 EDGE Award from the Association of Public Television Stations for the "Minds on the Edge: Facing Mental Illness" project.

The EDGE Awards are presented annually to public television stations that use digital technology, groundbreaking partnerships and educational technologies to deliver innovative services to their communities.

The "Minds on the Edge" project included television broadcasts, a legal symposium and Web-based and on-the-ground community meetings as part of a month-long campaign in October 2009 to raise public awareness about the challenges, solutions and impact of mental illness on Vermont communities.

The project kicked off with a national broadcast of a "Minds on the Edge" seminar, which featured Dr. Tom Simpatico from the UVM College of Medicine.

Vermont Law School then hosted a workshop to inform state legislators about mental health issues in Vermont. VLS Professor Oliver Goodenough said the event included cutting-edge scientific presentations on the neuroscience of addiction and mental illness. The workshop provided a neutral, academic forum to explore solutions to problems that involve the collision of good intentions on questions of treatment, public and individual safety and liberty, he said.

"Mental health issues are at the heart of many of our most difficult challenges in law," Goodenough said. "We were pleased to be able to be a part of this important initiative and to help our legislature grapple with these thorny problems. The ‘Minds on the Edge' program was very successful in getting a conversation going among the contending advocates on questions of treatment and the rights of both the individuals involved and society as a whole. Once a conversation is started, then new knowledge, such as the developments of neuroscience, can be used productively to inform public policy."

The campaign continued with five public screenings of "Minds on the Edge" around Vermont at town hall forums that brought legislators and community members together to form action plans. The online part of the campaign included the production and posting of "Vermont Stories," which were videos featuring people whose lives have been affected by mental illness. VPT produced a community service spot, called "VPT and You," which focused on defusing the stigma attached to mental illness. The campaign culminated with "VPT Public Square," a monthly call-in broadcast that looked at current mental health services and ways that Vermont can increase awareness and improve care.
The project is available at www.vpt.org/mentalillness

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Week of Feb. 15

Vermont Law School — 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

The Boston Globe, VPR, Newsday and other media ran a news brief Feb. 22 about the JAG/Solomon Amendment town hall meeting coming up on Feb. 24 on the VLS policy banning military recruiters from campus until the Pentagon allows openly gay men and women to serve in the armed forces.
The Missoulian interviewed Professor Craig Pease for a Feb. 21 story on the controversy surrounding the status of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies.
In a Feb. 19 story aired by 300 public radio stations nationwide, Public Radio International's Living on Earth interviewed Professor Pat Parenteau about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to deny endangered species status to the American pika, a small mammal that has been hard hit by climate change.
On Feb. 17-18, Professor Michael Dworkin spoke with the Associated Press, ABC-TV 22, the New Orleans Times-Picayne, Seven Days, WAMU-Radio, FOX-TV 44 and other media and Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to Seven Days and WAMC-Radio about the possibility of Entergy going to federal court to try to block a shutdown of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The AP story was picked up by Forbes and many other media.
Mark Cooper and Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford were quoted in USA Today, Bloomberg News, Marketplace, Associated Press, The Washington Post, Market Watch, Diario Financiero (a Chilean daily newspaper), Der Tagesspiegel (a German daily newspaper), the Sydney Morning Herald (in Australia), FightingBob.com (an online opinion magazine), Mother Jones and other media on Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 about President Obama's announcement of $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors . Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the VLS Institute for Energy and the Environment.
Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to The Brattleboro Reformer and Bennington Banner on Feb. 16 and the Burlington Free Press on Feb. 15 for stories about Vermont's campaign finance laws.
Associate Professor Michael McCann talked to The Christian Science Monitor for a Feb. 16 story about an NFL anti-trust case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Experts Promote Benefits of For-profit, Non-profit Hybrids

Vermont Law School — 20 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

The world's financial system doesn't have enough money to fill the growing global need for philanthropic services, a problem that can be tackled through stronger collaboration between governments, corporations and non-profit groups.

That was the word from a number of panelists and audience members at the Vermont Law Review's 10th Annual Symposium, "Corporate Creativity: The Vermont L3C and Other Developments in Social Entrepreneurship" on Feb. 18 and 19.

The event explored hybrid organizations that use for-profit business practices to achieve non-profit goals. Panelists and audience members discussed the legal structures and methods for achieving non-profit goals with for-profit mechanisms, both domestically and abroad. The event also examined low-profit limited liability companies (L3Cs), an organizational form that Vermont was the first in the nation to adopt.

Focusing on both theory and practice, the symposium furthered legal scholarship in the field of social enterprise, while equipping legal, business and non-profit professionals with the tools needed to accomplish their social ventures.

In 2008, Vermont became the first state in the country to enact low-profit limited liability companies, a cross between a non-profit organization and a for-profit corporation. L3Cs are designated by the Vermont Secretary of State as low-profit with charitable or education goals. Five states now recognize L3Cs.

Dean Jeff Shields opened the symposium by encouraging VLS students to explore "this middle ground between traditional for-profit business ventures and mission-driven non-profit efforts."

The first panelist was Arthur Wood, the former vice president of social financial services at Ashoka, the nonprofit organization that pioneered social entrepreneurship. He said the world's social services network has been hard hit by the recession and that the current system for funding philanthropic efforts is unsustainable.

Wood said the world lacks structures for long-term financing and collaboration among governments, corporations and non-profit groups, which traditionally operate "in silos rather than working together."

He called for an overhaul of legal and financial regulations, the leveraging of private capital and the creation of financial incentives geared toward promoting collaboration between the public and private sectors.

"We need to change the whole paradigm to have a social and economic impact," he said. "It's not a question of when we should - we have to do it. Do we stay with the status quo or create a structure to empower ordinary Americans to become social entrepreneurs?"

The symposium brought together some of the top names in the field of social entrepreneurship. In addition to Wood, panelists included Robert Lang, originator of the L3C who discussed its history and application; Dana Brakman Reiser, a Brooklyn Law School professor who discussed legal issues arising from the creation and operation of hybrid organizations; and Stephen Lloyd, an attorney in the United Kingdom who created the Community Interest Company, which also bridges the nonprofit and forprofit worlds and is used by social purpose organizations using business models to fund their activities.

VLS Professor Betsy Schmidt said the panelists and audience members benefited from the vibrant discussion about the business forms that can be used to help solve society's problems.

"We recognized that the current binary system, which categorizes every enterprise as either for-profit or non-profit, can restrict our abilities to bring the sectors together to solve problems," she said. "Several new business forms have emerged in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. They include the L3C and the B corporation in the United States, as well as the community interest company (CIC) in the United Kingdom."

Panelists discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each of these business forms and examined the abilities of traditional for-profit and non-profit business forms to further social goals.

"The consensus was that no one business form works for every situation, and that many of these newer business forms will change over time to meet some of the concerns expressed by those at the conference and elsewhere," Schmidt said.

Professor Linda Smiddy said the conference addressed new organizational forms that facilitate cooperation among the non-profit, governmental and for-profit sectors for the purpose of solving society's problems.

"One theme was to explore ways to stimulate such cooperation and to explore the issues raised by the creation of new organizational forms from the perspective of different professions: law, business, nonprofit, tax, economics, accountancy and others," Smiddy said.

More information is available at: http://lawreview.vermontlaw.edu/symposia/symposia.htm

Panelists to Discuss VLS Campus Ban on Military Recruiting

Vermont Law School — 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- In the wake of the nation's top defense officials calling for an end to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Vermont Law School will host a town hall meeting at 5:30 p.m., Wed., Feb. 24, to discuss its ban of military recruiting on campus until openly gay men and women are allowed to serve in the U.S. armed forces.

The VLS Gay-Straight Alliance and Student Bar Association will host the "JAG/Solomon Amendment" meeting, which is free and open to the public in the Chase Community Center.

Vermont Law School is one of two law schools in the nation that bar military recruiters because of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allows gay men and lesbians to serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation secret.

The panel will include Capt. Rory Thibault of the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps and a VLS alumnus; Vice Dean Gil Kujovich; VLS trustee Robert Rachlin, the senior director of Vermont's largest law firm, Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC; professors Greg Johnson and Jackie Gardina; and Dan Miller, a military veteran and a current VLS student.

"Vermont Law School isn't non-military. We're non-discriminatory," Gardina said. "Repealing ‘don't ask, don't tell' will make the military more efficient as well, and many VLS students are taking an active role in trying to repeal this law."

"This panel will open some eyes because most people have no idea how ‘don't ask, don't tell' really operates," said Kathy Stickel, a VLS student who served in the Army and who is also bi-sexual. "The law is wrong, it's inefficient and it violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection on due process of law. I'm proud to attend a law school that refuses to break the highest law of the land even when religious conservatives in government positions threaten or cajole others into trashing their principles for fiscal expediency."

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders to Discuss "Corporate Creativity" at VLS

Vermont Law School — 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Feb. 17, 2010
CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will speak at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17, at the Vermont Law Review's 10th Annual Symposium, "Corporate Creativity: The Vermont L3C and Other Developments in Social Entrepreneurship," at Vermont Law School.

Social entrepreneurs, scholars, lawyers, students and others will gather Thursday and Friday to explore hybrid organizations that use for-profit business practices to achieve nonprofit goals. The event, which is free and open to the public, starts at 2:45 p.m. on Thurs.

Week of Feb. 8

Vermont Law School — 15 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to Seven Days for a Feb. 10 story on Vermont's campaign finance laws.
The Brattleboro Reformer talked to Professor Pat Parenteau for a Feb. 10 story on the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
WPTZ-TV aired a story Feb. 9 on the VLS panel discussion of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.
Associate Professor Michael McCann commented Feb. 9 in the AM Law Daily and Feb. 8 in The New York Times on a class-action anti-trust lawsuit against the NCAA.
Assistant Professor Don Kreis wrote an op-ed column Feb. 8 in vtdigger.org about the fatal explosion at the Kleen Energy facility in Connectict.
Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford talked to the Minneapolis Star Tribune for a story Feb. 8 about radioactive waste disposal.
Professor Cheryl Hanna commented Feb. 7 in Vermont Today, the Times Argus and the Rutland Herald on the Herald's request to unseal a search warrant executed at the Rutland City Police Department.
The Rutland Herald and Times Argus talked to Associate Professor Jackie Gardina and Dean Jeff Shields for a Feb. 7 story on the Obama administration's proposal to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Panel Questions Safety, Finances of Vermont Yankee

Vermont Law School — 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Grafitti spray painted on a bridge outside Montpelier, Vt., states sentiments about Vermont Yankee that were echoed by many panelists and attendees at Tuesday's event.

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is unsafe and a planned spin off to put it under new ownership is financially questionable, according to panelists at a public forum Tuesday at Vermont Law School.

The Advocacy Group of the Environmental Law Society (ELS) hosted the meeting on Vermont Yankee, where radioactive contamination has been found to be leaking into groundwater at the facility.

ELS members gave an overview of the nuclear reactor, which supplies 30 percent of Vermont's energy and also feeds the New England power grid. The plant opened in 1972, making it one of the oldest nuclear reactors in the nation. Entergy Nuclear bought the facility in 2002 from Central Vermont Public Service, Green Mountain Power and other Vermont utilities.

Vermont Yankee, the state's lone nuclear reactor, is seeking state approval for a 20-year renewal of its operating license, which expires in 2012. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides whether a nuclear plant is safe to operate, while the Vermont Legislature and the state Public Service Board (PSB) decide whether a plant's operation is in the public good.

Utility regulators, state legislators and the PSB recently criticized Vermont Yankee's management for making misleading statements about radioactive tritium found in the plant's groundwater monitoring wells and underground pipes along the Connecticut River.

The Vermont Department of Health said Monday that contamination levels of radioactive tritium continue to rise in a large area at the plant.

About 150 people attended the VLS public meeting at Chase Community Center, where James Moore of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group said Vermont Yankee was too old to be reliable or safe.
He said Entergy has proven itself untrustworthy because of its repeated denials about underground pipes carrying radioactive material.

"It's just asking for trouble" to relicense the plant, he said.

Moore said relicensing Vermont Yankee would make it 60 years old when a new license expires in 2032, which would make the plant more than a decade older than the current world record of 47 years for a nuclear reactor.

If Vermont Yankee closes, renewable electricity from wind, solar, hydropower and other sources and energy efficiency could provide an ample, safe and affordable supply of power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Moore said.

Panelist Don Kreis, who is a VLS assistant professor, discussed Entergy's corporate spinoff proposal in which a new company, Enexus, would take ownership of Vermont Yankee. Kreis said he had no opinion on whether the facility should be relicensed, but that Entergy has failed to meet its legal obligation to prove that its spin off proposal would benefit Vermonters. Enexus would be $3.5 billion in debt at its creation, he said.

Panelists Arnie and Maggie Gundersen discussed nuclear safety, oversight and the role of the law.
Arnie Gundersen is a consultant to the Vermont Legislature on Vermont Yankee, serving on the independent oversight panel that reviewed the plant's reliability last year.

He said Vermont Yankee managers repeatedly denied the plant had underground pipes carrying radioactive material. He said the company has a culture of dishonesty and that replacing the plant's top officials likely wouldn't correct the problem.

Vermont Yankee officials said the tritium contamination poses no public health risk, but Maggie Gundersen said it was clear a plume of radioactive groundwater was moving toward the Connecticut River beside the plant.

"There is a public safety hazard," she said.

KnittingNite Raises Funds for Kids Place

Vermont Law School — 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

KnittingNite Raises Funds for Kids Place

The Vermont Law School KnittingNite club recently raised $1,243 for Kids Place, a nonprofit group in Randolph. Club members thanked all those who supported their fund raiser, especially Dean Shirley Jefferson, who provided the yarn used to make dozens of scarves, mittens, hats and other items. Kids Place is a supervised visitation and parenting support group that provides a safe setting for children and non-residential parents to visit and maintain family ties. Kids Place was started in 1999 by Wynona Ward '98, who also founded the nonprofit group Have Justice Will Travel to help battered women and children. Kids Place Director Connie Button, who is a former VLS staff member, was amazed at the generosity of the VLS community, said KnittingNite club members Ann Zagare and Christy Asbee. More information is available at casbee@vermontlaw.edu.

California’s Smog Czar Touts Golden State’s Efforts to Create Sustainable Communities

Vermont Law School — 06 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board, deliverd Vermont Law School's 2010 Norman Williams Lecture.

Mary Nichols acknowledged it took some chutzpah for California's smog czar to lecture Vermonters about sprawl, pollution and land-use planning given the differences in how the two states have handled those issues.

"I'm not even a planner," said Nichols, who delivered the sixth annual Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law at Vermont Law School on Feb. 4. "I'm an air pollution regulator who's struggled with local communities" to get their cooperation in tackling the Golden State's air, water and sprawl problems.

But Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board (ARB), is at the vanguard of California's pioneering efforts to align greenhouse gas emission reduction targets with transportation, housing and land-use planning processes.

The goal is to reshape the Golden State's car culture, turning the most polluted state into a model for federal climate change policy.

In addition to cutting emissions, California's strategic planning approach is intended to create communities with improved public health, accessibility and sustainability.

Nichols, one of the nation's leading environmental lawyers, was appointed ARB chairman in 2007, a position she also held from1978 to 1983.

"We're trying to wring carbon out of our society and our economy," she said. "And it all comes back to planning and land use."

Speaking to a crowd of about 200 people in the Chase Community Center, Nichols discussed California's efforts to curb sprawl and cut greenhouse gas emissions through better cooperation between state and local governments.

In 2008, California passed Senate bill 375, the nation's first law to control greenhouse gas emissions by curbing sprawl. The law includes emissions-reductions goals for which regions can plan, coordinates disjointed planning activities and provides incentives rather than penalties for local governments and developers to follow new planned growth patterns.

Nichols said SB 375 is intended to reshape California's communities into cleaner, more sustainable and walkable communities with alternative transportation options and increased quality of life.

"We're doing integrated environmental problem solving," she said, "a holistic approach instead of looking at each issues separately."

Nichols said that for California to reach its greenhouse gas reduction goals, it must address how the state's communities grow. SB 375 requires the ARB to develop regional greenhouse gas emission reduction targets to be achieved from the automobile and light truck sectors for 2020 and 2035. The ARB works with California's 18 metropolitan planning organizations to align their transportation, housing and regional land-use plans with greenhouse gas reductions. The MPOs will prepare a "sustainable communities strategy" to reduce the amount of vehicle miles traveled in their respective regions and demonstrate the ability for the region to attain the ARB's targets.

SB 375 is part of California's climate action plan, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which is a "major advance in land-use planning," Nichols said.

California's smog is notorious, but the state's landmark climate action plan shows that Californians also care about public health, she said.

The Golden State's population continues to rise, putting more cars on the road for longer periods, and its geography of ocean winds, mountains and valleys helps to trap smog that damages human health and crops.

"California still has the worst air quality in the nation," but laws passed in recent decades have improved conditions remarkably, she said.

Nichols said she's been accused of being a "job killer" who sends "air cops with guns and badges" to ticket people whose tires are underinflated. But she said she supports a "new clean energy economy" that rewards investment and innovation, creates jobs and serves as the engine for sustainable economic growth.

Nichols' priorities include promoting the state's landmark climate change program, reducing diesel pollution at ports and passing regulations to provide cleaner air for Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley.

"Don't expect immediate results," she said, "but we can't wait to start these corrective measures. I don't think fear of global warming is enough to motivate people, but I think this new law (SB 375) will provide the incentive for people" to take action.

Vermont Law School Faculty Leadership in The Association of American Law Schools

Vermont Law School — 05 Feb 2010 21:08:46 EST

Vermont Law School faculty members continue to provide leadership within The Association of American Law Schools.

Jason Czarnezki is the new Treasurer of the Section on Natural Resources Law.

Tim Duane has joined the Executive Committee of the Section on Environmental Law.

Stephen Dycus was elected this year to be Secretary of the Section on National Security Law. He also served as chair of this section 2003-05.

Stephanie Farrior was elected this year to the Executive Committee of the Section on International Law, this time as Treasurer. She was also identified as one of the "Two Future Key Leaders" of the Section on International Law to be invited to the AALS Meeting of Section Officers.

Jackie Gardina was appointed, by the AALS President, to the Government Relations Committee. Professor Gardina is also on the Executive Committee of the Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues. She chaired the Mid-Year Professional Development Committee for that Section. The Committee's proposal "Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and the Evolving American Family" was chosen by the AALS Executive Committee to be the AALS plenary session on the first day of the January 2011 Annual Meeting.

Oliver Goodenough is on the Executive Committee for the new Section on Biolaw. He was a presenter this year for that section.

Cheryl Hanna has presented at AALS New Law Teacher's Conference for six of the last nine years.

Michael McCann is a member of the Executive Committee of the Section on Law and Sports. He also served as chair of this section in 2008.

Philip Meyer has given eight presentations at the AALS Annual Meeting during the past 14 years, including a mini-workshop on Narrative and the Law (with Jim Elkins) and presentations for various sections: Law and Humanities (two times), Clinical and Legal Writing sections combined (one time), and the Legal Writing section (four times). Professor Meyer has also organized and edited papers from four of the panels that were published as law review symposia. He is Past Chair of the AALS Section on Law and Humanities and continues to serve as a member of the Executive Committee of this section.

Linda Smiddy has been an invited (by the AALS Executive Board) member of the AALS Committee on International Cooperation for the past three years. (The Committee was formed to advise AALS and its executive director on how AALS can support law school international programs.)

Joan Vogel will be a panelist on Admiralty at the next AALS meeting discussing the influence of admiralty law on tort law. She is also a member of the AALS Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure until 2012.

Stephanie Willbanks presented at the AALS Site Inspector's Workshop and served on the Membership Review Committee in 2006. She also served as the AALS Reporter on the ABA/AALS inspection of Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law in 2010.

Kinvin Wroth cofounded the Section on North American Cooperation, which he chaired in 1983-84, 1991, 1994, and 2007; and Council, 2008, 2009. Professor Wroth served as Chair of the Committee on Government Relations in 2007-08. He was a member of the joint ABA/AALS site inspection teams: University of Toledo College of Law, 2007 (AALS Reporter); Washburn University School of Law, 2008 (Chair); Northern Illinois University College of Law, 2010 (AALS Reporter). He as also served on the AALS House of Representatives as a VLS representative or alternate, 2005-10.

Week of February 1

Vermont Law School — 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Professor Pat Parenteau talked to the Associated Press on Feb. 5 about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to not list the American pika as endangered because of climate change. The article appeared in 87 news outlets nationwide, including USA Today, the Oregonian, the Denver Post and the Chicago Tribune.
The Randolph Herald reported Feb. 4 on Vermont Law School's plans to convert the 190 Chelsea building into the new home for the South Royalton Legal Clinic.
The Times Argus mentioned Vermont Law School in a Feb. 4 story about a new commuter bus route.
The SportsAgent blog on Feb. 4 noted Professor Michael McCann's participation in the University of Florida's sports law symposium.
Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to the Valley News on Feb. 3 and to WCAX on Jan. 26 about the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on corporate contributions to political campaigns.
USA Today cited the research of Professor Mark Cooper in a Feb. 1 article on the costs of new nuclear reactors. Cooper's research also was cited in articles in Energy Central and other media.
The Randolph Herald reported Jan. 28 on former Gov. Howard Dean being chosen as 2010 commencement speaker at Vermont Law School.
VPR interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Chris Hedges on Jan. 27 before he gave a lecture at Vermont Law School on corporate America and celebrity culture.
In his SI.com column Jan. 25, Professor Michael McCann discussed the latest in the locker-room gun case involving two Washington Wizards players. McCann also talked with SI.com columnist Andy Staples about how the Bowl Championship Series might defend itself against an antitrust challenge.

Pulitzer-Prize Winning Writer Chris Hedges Blasts Corporate America, Celebrity Culture

Vermont Law School — 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Former New York Times writer Chris Hedges spoke at Vermont Law School on January 28,2010.

Chris Hedges wants a revolution.

"I'm a dissident," he said. "I'm for all forms of resistance."

In a Jan. 28 speech at Vermont Law School, the Pulitzer-Prize winning writer criticized America's celebrity culture and major corporations, saying a "perverted" profit demand has wreaked moral, political, economic and environmental havoc on the United States.

He called for a wholesale makeover of American society, including a regulatory crackdown on corporations, empowerment of the working class and a resurrection of traditional values, including honesty, modesty and self-sacrifice.

"There are powerful corporate entities arrayed against us," Hedges told a crowd of about 150 people at the Chase Community Center. "These anti-democratic forces, which will seek to make an alliance with the radical Christian right and other extremists, will use fear, chaos, the hatred for the ruling elites and the specter of left-wing dissent and terrorism to impose draconian controls to extinguish our democracy. And while they do it, they will be waving the American flag, chanting patriotic slogans, promising law and order and clutching the Christian cross."

Hedges said a diseased form of unregulated capitalism and celebrity worship has infected American society, replacing old-fashioned decency with a ruinous belief in moral nihilism.

"We have a right, in the cult of the self, to get whatever we desire," he said. "Once fame and wealth are achieved, they become their own justification, their own morality. How one gets there is irrelevant."

Hedges called for Americans to engage in "moral resistance" against corporate "hedonists of power."

"If we do not immediately halt our elite's rapacious looting of the public treasury and our bizarre state socialism for corporations ... our anemic democracy will be replaced with a robust national police state," he said. "Tens of millions of people, brutally controlled, will live in perpetual poverty, a state of neo-feudalism. This is the inevitable result of unchecked corporate capitalism. The stimulus and bailout plans are not about saving us. They are about saving them."

A former war correspondent for The New York Times, Hedges came to VLS to discuss his latest book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.

"The cost of our empire of illusion is not being paid for by corporate titans," he said. "It is being paid for on the streets of our inner cities, in former manufacturing towns and in depressed rural enclaves."

Hedges opened his remarks by saying his old friend Ralph Nader had urged him to use his VLS speech to explore the Bush Administration's failure to defend the rule of law, the poor, working class and the environment.

"A self-regulating market inevitably turns human beings and the natural environment into commodities, a situation that ensures the destruction of both society and the natural world," he said. "We must opt out of the mainstream. We must articulate and stand firmly and unequivocally, even if this turns us at first into outcasts, on the side of working men and women. We must no longer be content with the crumbs tossed to us by the power elite in the vain hope that accommodation will work. We must become as militant as those who are seeking our enslavement. If we remain passive we will soon be engulfed by a ruthless totalitarian capitalism. If we remain passive, as we undergo the largest transference of wealth upwards in American history, we will become serfs. If we fight back, we have a chance."

Hedges held up Michael Jackson as an example of commercial exploitation.

"He became a commodity, a product, one to be sold, used and manipulated," he said. "He was infected by the moral nihilism and personal disintegration that is at the core of our corporate culture. He was a reflection of us in the extreme."

Hedges said Americans are committing collective suicide in their worship of celebrity culture.

"The cult of self, which Jackson embodied, dominates our culture," he said. "This cult has within it the classic traits of psychopaths; superficial charm, grandiosity and self-importance; a need for constant stimulation, a penchant for lying, deception, and manipulation, and the incapacity for remorse or guilt."

President Obama has been no better in resisting corporate money than his recent predecessors in the White House, and Democrats and Republicans alike have failed on the Iraq war, the federal deficit, health care, trade and other issues, he said.

The decline of American empire began long before the current economic meltdown or the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Hedges said. "It began when we shifted, in the words of the historian Charles Maier, from an ‘empire of production' to an ‘empire of consumption.'"

The United States is devolving into a Third World nation in which corporate forces will never permit real reform. he said.

Hedges said American voters have rejected Nader because he offers no easy solutions.

"He's a pariah who speaks with moral authority," he said. "He shows the ugly reality and people would rather be fooled than make the commitment needed to fix this nation's problems. He's reviled by the society he's trying to save."

Hedges talked poignantly about the moral choices he has witnessed, including a Muslim farmer who gave his cow's milk to a dying Serbian baby during the Bosnian War. He also cited his father, Thomas, a Presbyterian minister and activist during the Vietnam War and civil rights and gay rights movements.
At the end of his speech, the Vermont native recalled his 2003 resignation from The New York Times, where he was reprimanded for his public comments against the Iraq War, which his editors said could jeopardize public trust in the paper's impartiality.

Hedges choked up briefly when said he chose to quit rather than to be silent and compromise his ethics. He received a standing ovation when he stepped from the podium.

Brown-Bag Insights on Copenhagen

Vermont Law School — 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

The UN Climate Wall.

With the new semester under way, the Vermont Law School delegation to the U.N. Climate Conference shared their insights during a brown-bag lunch presentation on campus on Jan. 28.

Several students and professors of the nine-member delegation gave an overview of their time at the historic meeting, an experience that they chronicled in their "VLS in Copenhagen" blog.

Although the delegation reported being disappointed in the conference's failure to conclude with a substantive, legally binding accord, they departed with a renewed sense of commitment to gain ground on the domestic front.

Professor Teresa Clemmer opened the slide show and panel discussion with an overview of the alphabet soup of acronyms, terms, players, targets, timetables, security precautions and space crunch at the conference, which drew 45,000 attendees to the 15,000-capacity Bella Center.

The panel also included Assistant Professor Laurie Beyranevand and 3L students Anna Ellis, Lillian Kortlandt and Jessica Scott.

The VLS students said the first-hand experience brought to life the climate change issues they are studying. They said their coursework prepared them well for understanding the complex negotiations between the 193 nations at the conference.

The professors and students said they were especially struck by the efforts of an alliance of small island nations that tried to raise awareness of their vulnerability to the effects of global warming and a rise in sea level.

The representatives of Tuvalu and other nations most vulnerable to climate change argued for a binding agreement throughout the summit, using procedural maneuvering, scientific facts and emotional pleas to make their legal argument, Clemmer said.

"They were looking for real results instead of a political agreement," she said.

The VLS delegation heard the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change describe the results of recent climate studies that show the impacts of global warming are worse than predicted just a few years ago. The conference concluded with an accord that called for monitoring and reporting progress toward pollution-reduction goals, but it didn't commit industrialized or developing nations to firm targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Nonetheless, the summit was unprecedented in many ways, including the largest number of heads of state, nongovernmental organizations, demonstrators and other participants at a climate change meeting.

The VLS students and professors said the experience provided a better understanding of complex negotiations and the role of diplomacy and law in the process.

Cergy Students All Pass New York Bar Exam for the Third Straight Year

Vermont Law School — 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

For a third year running VLS's Cergy students all passed the New York Bar Exam on their first attempt.

Before Xavier Leroux came to Vermont Law School, he looked at South Royalton on Google maps and found the satellite image to be disconcertingly green compared to the urban gray of Paris, where he attended the University of Cergy-Pontoise.

"I thought, ‘Where are all the buildings?' he said, smiling. "It was nothing like Paris."

Leroux recently joined the growing number of Cergy students who received a Master of Laws (LLM) in American Legal Studies from the VLS International and Comparative Law programs before passing the bar exam in the United States.

The three Cergy LLM students who took the New York bar exam last July all passed, marking the third consecutive year that all of Vermont Law School's Cergy LLM students passed the New York bar. The Master of Laws in American Legal Studies is an advanced professional degree in law awarded to candidates who have already earned their first law degree from a jurisdiction outside the United States. The LLM prepares the returning lawyer or recent law graduate with the skills and knowledge required for transnational practice or other legal work requiring knowledge of multiple legal systems and competency in multiple languages.

Leroux, Cecile Michel and Emilie Dubreil, who graduated from VLS last spring, returned in January to be sworn in to the New York Bar Association in a ceremony in Albany, N.Y. They were joined by their Cergy and VLS classmate, Djenebou Ouattara, who received a LLM in Environmental Law.

Afterward, the four stopped in South Royalton to visit friends and faculty, including Professor Stephanie Farrior, director of the International and Comparative Law programs.

According to the New York State Bar Association, the number of foreign-educated candidates sitting for the exam continues to rise. Last July, 26 percent of the 11,532 candidates taking the exam were foreign-educated.

The pass rate was 88.2 percent for U.S.-educated first-time takers and 46.2 percent for foreign-educated first-time takers.

Farrior said the Cergy LLM graduates' 100 percent success rate at the New York bar exam is impressive.

"Special thanks go to Giuliana Robertson (assistant professor of law and director of the academic success program) for her guidance, training and encouragement of these students throughout the past year and to all the faculty and staff whose contributions led to their success," Farrior said.

Dubreil said studying at Vermont Law School enabled her to visit the United States and prepared her well to practice transnational law. She works at a Paris law firm and hopes to eventually practice in New York City.

"I loved my time at Vermont Law School, especially the close relationships with the professors and other students," she said.

Dubreil said VLS's partnership with Cergy allows the French students to adapt quickly to a foreign setting, although it was a challenge initially to adjust to the Socratic method and to speaking only English.

"Everyone went out of their way to make us welcome," she said.

Ouattara plans to get an LLM in American Legal Studies at New York University and to practice environmental and business law.

"VLS was very community-oriented and the students, faculty and staff are very helpful," she said. "It was easy to make friends."

Leroux came to Vermont Law School not only to prepare for a law career but to improve his English. Like his Cergy classmates, he hopes to practice law in the United States, France and other nations.

"Before coming here, I didn't realize how helpful everyone would be," he said. "It made all the difference."

Environmental Law Society to Host Panel on Vermont Yankee

Vermont Law School — 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Feb. 2, 2010
CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Environmental Law Society's Advocacy Group will host a panel on the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant at 5:30 p.m., Tues., Feb. 9 in the Chase Community Center at Vermont Law School. The event is free and open to the public.

VLS students will start the program with an overview of the controversial Vermont Yankee facility, which supplies about 30 percent of Vermont's energy and 2 percent of the total energy on the New England power grid.

"Energy cooperatives throughout the state are already seeking alternatives to Vermont Yankee and looking to safer, cleaner alternatives," said student Meredith Crafton. "Vermonters currently have a unique opportunity to influence their representatives on this decision. Vermont's energy future is being decided now."

Vermont Yankee, the state's lone nuclear reactor, is seeking a 20-year renewal of its operating license, which expires in 2012. Utility regulators, state legislators and the state Public Service Board recently criticized Vermont Yankee's management for making misleading statements about radioactive tritium that was found in a groundwater monitoring well at the plant and underground pipes near the Connecticut River. Plant officials said the elevated tritium levels present no risk to public health or safety.

Gov. Jim Douglas wants lawmakers to delay a vote on the plant's relicensing request and its owners, New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., to replace the plant's top managers in an effort to restore public confidence. Douglas also wants the Public Service Board to delay a decision on Entergy's plan to sell Vermont Yankee and five other nuclear reactors to a newly created company called Enexus because of concerns the new firm couldn't afford to dismantle Vermont Yankee when the plant has to be decommissioned. Vermont is the only state in which the legislature has approval over relicensing nuclear plants.

The VLS panel will include James Moore of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, who will discuss Vermont Yankee's role in the state's power structure and how the plant can be replaced, and Vermont Law School Assistant Professor Don Kreis, who will speak on the Entergy/Enexus corporate spinoff proposal.
Arnie and Maggie Gundersen will discuss nuclear safety, oversight and the role of the law and the Vermont legislature. Maggie Gundersen is a paralegal specializing in environmental, nuclear safety and energy litigation in federal and state administrative law hearings. Arnie Gundersen is a nuclear engineer and has coordinated projects at 70 nuclear power plants nationwide. He is a consultant to the Vermont legislature on Vermont Yankee, serving on the independent oversight panel that reviewed the plant's reliability last year. The Gundersens' analyses of the shortfall in Vermont Yankee's decommissioning fund resulted in a national review of gaps in decommissioning funds at many nuclear power reactors around the country.

Vermont Law Review to Host Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship

Vermont Law School — 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Vermont Law Review to Host Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Jan. 29, 2010
CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Social entrepreneurs, scholars, lawyers, students and others will gather Feb. 18-19 at Vermont Law School to explore hybrid organizations that use for-profit business practices to achieve nonprofit goals. The event, which is free and open to the public, starts at 2:45 p.m. on Feb. 18.

The Vermont Law Review's 10th Annual Symposium, "Corporate Creativity: The Vermont L3C and Other Developments in Social Entrepreneurship," will discuss legal structures and methods for achieving nonprofit goals with for-profit mechanisms, both domestically and abroad. The event also will examine low-profit limited liability companies (L3Cs), an organizational form that Vermont was the first in the nation to adopt.

With a dual focus on theory and practice, the symposium is designed to further legal scholarship in the field of social enterprise, while equipping legal, business and nonprofit professionals with the tools needed to accomplish their social ventures.

"The symposium brings together most of the major players in this field," said Betsy Schmidt, a professor at Vermont Law School. "It features several law professors who produce leading-edge scholarship about social enterprise, foundation executives who lead that field in the area of social investment and several lawyers and accountants who represent social entrepreneurs. Bringing all these minds together to share ideas should result in a most interesting and productive two days."

Keynote speakers will be Arthur Wood, vice president of social financial services at Ashoka, the nonprofit organization that pioneered social entrepreneurship; Robert Lang, creator of the L3C; Dana Brakman Reiser, a professor at Brooklyn Law School; and Stephen Lloyd, a charity and social enterprise attorney in the United Kingdom.

In 2008, Vermont became the first state in the country to enact low-profit limited liability companies, a cross between a nonprofit organization and a for-profit corporation. L3Cs are designated by the Vermont Secretary of State as low-profit with charitable or education goals. Half a dozen states have followed Vermont's lead in allowing L3Cs.

The Vermont Law Review selected hybrid organizations for its symposium topic because of the growing number of nonprofits and companies that consider their social impact, said symposium editors Jake Durrell and Jaclyn Laferriere.

"We hope to become part of the worldwide discussion and debate on the movement towards hybridization in the business organizational forms most conducive to social enterprise," said Laferriere. "We plan to hear from all sides - both the promoters and the critics - of the movement." Durrell added: "I think some important social ventures are getting left behind in the economic crisis, and maybe this event can offer some solutions."

The Vermont Law Review, a legal journal edited and managed by students, has an international circulation. The review publishes articles contributed by prominent legal scholars as well as student-written notes and comments.

More information is available at www.vermontlawreview.org

Hanna Nominated for Best Article Award

Vermont Law School — 28 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Professor Cheryl Hanna

Professor Cheryl Hanna's article, "The Paradox of Progress: Translating Evan Stark's Coercive Control into Legal Doctrine for Abused Women," has been nominated for the Best Article Award from Violence Against Women, the leading interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal in her field. Hanna's work on the paper received a summer stipend award from VLS.

Read the abstract

National Air Quality Expert to Deliver Land Use Lecture

Vermont Law School — 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

National Air Quality Expert to Deliver Land Use Lecture
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Jan. 26, 2010
CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Mary Nichols, one of the nation's top air quality experts and a leader of California's efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, will present the sixth annual Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law at Vermont Law School at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 4, in the Chase Community Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Nichol's lecture, titled "Sustainable Communities for a Sustainable State," will explore California's innovative efforts to curb sprawl and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

One of California's first environmental lawyers, Nichols was appointed chairman of the California Air Resources Board in 2007. She also served as the board chairman from1978 to 1983.

Nichols, who has decades of experience in environmental policy and enforcement, advocates a "new clean energy economy" that rewards investment and innovation, creates jobs and serves as the engine for sustainable economic growth.

"Climate change is a critical global issue and California is taking a number of important steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under Mary Nichol's leadership," said Marc Mihaly, director of the VLS Environmental Law Center. "We're honored to have her present this year's Williams Lecture."

California's landmark efforts to address global warming include a first-in-the-nation strategy to align greenhouse gas emission reduction targets with transportation, housing and land use planning processes. In addition to cutting emissions, this strategic planning approach is intended to create communities with improved public health, accessibility and sustainability.

Nichols, who graduated from Yale Law School, has held a number of prominent positions in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. She has been an assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air and Radiation program in the Clinton administration, secretary of California's Resources Agency and director of the University of California, Los Angeles Institute of the Environment, where she is a professor in residence.

Nichols initiated precedent-setting test cases under the federal Clean Air Act and California air quality laws while she was a staff attorney at the Center for Law in the Public Interest. She also founded the Los Angeles office of Natural Resources Defense Council and was one of the first female journalists hired by The Wall Street Journal after she graduated from college in 1966.

As chairman of the California Air Resources Board, Nichols' priorities include promoting the state's landmark climate change program, reducing diesel pollution at ports and passing regulations to provide cleaner air for Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley.

Nichols, who was considered for the position of EPA administrator in the Obama administration, received the Attorney of the Year award last year from California Lawyer Magazine for her contributions to environmental law.

About the Williams Lecture

Norman Williams came to Vermont Law School in 1975 after a long and distinguished career in public service and teaching, particularly in land use planning. He played a key role in founding Vermont Law School's Environmental Law Center. The Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law series is a gift of Frances Yates, trustee of Vermont Law School, in memory of both Norman Williams and Anya '90 and Charles Yates '90. The lecture is hosted by Vermont Law School's Land Use Institute. For more information, please visit: www.vermontlaw.edu/landuse or contact Jane D'Antonio at 802-831-1217 or jdantonio@vermontlaw.edu.
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Goodenough Receives Brooks Faculty Prize

Vermont Law School — 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Professor Oliver Goodenough was recently chosen as the second recipient of the Richard Brooks Faculty Scholarship Prize. The prize includes release time from one course for two successive years and an annual award of $5,000 for two years. The award is given to a faculty member who has consistently exhibited the highest standards of scholarship.

Week of January 18

Vermont Law School — 25 Jan 2010 19:45:02 EST

Professor Cheryl Hanna discussed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on corporate spending on political campaign ads on the Mark Johnson Show on WDEV Radio Vermont on Jan. 25.
ABC News 22 aired a story Jan. 22 on VLS alumnus Wynona Ward being selected as the first "CNN Hero" of 2010 for her continuing efforts to protect Vermont women and children from domestic violence.
The Rutland Herald ran a news brief Jan. 23 on Howard Dean being announced as the 2010 commencement speaker at Vermont Law School.
Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to ABC News 22, Fox News 44 and WPTZ on Jan. 22 about a bill before the Vermont Legislature that would would allow some DUI offenders to get behind the wheel legallyand safely if an interlock device is installed.
Professor Peter Teachout and VLS alumnus Erik FitzPatrick were included in the Vermont Bar Association's VBA Blaw g on Jan. 20. They discussed whether the legislature's removal of the "adjudicative function" of side judges would violate the Vermont Constitution.
Dean Jeff Shields was included in a Vermont Business Magazine article about the Vermont Business Roundtable on Jan. 20.
The Valley News reported Jan. 20 on Vermont Law School's Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
The Times Argus included Vermont Law School's Martin Luther King, Jr., Day program in its Jan. 19 coverage of the national holiday for the slain civil rights leader.
Mark Cooper's research on the future of the nuclear power industry was cited in The Tennessean and WBIR-TV in Knoxville on Jan. 18. Cooper is the Institute for Energy and the Environment's senior fellow for economic analysis.

Howard Dean to Deliver Vermont Law School Commencement Address

Vermont Law School — 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Former Vermont Governor and Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean will deliver Vermont Law School's 2010 commencement address.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, M.D., was announced Thursday as the speaker for Vermont Law School's 2010 graduation ceremony.

Dean, a national leader on environmental and health care issues, served as Vermont's governor from 1991 to 2003, making him the second longest-serving governor in Vermont's history.

Dean's selection as the VLS commencement speaker was made public at the Class 2010 rally by Sarah Buxton, 3L, who worked for Dean during his gubernatorial tenure and presidential campaign.

"Howard Dean has been a thought leader in Vermont, in the nation and in the world for 20 years," said VLS Dean Jeff Shields. "He was the first choice of our graduating class to be their commencement speaker and we're thrilled he's accepted."

Vermont Law School's graduation ceremony will be at 10 a.m., May 22 on the South Royalton Town Green.

Dean's political career started with a 1981 campaign to build a local bike path. In 1982 he was elected to the Vermont House and in 1986 he won a campaign for lieutenant governor. In 1991, while examining a patient, he got word that the governor had died and he immediately assumed the state's top elected post.

Dean was the first governor in the United States to sign civil unions legislation into law. He also expanded health care services for Vermonters and fought to protect the environment.

He became a leading 2004 presidential contender when he delivered a March 2003 speech criticizing Democrats for supporting the Iraq War. He led Democrats in early 2004 with a fundraising campaign that generated $25 million in small donations over the Internet.

Dean served as chairman of the Democratic Party from 2005 to 2009. He was lead strategist, spokesman and fundraiser for DNC and is credited with pioneering an energetic 50-state strategy that lifted Democrats to Congressional control in 2006 and 2008. He also helped propel support for the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries. He continues to be an influential leader in the movement to implement universal healthcare.

Dean has been a long-time leader on environmental issues. In 1982, his support for the Burlington bike path and his determination to protect the city's waterfront from aggressive development helped him win a seat in the Vermont State House. He fought to strengthen clean air and water standards, supported including environmental standards in free trade agreements, promoted the use of renewable energy sources, conserved thousands of acres of open spaces and worked to eliminate mercury release into the environment.

Summer Media Fellowships Accepting Applications

Vermont Law School — 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School Summer Media Fellowships
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Jan. 21, 2010
CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School's Summer Media Fellowships program is accepting applications for its 2010 session. The application deadline is March 1.

Every summer, Vermont Law School brings together renowned faculty, environmental policymakers, superior students and top journalists to share their knowledge and expertise while enjoying all of the beauty that our campus and its environs offer.

If selected as one of our summer media follows, you can audit courses, take a private tutorial in legal research, and have access to our distinguished faculty and visiting policy leaders. You will join us for one of our two-week sessions from mid-June to late August. We will provide free housing and a $1,250 stipend for expenses. Family members are welcome to join you.

The Environmental Law Center at VLS has led the nation in environmental law and policy education since its founding in 1978. Our summer media fellows learn from experienced litigators who have fought and won crucial environmental cases and from experts in energy law and other cutting-edge legal disciplines. Journalists will develop new insights on environmental law and new skills aimed at analyzing environmental policy. Moreover, the session is sure to renew your enthusiasm for covering these critical and complex issues.

And after a thrilling day of seminars, conversation and professional growth, you can enjoy the wonders of Vermont. Swim in the White River, hike our mountains or just read and relax on your front porch.

The 2010 Summer Session features courses such as Climate Change Litigation, Sustainable Development, Renewable Energy and Alternative Fuels, Agriculture Law and Environmental Law in China. For a full listing of our 2010 summer courses, faculty and schedule, visit our Summer Session pages. Media fellows also take part in the summer session's brown bag lunch series, "Hot Topics in Environmental Law," delivering an hour-long lecture on a topic of their choosing.

Applicants are asked to submit a résumé, two samples of your work that demonstrate your commitment to environmental reporting and an essay of no more than 800 words describing your interest in the program.

If emailing your submission, please direct materials to: mediafellows@vermontlaw.edu

If mailing, please send to:
Summer Media Fellows
c/o Vermont Law School Communications Office
164 Chelsea Street
P.O. Box 96
South Royalton, VT 05069

For more information, contact John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, at jcramer@vermontlaw.edu, or call 802-831-1106.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Writer Chris Hedges to Discuss War and Peace

Vermont Law School — 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Pulitzer Prize-winning Writer Chris Hedges to Discuss War and Peace
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Jan. 21, 2010
CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Chris Hedges, a former foreign correspondent for The New York Times and the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, will discuss his latest book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 28 in the Chase Community Center at Vermont Law School. The event is free and open to the public.

Hedges, whose lecture is titled "A Matter of War and Peace," spent two decades reporting from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans. He served for eight years as the Middle East bureau chief of The New York Times, where he shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for the paper's coverage of global terrorism. He also received the 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.

The Vermont native has written seven books, including War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Non-fiction in 2002.

Uprising Radio, KPFK, in Los Angeles said Empire of Illusion, explores "the overwhelming ways in which our culture and our lives are severed from the complexities of reality into the one-dimensional world of celebrities, infotainment, pornography, advertising, and nationalism. Hedges makes the case that as Americans retreat into worlds of televised and commercial fantasy, the corporate stranglehold on our lives has simultaneously devastated the very fabric of our reality, our homes, our jobs, our civic participation."

Hedges is a senior fellow at the Nation Institute and the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University. He also writes a weekly column for the Web magazine Truthdig.com. Hedges holds a B.A. in English literature from Colgate University and a master of divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School. He is fluent in Arabic and also speaks French, Spanish, Greek and Latin.

Hedges' lecture is hosted by Vermont Law School chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild. Bryan Kennelly, 3L, co-chairman of the NLG, said the chapter invited Hedges' because of his prominence in human rights issues and the anti-war movement.

"Our focus is human rights and from our perspective, war is the ultimate trampling of human rights," Kennelly said. "America has become an empire that's strayed from its roots as a republic, and when I came to Vermont Law School I wanted to bring people who can help to build community and support for human rights."

More information about Hedges' lecture is available from Bryan Kennelly at bkennelly@vermontlaw.edu

Perkins Urges VLS Students to Make a Difference

Vermont Law School — 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Perkins Urges Vermont Law School Students to Make a Difference

James Perkins Jr., the first black mayor of Selma, Ala., spoke at Vermont Law School's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.

James Perkins Jr., the first black mayor of Selma, Ala., marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Tuesday by urging Vermont Law School students, faculty and staff to dedicate themselves to a cause for social justice.

"Find yourself a reason, a cause, and make a difference," Perkins told more than 250 people in Chase Community Center. "There is a call to action in America" to combat racism, poverty and problems in health care, housing and other quality-of-life issues.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Day "is a day on, not a day off," he said.

Perkins, a Selma native, was among the first black students to enter Selma's A.G. Parrish High School in 1969 under mandatory desegregation. Shirley Jefferson, VLS associate dean for student affairs and diversity, became a classmate of Perkins in 1971 after the school was renamed Selma High School. Perkins and Jefferson became friends and student activists during their high school years.

"Who would have thought he would be elected mayor of Selma one day and I'd become associate dean here," Jefferson told the King Day audience. "We are living proof you can do anything."

The King Day celebration opened with a dedication to Professor Michael Mello, who died in November 2008, and the singing of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the African American national anthem, led by Jefferson and Kendra Brown, 1L.

Sean Williams, 3L, president of the Black Law Students Association, told the audience that the United States has made strides toward equality, citing desegregation laws, Perkins' election as Selma's mayor and President Obama's election.

"In spite of these strides, we still have a journey ahead of us," he said.

VLS Dean Jeff Shields introduced Perkins, citing his "rich and proven record" in community service, government and business and recounting his rise to the top elected office in Selma, a symbol of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Selma's mayor at the time was Joe Smitherman, a segregationist who served 35 years despite allegations of racism, corruption and negligence. In 1984, Perkins was a successful information technology professional, but he became the campaign manager for the first serious black mayoral candidate in Selma in an effort to unseat Smitherman.

That effort failed as did Perkins' own mayoral campaigns in 1992 and 1996, but he prevailed in 2000 and was re-elected in 2004. Under his leadership, Selma added jobs, improved public education, housing and safety and adopted an environmental clean-up plan.

Before Perkins' took the podium, Jefferson, Brown and Professor Oliver Goodenough sang another musical selection, "O Freedom."

Perkins opened his remarks by citing the instinctive ability of birds, bees and other creatures to work together to improve their lot, an ability he said that human beings seem to lack.

He cited the "challenges and confusion and conflicts" that humans ceaselessly bring upon themselves rather than cooperating to improve their families and communities and to live in peace and prosperity.

"One would have thought we'd have figured it out by now," Perkins said.

Perkins said he, Jefferson and other black children in Selma in the 1960s didn't understand the significance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

"We just wanted to go" to the local hamburger joint, the movie theater, the shoe store and other places and be treated equally, he said.

Perkins recounted his and Jefferson's civil rights actions in high school and his later mayoral campaigns in Selma, saying it took a community-wide effort to elect a black man to the city's highest post.

Perkins also recounted the history of racism in the United States, from the post-Reconstruction era when the first blacks were elected to U.S. Congress to later periods when no African Americans held federal elected positions to President Obama's historic election.

"Yes, we should celebrate our success, but we should remember the brutality of Bloody Sunday" on March 7, 1965, when police attacked peaceful civil rights marchers in Selma.

Perkins said he was uncertain if a conspiracy exists against black political candidates in America, but he warned against radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, the League of the South and others who promote "deceitful political talk."

BLSA President Williams said he was so moved by Perkins' words that he was considering going into community law or education law rather than entertainment law.

"His speech was amazing," Williams said. "It was awe inspiring."

Week of January 11

Vermont Law School — 19 Jan 2010 17:48:43 EST

Professor Pat Parenteau talked to The Charleston Gazette Jan. 18 about record penalties against Massey Energy Co. for federal Clean Water Act violations in West Virginia and Kentucky coalfields.
The Valley News reported Jan. 17 on Vermont Law School's plan to move the South Royalton Legal Clinic to the old Freck's Department Store.
Professor Michael McCann discussed the potential fallout in the knee-surgery dispute between the New York Mets and centerfielder Carlos Beltran in his SI.com column Jan. 16.
In his SI.com columns Jan. 14 and Jan. 15 and in The Washington Post on Jan. 15, Professor Michael McCann discussed the federal gun charge facing NBA player Gilbert Arenas.
Professor Michael McCann discussed the American Needle NFL anti-trust case, which could be the most important sports law case in U.S. history, in his SI.com column and in The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, The Washington Times and the German newspaper Handelsblatt on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13.
The Rutland Herald did a preview story Jan. 12 on Vermont Law School's upcoming Martin Luther King, Jr., Day program's featured speaker, James Perkins, Jr., who was the first black mayor of Selma, Ala.
In his Jan. 12 column for SI.com, Professor Michael McCann discussed the legal fallout for former major league baseball player Mark McGwire, who confessed to using steroids. McCann also discussed steroid allegations against other big-name major leaguers in his Jan. 15 SI.com column.

CNN Names VLS Alumnus Hero of 2010

Vermont Law School — 12 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Wynona Ward ’98 is a victim turned fighter.

Sexually abused as a child, she has spent the past 12 years as a relentless legal advocate for battered women and children in rural Vermont.

Since she created the nonprofit group Have Justice Will Travel, her efforts have been nationally recognized by the media and legal profession. But Ward received additional attention on Jan. 8, 2010, when CNN selected her as its first “CNN Hero” of 2010.

“I think it’s wonderful to get the exposure for our program, but it’s even more important that people realize domestic violence is an epidemic and so many people need help,” Ward said. “It’s a society-wide problem, but we’re making progress in helping people to start their lives over.”

VLS alumnus Wynona Ward ’98 has been named Hero of 2010 by CNN.

Ward, 58, who grew up in poverty in rural Vermont where family violence was common, was working as a long-haul trucker when she decided to take her life in a different direction in 1996. She enrolled at VLS, was awarded a Schweitzer Fellowship, and went on to found Have Justice Will Travel after graduating in 1998. Since then, the organization has provided free legal and social support to more than 10,000 low-income women and children who are victims of domestic abuse.

Ward and her small staff visit victims of domestic violence in their homes, bridging the cultural, geographic and financial gaps that can separate victims and attorneys. Four-wheel drive is often needed to reach isolated clients.

“Our goal is to stop the generational cycle of abuse,” she said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Have Justice Will Travel depends on grants and donations, which have dropped off during the recession.

“Our contributions are in trouble this year because of the economy,” she said, “so every little bit helps.”

More information is available at www.havejusticewilltravel.org/

Selma's First African American Mayor to Give VLS King Day Talk

Vermont Law School — 12 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Former Selma, Alabama, Mayor James Perkins, Jr., to Lead VLS Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-Jan. 11, 2010
CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT – James Perkins, Jr., the first African American mayor of Selma, Ala., will lead Vermont Law School's observance of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. The campus celebration is scheduled from 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010, in the Chase Community Center. The event is open to the public. Admission is free.

Perkins' MLK Day talk is titled "Changing Politics in the South." The event also will include remarks from VLS President and Dean Jeff Shields and a presentation by the Black Law Students Association.
Perkins, a Selma native, was among the first black students to enter Selma's A.G. Parrish High School in 1969 under mandatory desegregation.

Shirley Jefferson, VLS associate dean for student affairs and diversity, became a classmate of Perkins in 1971 after the school was renamed Selma High School. Perkins and Jefferson became friends and student activists during their high school years.

"James Perkins paved the way for me, and we were partners in protest," Jefferson said. "He and I were freedom fighters and leaders and we fought for things together in high school, so to have him share his life experiences with us at Vermont Law School is an honor."

Following a career in information technology, Perkins was elected mayor of Selma in 2000, unseating an incumbent who had held the office since 1965. During Perkins' two terms as mayor from 2000 to 2008, Selma increased jobs, added innovative education and training programs, adopted a comprehensive environmental cleanup strategy, improved housing, initiated downtown revitalization, made many capital improvements and modernized the city's government.

Perkins was running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Alabama's 7th Congressional District, but he recently withdrew from the race because of a hip injury.

Perkins has held a number of leadership positions, including serving as a member of Selma University's board of trustees, the Selma Economic Development Authority, the Alabama League of Municipalities, the National Conference of Black Mayors, the National League of Cities and the World Conference of Mayors.

Perkins started his business career as a computer programmer with Caterpillar Tractor Co. and also worked for Martin Marietta Corp., as a project manager. He later owned and operated an information technology consulting business, Business Ventures, Inc., in Selma and Birmingham.

VLS Strengthens U.S.-China Partnership

Vermont Law School — 09 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School Dean and President Jeff Shields poses with CUPL Vice President Zhu Yong.

December 2009 was a busy month for Vermont Law School's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, whose team took a number of steps to strengthen its thriving relationship with the Asian nation.

On Dec. 7, VLS President and Dean Jeff Shields met with Vice President Zhu Yong of the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) to bolster academic collaboration between VLS and CUPL. A formal memorandum of understanding was signed by Dean Shields and CUPL President Huang Jin.

VLS also renewed its MOU with Sun Yat-sen University Law School for another three years. The MOU, which was signed Dec. 11, extends the general framework for cooperation between VLS and SYSU. The agreement is implemented on the VLS side through the VLS China partnership. Dean Jeff Shields signed the MOU for VLS and Dean Xu Zhongming signed it for SYSU Law School.

VLS also met with the National Development and Reform Commission Training Center on Dec. 9 to discuss joint training activities. The two partners agreed to sponsor training workshops on energy efficiency and environmental impact assessment issues faced by Chinese state-owned enterprises that extract natural resources abroad.

In addition, VLS hosted two events. Michael Dworkin, director of the VLS Institute for Energy and the Environment, and Regulatory Assistance Project Director David Moskovitz led a workshop on electric power resource planning, wholesale electric power markets reform and potential "smart-grid" developments at the State Electric Regulatory Commission. The Dec. 8 event included the directors and senior officials of six major departments of the agency.

On Dec. 9, VLS Professor David Mears, director of the VLS Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, led an environmental law clinic roundtable at CUPL's Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims. Faculty from CUPL, Renmin University Law School and Beijing Normal University Law School participated in the roundtable.

VLS China partnership staff members and Dean Shields also met with U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman to discuss VLS's activities and environmental governance challenges in China. Professor Tseming Yang, director of the China partnership, said climate change has become a dominant issue in U.S.-China relations, so the VLS team emphasized that China's efforts to combat pollution would be strengthened by addressing traditional concerns and bolstering the basic need for good governance and the rule of law.

In October, VLS received a $3 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand its U.S.-China partnership program over the next three years. The grant, which extended a $1.8 million USAID funding agreement in 2006, enables VLS to continue helping China to strengthen enforcement of its environmental and energy laws.

China's rapid growth in manufacturing has resulted in severe environmental problems, including the production of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming and pollution worldwide.

In 2006, VLS in collaboration with Sun Yat-sen University launched the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law in response to the lack of knowledge, skills, and academic infrastructure needed to address environmental and energy challenges in China through the rule of law.

Leaving Copenhagen: Reflections on COP15

Vermont Law School — 07 Jan 2010 14:25:56 EST

VLS student Anna Ellis shakes hands with Kenyan environmental and political activist Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai.

As one of six Vermont Law School students who traveled to Copenhagen last month to witness the international climate change negotiations, Ashley Santner brings back a slightly different perspective on the talks.

Santner is a dual degree student now studying at the University of Cergy-Pontoise, so she returned not to Vermont but to France, where she is explaining to her classmates there how things played out at the U.N.'s 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15).

"It is very useful to have the first-hand experience to share with French students," Santner, a 3L, said as she prepared to depart Copenhagen following the VLS group's two-week stay. "France and the E.U. have been waiting to see what the U.S. would do. All eyes have been on us, in a way."

Santner said her coursework prepared her well for understanding the negotiations. At Cergy, her class in environmental law has explored details of the Kyoto Protocol. (Her work at Cergy will result in a master's degree in French business and ethics law, with a specialization in energy and environment.)

Before she left VLS for her year in France, she studied climate change with Professor Patrick Parenteau, and last summer she worked in the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Congressional Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Highlights of her Copenhagen experience included sitting in the front row for Senator John Kerry's presentation. She also met EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and engaged in conversation with Jonathan Pershing, the U.S. deputy special envoy for climate change.

So what lesson did she bring back from her trip to Copenhagen?

"It's really a question of survival for the small island nations," said Santner. The VLS delegation witnessed first-hand the protests by members of the small island nation of Tuvalu, who were hoping to raise awareness of the nation's vulnerability to the affects of global warming and a rise in sea level. Tuvalu and other nations most vulnerable to climate change argued for a binding agreement throughout the summit.

While many of the media reports focused on the protests and pitfalls of the Copenhagen meeting, the VLS group—which included three faculty members—agreed that despite the logistical challenges that marred the event, the experience provided a better understanding of complex negotiations and the role of diplomacy and law in the process.

"I don't think there is any better learning experience than seeing things first-hand, in the context of international law," said Lillian Kortlandt, a 3L. In the end, Kortlandt wrote on the VLS blog that she was leaving Copenhagen "disappointed and exhausted," yet still feeling privileged to have witnessed the proceedings.

For Michael Coté, a MELP candidate, the highlight of Copenhagen came on December 8, when he attended a side event featuring Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

"I am a city planner and I study adaptation. For me, he was my rock star," Coté said. Pachauri offered an IPCC working group progress report while, according to Coté, "being pummeled" by the press with questions over a stolen email scandal that threatened to overshadow the Copenhagen talks.

Coté also found opportunities to connect with many international organizations that are focused on helping cities work towards sustainable development, which could prove valuable for his future plans.
"I am excited by the prospects of jobs. I made a lot of contacts," said Coté, who as an urban planner also left Copenhagen with a better understanding of the importance of crowd control.

By the second week of the talks, it became apparent that the Bella Center was simply not large enough (capacity: 15,000) to handle the more than 30,000 people who had reportedly been credentialed as observers for the COP15 talks. The result: Coté and others found themselves looking for other events in the crowded capital city as they joined the masses of people who were turned away from the Bella Center during Week 2.

"I can't imagine what it is like to organize something of this scale," he said. "This was a highly organized event that was just overshadowed by overbooking people."

Professor Teresa Clemmer, who began planning for the Copenhagen trip last spring, said she knew there would be a strong turnout given the growing interest in climate change, yet she was still surprised by the reality of the scene.

"We were expecting crowds in the streets and congestion, but I wasn't really expecting the conference itself to be so chaotic," she said. "The first week ran smoothly; the second week it all broke down."

Yet despite the difficulties, she said the early plenary sessions and side events provided students with a unique perspective on the international efforts.

VLS Copenhagen delegation with Stephen Porter of the Center for International Environmental Law.

"It was really interesting to have a front row seat to all these dramatic negotiations and activities," said Clemmer, who credited the students for working through many logistical details of the trip, including negotiating a contract with the homeowner from whom they rented for the two-week stay. The house was just a short bus ride and then a five-minute walk to the Bella Center.

In the end, Jessica Scott, a 3L, will remember Copenhagen for both the promise and the dashed hopes that the COP15 talks presented.

"A wonderful part of the experience for me was a sense of camaraderie and inspiration," she said, noting the efforts of the many nongovernmental organizations that remain committed to curbing the effects of climate change. "At the same time, it can be discouraging, the feeling that certain parties don't understand what a crisis it is."

One distinct memory will be witnessing the representatives of the tiny islands of Tuvalu make their legal arguments for demanding discussion of a binding agreement, only to have larger and stronger nations fight vehemently against such action.

"Being in school to be attorneys, it's good to see the role that legal arguments play in the process," she said.

Professor Cheryl Hanna's latest VPR commentary

Vermont Law School — 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

In her VPR commentary on Dec. 31, Professor Cheryl Hanna discussed one family's effort to toughen Vermont's DUI law.

Associate Professor Michael McCann Speaks to the AP about a Major League Baseball Dispute

Vermont Law School — 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Associate Professor Michael McCann spoke to the Associated Press on Dec. 16 about a contract dispute involving a Cuban defector who wants to play major league baseball.

VLS Professor Addresses European Youth Forum in Copenhagen

Vermont Law School — 07 Dec 2009 12:48:20 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON - Professor Tracy Bach will give a presentation for the European Youth Forum (Youth Forum Jeunesse--YFJ), taking place alongside the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen.

Professor Bach will lead a panel discussion about intergenerational solidarity and justice in the frame of climate change. Panelists include Margrete Auken, a Danish member of the European Parliament, and Michaela Hogenboom, the Dutch Youth Representative on Sustainable Development for the United Nations. The panel discussion takes place on Thursday, Dec. 10, from 4:30-6 p.m. (10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. EST).

The Associate Director of the Climate Legacy Initiative at Vermont Law School, Professor Bach is a 2009-10 Fulbright Scholar at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Sénégal. Her blog about her experiences in Sénégal and in Copenhagen is available at Simmering Senegal.

The YFJ is an umbrella organization for some 100 youth organizations in Europe, with each comprising many more constituent organizations ranging from student groups to political parties, sport clubs, and Boy Scouts and Girl Guides/Scouts. The YFJ is recognized as the key representative of young people in Europe to institutions like the U.N., E.U., and the Council of Europe. The YFJ will have a 30-member delegation in Copenhagen, half of them being the official youth delegates in the national European delegations.

The entire VLS delegation to COP15 is detailing their experiences with daily blog posts, which can be read at VLS in Copenhagen.

At the State House, Mentoring Young Advocates

Vermont Law School — 04 Dec 2009 16:32:25 EST

Three Vermont teens, with the help of VLS Schweitzer Fellow Lisa Campion, have taken up the charge to lobby the stat's legislature to pass H.97, the no idling bill currently under discussion in the capitol.

In the ornate State House hearing room, the three teenagers appeared confident and composed as they made their arguments for why Vermont legislators should pass H. 97. The "no-idling" bill, which would prohibit trucks and other large vehicles from idling for more than five minutes at a time, would reduce carbon emissions and end Vermont's dubious distinction of being the only New England state without such a law in place.

Yet while passing H.97 would be an important step in reducing carbon emissions, the young lobbyists suggested that Vermont go even further and follow Connecticut's lead of placing idling restrictions on all vehicles.

The three girls bolstered their presentation with a six-page report, "Vehicle Idling in Vermont," which spelled out the impacts of needless idling and examined the difficulty of changing motorists' behavior.

"Why do people idle?" posed 15-year-old Kathryn Tadio of Rutland County, who then proceeded to explain that most offenders are either in denial or they simply prefer the comfort of keeping the heat blasting on a cold winter day.

But the convenience comes at a price, her colleague, 17-year-old Kayla Ray said, noting that every hour of idling puts nearly 10 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. And Anya Rose, 16, offered various ways to educate the public about the dangers of needless idling.

Two legislators, including the bill's chief sponsor, Rep. David Sharpe, listened intently from the first row, while VLS student Lisa Campion, the girls' coach and mentor, looked on with obvious pride.

The girls are members of the Vermont 4-H Youth Environmental Council, a group that Campion recently organized in her role as a VLS Schweitzer Fellow.

"This is a way for me to take what I've learned and pass it on to youth," Campion, a 2L second-year JD student, says of her role in bringing the teenagers into the legislative fold. "Some of us in law school see these huge problems and we think it's daunting, there's nothing we can do."

As a teenager, Campion was a member of the 4-H Youth Conservation Council in her home state of Michigan, which she says helped develop her interest in environmental law. She imported the model to her adopted state of Vermont, working with the 4-H members and the University of Vermont Extension Service, as well as a group known as Idle-Free VT, to raise public awareness and promote passage of the legislation.

Seated in the audience for the presentation, Wayne Michaud, director of Idle-Free VT, praised the work of the 4-H members in promoting the campaign.

"It's just great," he said of the teenagers' undertaking. "It's very unexpected, and wonderful!"

The two lawmakers also credited the teenagers' efforts, and pledged to use their report as a vehicle to convince other lawmakers that the time had come to pass H.97.

Professor John Echeverria Speaks to The New York Times about a Supreme Court case in Fla.

Vermont Law School — 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Professor John Echeverria spoke to The New York Times on Dec. 2 about a U.S. Supreme Court case involving a regulatory takings dispute on Florida's beaches.

Prof. Parenteau Discusses Climate Change Education with New York Times

Vermont Law School — 02 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Professor Pat Parenteau spoke to The New York Times on Dec. 1 about the challenges that law schools face in educating students in the burgeoning specialty of climate change law and policy.

Vermont Law Students, Faculty Heading to Copenhagen As Observers to U.N. Climate Negotiations

Vermont Law School — 30 Nov 2009 21:30:17 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON - Six Vermont Law School students and three faculty members will travel to Copenhagen next week to witness the historic United Nations Climate Change Conference. The VLS delegation has been granted "observer status" for the U.N.'s 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) negotiations, meaning the students and faculty will be eligible to attend the proceedings and participate in conference events.

The conference, to be held Dec. 7 through Dec. 18, will draw participants from 193 nations in an effort to negotiate an international agreement that would set ambitious goals to address climate change from 2012 onward.

Teresa Clemmer, a VLS professor and associate director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, will head up the delegation. She said the observer status will provide the students with a remarkable opportunity—which they will also document through daily blog posts.

"We have been preparing for this for months, and we are all on the edge of our seats," Clemmer said. "We want to know whether world leaders are committed to getting climate change under control, and we think this is the moment in history when that will become clear."

Clemmer said it will be "especially meaningful" for her to witness the landmark event through the eyes of the VLS students.

"They will be learning how change happens at the international level and what it takes to overcome entrenched obstacles. Regardless of what happens in Copenhagen, they will be the ones on whose shoulders the outcome falls," she said. "It is gratifying to know that this experience will give them insight as to how they can make a difference in the future."

Clemmer will be joined on the trip by VLS students Anna Ellis, Ashley Santner, Lillian Kortlandt, Jessica Scott, Michael Cote and Dustin Brucher, as well as VLS professors Tracy Bach and Laurie Beyranevand.

The VLS delegation will detail their experiences with daily blog posts, which can be read at Vermont Law in Copenhagen For more information on COP15, visit the COP15 website.

Students, Faculty Head to Copenhagen for COP15

Vermont Law School — 30 Nov 2009 21:11:53 EST

Six Vermont Law School students and three faculty members will travel to Copenhagen next week to witness the historic United Nations Climate Change Conference. The VLS delegation has been granted "observer status" for the U.N.'s 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) negotiations, meaning the students and faculty will be eligible to attend the proceedings and participate in conference events. Read the full press release.

Keep on the VLS team's Copenhagen happenings on their blog,VLS in Copenhagen.

Vermont Law School, EPA Expand Outreach to Minority Students

Vermont Law School — 24 Nov 2009 20:28:41 EST

MOU broadens the conversation on environmentalism

Vermont Law School and U.S. EPA officials gather for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. Included in the photo are, from left, seated, Doug Costle, former Dean of Vermont Law School and former Administrator of the U.S. EPA; Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the U.S. EPA; standing, Marc Mihaly, Associate Dean of the Environmental Law Program at Vermont Law School; and Geoffrey B. Shields, President and Dean of Vermont Law School.

WASHINGTON - Vermont Law School (VLS) President and Dean Geoffrey B. Shields and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) designed to increase outreach to minority and underserved communities. The MOU facilitates the flow of information between EPA and minority communities and furthers the teaching of environmental issues at VLS.

"Vermont Law School and the EPA are devoted to developing environmental leaders within the country's minority communities," said Dean Shields. "There will be a great synergy for this joint effort."

As part of the MOU signed with EPA, Vermont Law School has agreed to employ distance learning technology to give a wider range of students from minority academic institutions access to its environmental law program.

"To end the disproportionate environmental, health and economic burdens on underserved communities, we must expand the conversation on environmentalism and invite new leaders into this movement," said Administrator Jackson. "The actions behind this MOU will allow EPA to give a voice to communities that haven't had a voice in the past, and empower them to act on our nation's most pressing environmental issues. Fostering more diversity and inclusion throughout EPA will allow us to better serve the broad environmental and health needs of all Americans."

Medlaw: At the Intersection of Law and Medicine

Vermont Law School — 24 Nov 2009 02:53:29 EST

Growing at the Intersection of Law and Medicine

Professor Susan Apel has taught Vermont Law School's Medlaw Seminar, a weekly, two-hour discussion between Dartmouth and VLS students on the intersections of medicine and law, for ten years running.

"It seems I've witnessed a million moments when minds have changed, when entrenched attitudes-including my own-have melted away. I can't count the moments when students have grappled with something new and grown from the encounter."

For Professor Susan B. Apel, leading Vermont Law School's Medlaw Seminar has been 10 years of continual change and re-creation. For two hours a week, students from VLS and Dartmouth Medical School work to understand complex issues at the intersection of medicine and law as they explore their own opinions and ethical positions. Issues center around new forms of family made possible by assisted reproductive technology.

"There are few precedents and little case law in most of these areas," says Apel, "so students are engaging each other at the level of core principles. These are the battles being fought around the nation-and the world-today, at the foundations of law."

"Every session has been transformative. Every class has had an ah-ha moment for me. This was the first time I had been forced to consider an argument that I had resisted in the past."
Lillian Kortlandt, 3L

Discussion and deliberation benefit from the small size of the seminar, which attracts around a dozen law students and half as many medical students. The two-credit course satisfies the law school's "perspectives" requirement, and, according to Apel, is also attractive because it offers "a different experience, with different players, outside of South Royalton.

" For the first-year med students, the seminar is truly an elective course. "We attract the students who are really interested in the subject matter. It's mostly word-of-mouth at the medical school."

The dynamic of the seminar is often based on small-group work, with three or four lawyers working in teams with at least one doctor. "There's very little lecturing," says Apel. "Instead, we ask the small groups to put themselves into the roles of juries, state legislators, judges, or policy-makers."

But don't imagine that this is a polite moot court. The complex issues generate a spectrum of opinion and the boundaries are fluid. "The discussions are exciting, but they're also discomforting," says Apel. "We disagree, then contradict ourselves, and even find ourselves switching places in arguments."

"Every session has been transformative," says Lillian Kortlandt, a third-year law student. "Every class has had an ah-ha moment for me. This was the first time I had been forced to consider an argument that I had resisted in the past."

These seminars, led jointly by Apel and Dr. Judy Stern, director of the Human Embryology and Andrology Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, deal with a range of assisted reproductive technologies, including surrogacy; egg, sperm, and embryo donation; and preimplantation genetic diagnosis. It was one of these issues-the rights of the biological parents-that caused Kortlandt to turn a corner.

"I had a gut reaction when the discussion turned to the point of view of biological parents. I realized that they had a large interest in these procedures. It was the first time I was able to step out of the legal realm and, hands on, see how families are affected by the law. I got a new perspective, and for that, the seminar has been, far and away, one of the best classes I've taken at law school."

For Apel, who also directs Vermont Law's General Practice Program, facilitating these new, more human perspectives is the real payoff. "When I designed the course," she says, "I wanted to find a place where doctors and lawyers could work together, someplace other than medical malpractice. Each profession is, in some ways, out there on its own: doctors want to understand outcomes and lawyers want to know what the law is. In a century, these issues will be old hat, but right now they're in their infancy. This seminar is meant to fill the need to collaborate in productive ways, ways that make sense to both professions and lead them forward."

And for Apel, the seminar also passes the parking-lot test.

"Some Wednesday evenings we have trouble getting out of the parking lot because of all the lively discussions that spill out of the classroom. For me, that makes this seminar a real joy to teach."

Associate Dean Shirley Jefferson Appears on NECN

Vermont Law School — 20 Nov 2009 20:20:43 EST

Associate Dean for Student Affairs Shirley Jefferson was interviewed by New England Cable News reporter Anya Hunekefor a story that details Dean J's life experiences at VLS and beyond. This story originally aired on NECN on Thursday, November 19, 2009.

Regulatory Takings Conference Highlights New Challenges Posed by Climate Change

Vermont Law School — 17 Nov 2009 16:34:29 EST

Vermont Law School 1L Erica Lewis talking with Cornell University Law School's Professor Gregory Alexander during a break.

Carbon sequestration was not on the minds of regulatory takings experts a decade ago, but as the world now searches for innovative ways to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the method of underground carbon storage presents a new and complex realm of property rights issues.

Who owns the deep geological subsurface where CO2 would be stored? Does the government have the right to take such property by eminent domain by claiming carbon sequestration as a "public use"? What would constitute just compensation? What restrictions could be placed on the private land above the sequestration sites, given the delicate nature of the storage operation-and the fact that millions of acres will be affected?

These questions, posed by Professor Alexandra Klass of the University of Minnesota School of Law, demonstrate just some of the legal challenges that climate change presents when private property rights conflict with public interest.

"These issues are the same issues that we deal with. Many of our cases involve beachfront development worth millions of dollars."
Tom Ojienda
Member of Visiting Kenyan Environmental Tribunal

Klass was one of nearly 200 legal scholars, lawyers, judges and students who gathered at Vermont Law School on November 6 for the 12th annual conference, "Litigating Regulatory Takings Challenges to Land Use and Environmental Regulations."

The daylong session also explored beach erosion issues related to climate change, with a luncheon discussion that focused on an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case, Stop the Beach Renourishment vs. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, scheduled for argument December 2, 2009. That case pits private property owners against the state's efforts to restore beaches that have been subject to erosion.

"It's a new and interesting area. Climate change promises to bring about major changes in the physical landscape, and those changes are bound to produce property conflicts," says VLS Professor John Echeverria, a takings expert who was responsible for bringing this year's conference to VLS. "Climate change will almost certainly be an important topic of discussion at this conference in future years."
And the legal challenges related to climate change and beachfront development rights aren't limited to the U.S.

VLS students and Professor John Echeverria discussed the differences between U.S. and Kenyan legal approaches to land use issues with Jane Akinyi and Donald Kaniaru of the Kenya Environmental Tribunal.

"These issues are the same issues that we deal with," notes Tom Ojienda, one of three members of the Kenyan Environmental Tribunal who traveled to VLS to attend the conference. "Many of our cases involve beachfront development worth millions of dollars."

In one high-profile property rights case, the five-member tribunal has put a temporary stop on a developer's plan to build a hotel in prime cheetah breeding grounds, according to Ojienda, who also attended last year's takings conference, held at Stanford.

The Kenyan delegation has found that the day of discussion provides very useful lessons to be applied back home. The key difference between the U.S. and Kenyan legal approaches? The Kenyan tribunal includes two scientists in addition to three judges, which Ojienda sees as strength of his nation's system.

This year's conference, cosponsored by the VLS Land Use Institute, Georgetown University Law Center, Columbia Law School, and the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (VJEL), also delved into issues of bilateral property rights; critical issues related to the landmark Lucas decision; temporary versus permanent takings questions and water regulation. It marked the first time the prestigious conference was hosted at VLS.

"These conferences provide a forum for scholars and practitioners to share insights about how takings law is developing and offer ideas about how different cases might be argued," says Echeverria, who organized the first annual takings conference in 1998 while on faculty at Georgetown Law, and has been keeping the tradition going ever since.

Kristin Hines, a third-year VLS student and editor-in-chief of VJEL, says she was impressed by the draw of top takings scholars and leading practitioners from around the country, which she sees as a great benefit to the VLS community.

"Many of them knew about our reputation for environmental law but hadn't physically been here to interact with faculty and students," says Hines, noting that in addition to such recognizable scholars as Joseph Sax from UC Berkeley School of Law, the conference drew leading lawyers, such as those from the U.S. Department of Justice and the California Attorney General's office, as speakers.

"I thought the mix was very interesting. You had professors and other people who are working on the theoretical parts, and the practitioners who agree with those approaches but who are working on the ground, with how the courts work with the doctrine," she says, adding, "It was a great honor to host it."

For more on the speakers' biographies and papers, visit VJEL online.

Download the full conference schedule.

IEE Releases New Report: All Risk, No Reward for Taxpayers and Ratepayers

Vermont Law School — 13 Nov 2009 16:34:52 EST

If Congress Ignores Wall street's Warnings on New Nuclear Reactors, New Industry ‘Meltdown' Will Leave Taxpayers and Ratepayers at Grave Risk

The Rancho Seco power plant near Sacramento, California.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –If Congress and the states do not follow the lead of Wall Street in declining to underwrite financially “risky and uneconomic” new nuclear reactors, the resulting taxpayer-backed loan guarantees and other subsidies could pave the way for the same kind of industry-wide meltdown that happened in the 1970s and 1980s, according to a major new study by Dr. Mark Cooper, a senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School.

Titled All Risk, No Reward for Taxpayers and Ratepayers, the new study by Dr. Cooper looks at the reasons that Wall Street is shunning the financing of new reactors and concludes that Congress and state lawmakers would be well-advised to follow the same course to avoid leaving taxpayers and ratepayers holding the bag in the form of failed loan guarantees and needlessly higher utility bills.

The rejection of new reactors by financial markets is not a case of market failure, it is an example of market success, markets properly assessing risk and acting accordingly by refusing to underwrite unacceptable risks"
~ Excerpt from Dr. Mark Cooper's latest report

A repeat of the financial fiasco of the 1970s and 1980s would be devastating. During that period, ratepayers and taxpayers were saddled with billions in extra costs when the industry was crippled: half of the reactors ordered were cancelled or abandoned; those reactors that were completed took, on average, twice as long to build as originally planned and cost twice as much as originally estimated; four-fifths of the utilities that undertook nuclear construction suffered large financial downgrades and all suffered substantial financial distress; and investments in new reactors resulted in spectacular bankruptcies of both investor-owned and publicly-owned utilities.

As the Cooper study notes: “The last time the nuclear industry circumvented the judgment of the marketplace, it resulted in what Forbes magazine called the ‘largest managerial failure in American history. The past could be the prologue.”

Commenting on the study, Dr. Cooper said: “It is ironic that at a moment when the nation has suffered mightily from the misallocation of the cost of risk in the financial sector, some of the strongest supporters of free markets and critics of government-sponsored enterprises, would urge another massive federal subsidy intended to circumvent the judgment of the capital markets and put another multi-billion dollar program of federal support onto the backs of the American people as taxpayers and ratepayers.”

The Cooper report notes: “The rejection of new reactors by financial markets is not a case of market failure, it is an example of market success, markets properly assessing risk and acting accordingly by refusing to underwrite unacceptable risks.”

Based on a review of recent Wall Street and consultant pronouncements on the risks of new reactors, the report identifies and quantifies with new data six types of risks that reactors face in today’s economic climate (technology, policy, regulatory, execution, marketplace and financial). It concludes that the risk of new reactors is already high and that the expected increases in costs will be substantial:

The reactor projects are far too large to be a prudent investment for utilities—as much as 20 times the size of what a reasonable investment should be—which will have an impact on their financial ratings;
The utilities that have proposed projects are having severe difficulties finding neighboring utilities to partner in the project and share the risk;
Government agencies that have looked at the risk of the loan guarantees have concluded that half the projects could go bad and half the investment in those projects could be lost;
Utility consultants recommend that the equity owners demand a rate of return that is twice the norm for utilities to be compensated for the severe risk of these projects;
Delays and downgrading of financial ratings have already begun, long before concrete has been poured, which is where the construction and rework problems are most severe;

By attempting to circumvent the sound judgment of capital markets, advocates of loan guarantees and construction work in progress (ratepayer fees for constructing reactors before they are licensed) claim that they lower the financing costs of new reactors and are good for consumers, but shifting risk does not eliminate it and subsidies induce utilities and regulators to do things that will cost taxpayers and ratepayers dearly. When utilities choose an option that is not the least-cost option available, it raises the cost. The existence of numerous lower-cost, lower-risk options to meet the need for electricity in a low-carbon environment undercuts the claim that nuclear power is the solution to the externality problem of climate change.

The full text of the new report by Dr. Cooper are available for download in PDF.

Download Issue Brief

Download Full Report

Dr. Cooper's June 2009 Study

The likely cost of electricity for a new generation of nuclear reactors would be 12-20 cents per kilowatt-hour (KWh), considerably more expensive than the average cost of increased use of energy efficiency and renewable energies at 6 cents per kilowatt hour, according to Dr. Mark Cooper’s earlier June 2009 study. The report finds that it would cost $1.9 trillion to $4.1 trillion more over the life of 100 new nuclear reactors than it would to generate the same electricity from a combination of more energy efficiency and renewables.

Titled The Economics of Nuclear Reactors, Cooper’s analysis of over three dozen cost estimates for proposed new nuclear reactors shows that the projected price tags for the plants have quadrupled since the start of the industry’s so-called “nuclear renaissance” at the beginning of this decade – a striking parallel to the eventually seven-fold increase in reactor costs estimates that doomed the “Great Bandwagon Market” of the 1960s and 1970s, when half of planned reactors had to be abandoned or cancelled due to massive cost overruns. The full June 2009 study is available at the Institute for Energy and the Environment's website.

CONTACT: Ailis Aaron Wolf, (703) 276-3265 or aawolf@hastingsgroup.com.

Cookson Takes Second Place in 2009 Law Student Writing Competition

Vermont Law School — 12 Nov 2009 17:02:10 EST

Cara Cookson's essay Confronting Our Fear: Legislating Beyond Battered Woman Syndrome and the Law of Self-Defense was selected by the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence as the second place winner in their 2009 Law Student Writing Competition.

Download Confronting Our Fear: Legislating Beyond Battered Woman Syndrome and the Law of Self-Defense

Prof. Yirka's Paper Makes an SSRN Top Ten Download List

Vermont Law School — 04 Nov 2009 17:38:47 EST

Carl Yirka's paper, "The Yirka Question and Yirka's Answer: What should law libraries stop doing in order to address higher priority initiatives?" was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for LSN: Administration, Management & Leadership. Download the paper, as well as additional scholarship from Carl Yirka, on SSRN.

VLS Conference Will Draw Top Experts To Explore Challenges of Regulatory Takings

Vermont Law School — 28 Oct 2009 16:10:56 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT - As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares for a closely watched regulatory takings case, Vermont Law School will bring together legal experts from around the country on November 6 to explore critical issues raised by recent and pending takings cases, as well as potential government responses.

The daylong conference, "Litigating Regulatory Takings Challenges to Land Use and Environmental Regulations," will be held on the VLS campus in South Royalton. The event is cosponsored by Georgetown University Law Center and Columbia Law School. Preregistration is required.

The series of panel discussions will begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at 5:15 p.m. Issues of bilateral property rights, global warming, and water regulation will be among those addressed. The lunch discussion will examine the U.S. Supreme Court case, Stop the Beach Renourishment v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, in which private waterfront landowners have challenged the state's plan to restore storm-eroded beaches. At issue is whether the legislatively supported plan, which would create public beaches between private property and the water, deprives property owners of waterfront rights and is thereby an uncompensated taking. Oral arguments are scheduled for December 2.

John Echeverria, a VLS environmental law professor who recently filed an amicus brief in the Florida case on behalf of the American Planning Association and its Florida chapter, said the conference will address key questions facing lawyers, judges, scholars, and policymakers in this and other takings cases.

"This conference will bring together the leading academic scholars in the field of takings, along with many experienced practitioners from around the country, to discuss the cutting-edge issues involved in defining private rights-and responsibilities-with respect to land and other property," said Echeverria, who has written extensively on takings and other aspects of environmental and natural resource law.
Experts from nearly a dozen leading law schools, as well as lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Attorney General's Office and the Congressional Research Service, will take part in the panel discussions. Several judges visiting VLS as members of the Kenyan Environmental Tribunal are also scheduled to attend.

For details on the conference or to register online, visit http://forms.vermontlaw.edu/elc/landuse/takings09/. Registration fee is $35 for the general public or $200 for VBA CLE credits (7), and includes breakfast, lunch and an afternoon reception. For more information, email jdantonio@vermontlaw.edu or call 802-831-1217.

Trailblazer William Rodgers to Speak on Landmark Environmental Laws

Vermont Law School — 22 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT—Professor William H. Rodgers Jr., a trailblazer in environmental law who has inspired generations of lawyers, will assess the reach and sweep of environmental legal history in a public lecture at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at Chase Community Center at Vermont Law School in South Royalton.

Entitled “The Environmental Laws of the 1970s: They Looked Good on Paper,” the lecture will examine how the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 and other landmark laws of that period have weathered current times, including their unanticipated consequences and their application to unforeseen circumstances—particularly climate change. “Like a boat, a law is built at a certain point in time—can it still float 40 years later?” he asks. He will also analyze the state of current affairs: “You can’t hear the science without being pessimistic, and you can’t view all that’s going on without being optimistic,” he says.

Rodgers is teaching at Vermont Law School this semester as the first Douglas Costle Chair Visiting Professor. Called “a mentor to the mentors,” he has taught four decades primarily at the University of Washington School of Law, where the faculty unanimously awarded him the first Stimson Bullitt Professor of Law chair. He accepted the Costle Chair at VLS, he says, because “I have to see what’s going on in Number One—you’ve got to be impressed with the ranking they’ve earned,” referring to U.SNews & World Report’s repeatedly designating of VLS as the top environmental law school in the country.

Known for his rapier intelligence and sharp yet kindly wit, Rodgers has argued cases on environmental, energy, pollution, and treaty fishing matters before the U.S. Supreme Court and many other federal and state courts. He has had a hand in shaping law and policy on issues such as pesticides, power-plant siting, air and water quality, Native American fishing rights, and nerve gas shipments. He has written voluminously: if the pages of the books and articles he has written on environmental law were put end to end, they would reach 5.8 times as high as the Empire State Building, an article in the Washington Law Review pointed out. His upcoming book, an interdisciplinary climate-change reader for law students, will be published by Carolina Academic Press in January.

Although Rodgers is often called “a founder of the environmental movement,” he seems embarrassed by the accolade. “I never use that phrase myself—it’s such a huge thing, like being a founder of the sunrise or something, and I wasn’t the first person to watch the sun rise,” he says with a chuckle.

The talk is the first annual Costle Lecture. The Costle Chair is named in honor of Douglas Costle, former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and dean of Vermont Law School from 1987 to 1991. The talk is free and open to the public. A reception will follow from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

Justin Brown Wins K. William Kolbe Legal Writing Competition

Vermont Law School — 15 Oct 2009 18:22:06 EST

Justin Brown has won a national legal writing contest sponsored by the ABA Section of Public Utility Law. His essay, King Coal's Uncertain Future: An Analysis of the Growing U.S. Coal Moratorium, took first place in the K. William Kolbe Legal Writing Competition.

China Partnership Announces Environmental Justice Young Fellows Exchange

Vermont Law School — 14 Oct 2009 15:35:24 EST

The flags of the United States, China, and Vermont fly just outside Eaton House, the home of Vermont Law School's China Partnership.

Vermont Law School (VLS) has been awarded a federal grant to support a U.S.-China exchange program for young professionals working on environmental justice issues. Funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State, the educational and cultural exchange will provide leadership training opportunities to 18 Chinese and American women and men, particularly members of minority groups, who are active in environmental justice efforts. Participants in the program will jointly examine the environmental burdens, including climate change impacts, on minority communities and low-income populations in the U.S. and China and will be mentored in designing projects to advance environmental justice for those communities.

"This program creates a rare opportunity for young environmental professionals in China and the US to learn from each other and to work toward a common goal of advancing environmental justice. It will position them for further leadership within their communities and countries," VLS President and Dean Jeff Shields said.

This U.S.-China exchange program aims to cultivate leadership among young environmental professionals and to provide them with opportunities to gain insights into legal tools, policies, and activism that can assist vulnerable communities in addressing environmental challenges. The participants in the program will attend a series of roundtables, study tours, and hands-on internships in both the U.S. and China. They will examine the issues of environmental justice and climate change through a comparative and collaborative approach and will participate in experiential learning exercises to build mutual approaches to the issues. To deepen the collaboration, the exchange will include short internships at environmental justice organizations in each country-potentially at the organizations from which the 18 participants originate. The participants will spend a total of six weeks together over next summer in the United States and China. The first three weeks will include activities in Vermont; Washington, D.C.; and a one-week internship at an environmental organization in the United States. In China they will be carrying out activities in Beijing, Yichang, and Guangzhou.

Read more about the program and how to apply.

Prof. Echeverria Weighs in on Supreme Court Case in New York Times Article

Vermont Law School — 08 Oct 2009 18:56:30 EST

Professor John Echeverria was quoted in an October 6, 2009 New York Times article that examines a regulatory takings case currently before the Supreme Court. Read the article at nytimes.com.

U.S.-China Partnership Develops Next Generation of Environmental Advocates

Vermont Law School — 02 Oct 2009 19:48:05 EST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—October 2, 2009
Contact:
Jennie Clarke, Communications Coordinator
802-831-1310

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT—Vermont Law School (VLS) has been awarded $3 million by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand its work on the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law over the next three years, VLS President and Dean Geoffrey Shields announced today. This award, which is an extension of a $1.8 million USAID funding agreement that U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy was instrumental in helping to secure for Vermont Law School in 2006, will enable VLS to continue to build on its successes in helping China develop its next generation of environmental advocates to strengthen the development and enforcement of China’s environmental and energy law.

“We thank USAID and the American people for their continued support for and recognition of the importance and effectiveness of this program,” said Dean Shields. “The U.S. and China share a deep interest in reversing environmental degradation. Vermont Law School has proven to be an effective bridge in those efforts. VLS is now the leader among academic institutions in furthering efforts to support China as it strengthens its legal environmental framework.”

Leahy, who chairs the Subcommittee on the State Department and Foreign Operations of the Senate Appropriations Committee, played a key role in promoting USAID’s sponsorship of the partnership. He said, “This partnership is a superb fit, tapping VLS’s strengths in environmental law to help build the legal expertise and advocacy skills Chinese lawyers and civil society groups need to help meet the daunting environmental, energy and development challenges China is facing. It’s a partnership as timely as today’s headlines.”

In 2006, with funding from USAID, VLS in collaboration with Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), located in the capital of Guangdong province in southern China, launched the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law in response to the critical lack of knowledge, skills, and academic infrastructure needed to begin to address environmental and energy challenges in China through the rule of law. It has provided a broad range of trained attorneys, legal educators, law students, lawmakers, judges, regulators, and other advocates in Guangdong Province and in Beijing.

In addition to significantly strengthening SYSU’s environmental law program and creating a Juris Master’s degree program specializing in environmental law at SYSU, the program has established a strong, active network of environmental law professionals in the province. It has also expanded the collaborative effort to other influential educational institutions on the national level, such as the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), Center of Legal Assistance for Pollution Victims (CLAPV), and Tsinghua University as well as key Chinese government agencies, such as the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, which is the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission counterpart, and the training center for the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s primary macroeconomic planning and management agency under the State Council that is responsible for developing China’s climate change policies.

Professor Tseming Yang, who has been the director of the program since 2007, said, “Our work over the past three years has put us in a unique position to further advance environmental governance in China. The USAID support will enable us to develop greater capacity in China for citizens, organizations, and institutions to influence the development of environmental law through enhanced participation in government.”

China’s rapid growth in manufacturing has resulted in severe environmental problems, including the production of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming and pollution worldwide. According to a recent report, China has now overtaken the U.S. in total carbon emissions—years earlier than recently predicted. Two thirds of China’s energy derives from coal, and rising industrialization has the country mining and burning more than ever, as well as shopping for other countries’ oil and gas. Yet while China approaches parity in the economic sphere, it lags far behind in the legal structures and mechanisms that underpin American environmental law and policy. Developing well-trained legal professionals, law professors, and effective regulatory policies and laws is a critical part of China’s pursuit of sustainable development.

With the $3 million in additional funding, the program will continue to carry out its primary objectives of: (1) strengthening the capacity of the Chinese educational, governmental, nonprofit, and business sectors to become effective environmental and energy problem solvers; (2) improving China’s policies, systems, laws, and regulations to advance the development and enforcement of environmental and energy law and to help develop the rule of law; and (3) enhancing municipal, provincial, national, and international networks in China to advance best practices in environmental protection and energy regulation.

The program will provide training to Chinese legal educators, attorneys, lawmakers, utility analysts, and regulators on environmental law, with a particular emphasis on energy law. It will continue to support the development, strengthening, and expansion of institutions, associations, and networks that advance environmental law in China. Furthermore, in collaboration with VLS’s implementing partners, the program will foster a variety of research and policy development projects. Priority areas for research include environmental impact assessment, policy options for reducing China’s environmental footprint globally, energy law, environmental enforcement and governance, and climate change.

VLS’s key partners in this program include SYSU, CLAPV at China University of Political Science and Law, Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), and the China Environment Forum (CEF) at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. SYSU, a leading Chinese educational institution located in Guangzhou, established one of the first environmental law clinics in China and now has developed a juris master program in environmental law. CLAPV is the leading environmental public interest litigation center in China. Its director, Professor Wang Canfa, one of China’s most respected environmental leaders, is an honorary distinguished lecturer in environmental law at VLS, and heads the CUPL environmental law program. RAP, a Vermont-based nonprofit, advises policymakers in the U.S. and around the world on economically and environmentally sustainable energy policies, particularly as they relate to the electricity sector. With extensive networks of energy and environmental practitioners in the government, business, NGOs, and research sectors in the U.S. and China, the CEF will contribute important outreach resources.

USAID’s history goes back to the Marshall Plan reconstruction of Europe after World War Two and the Truman Administration’s Point Four Program. In 1961, the Foreign Assistance Act was signed into law and USAID was created by executive order. Since that time, USAID has been the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.

In addition to its work under the USAID grant, VLS is leading a U.S.-China exchange program for young professionals. The program provides leadership training opportunities to nine Chinese and nine American women and men, particularly members of minority groups, who are active in environmental justice efforts. Participants in the program will jointly examine the environmental burdens, including climate change impacts, on minority communities and low-income populations in the U.S. and China and will propose ways to advance environmental justice for those communities. This exchange program is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.

# # #

Vermont Law School—a private, independent institution—is ranked #1 in environmental law by U.S.News & World Report. VLS offers a Juris Doctor (JD) curriculum that emphasizes public service, a Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP) degree for lawyers and nonlawyers, and two post-JD degrees, the Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law and the LLM in American Legal Studies (for international students). The school also features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center and the South Royalton Legal Clinic. For more information, visit www.vermontlaw.edu.

Two VLS Faculty Awarded Fulbright Scholarships

Vermont Law School — 01 Oct 2009 20:34:56 EST

Professors Tracy Bach and Jason Czarnezki have been awarded Fulbright scholarships to conduct research in Senegal and China, respectively. Follow their work on their blogs at Simmering Senegal and Vermont2China.

Lise Daniels Earns Honorable Mention in Pro Bono Publico Award

Vermont Law School — 01 Oct 2009 18:36:24 EST

The Public Service Law Network awarded Schweitzer Fellow Lise Daniels honorable mention in their 15th annual Pro Bono Publico Award for launching the Mascoma Legal Resource Center, a legal assistance clinic that offers rural, low-income individuals legal information and advice. Read more about the award on the Official Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Blog. Also, check out Lise Daniels' student profile.

Leading Nuclear Expert to Speak on Slowing Proliferation

Vermont Law School — 22 Sep 2009 19:47:41 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT.-Nuclear nonproliferation expert Leonard S. Spector will discuss the worldwide spread of nuclear weapons capabilities and possible legal remedies on September 29 at Vermont Law School. Spector, deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, will speak on "Slowing Proliferation: Why Legal Tools Matter." Among the recent nuclear developments Mr. Spector will address are those in Iran, South Korea, Pakistan, and Syria.

"The legal rules of nonproliferation matter but they are under enormous challenge right now," notes Mr. Spector. He will describe those challenges-terrorism is one-and how they might be met, drawing on a long and distinguished career in U.S. efforts to contain proliferation of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Spector currently directs the Washington, D.C. office of the California-based Monterey Institute's James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, the largest nongovernmental organization in the United States devoted exclusively to research and training on nonproliferation issues. He is also editor-in-chief of the center's publications. He formerly worked with the U.S. Department of Energy as an assistant deputy administrator for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration. He has also served as senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and director of its Nuclear Nonproliferation Project, and as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Energy and Proliferation Subcommittee, where he assisted in drafting the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. He is a graduate of Yale Law School.

Leonard Spector appears at Vermont Law School as the Sterry R. Waterman lecturer, honoring the late senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a former president of the Vermont Law School Board of Trustees. The lecture is free and open to the public, and takes place at 4:00 p.m. in the Jonathon B. Chase Community Center, Vermont Law School, South Royalton, Vermont.

For more information please call 831-1225 or visit the Sterry R. Waterman Lecture page.

Hanna and Vesilind Paper Makes a Top Ten SSRN Download List

Vermont Law School — 16 Sep 2009 17:53:12 EST

Cheryl Hanna and Pamela Vesilind's paper Preview of United States v. Stevens: Animal Law, Obscenity, and the Limits of Government Censorship was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for Animal Law.

New Dean Guides Academics at Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School — 16 Sep 2009 17:22:45 EST

Vermont Law School announces the appointment of Professor Gil Kujovich as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, effective July 1, 2009. Professor Kujovich will replace Vice Dean Stephanie Willbanks, who will return to full-time teaching and scholarship at VLS.The vice dean focuses on developing faculty potential in scholarship and teaching, while catalyzing the continuing evolution of legal education for students. More...

IEE Report Outlines Effects of Expansion of U.S. Nuclear Industry

Vermont Law School — 16 Sep 2009 16:20:35 EST

Dr. Mark Cooper, the Institute for Energy and the Environment's Senior Fellow for Economic Analysis, presented the results of a study on potential economic effects of expansion of the U.S. nuclear industry, as reported on June 18 in multiple industry news outlets, including CNN Money and Your Industry News. Access a PDF of Cooper's report and audio from the press event at the IEE's website. The report sparked commentary on both sides of the issue in blogs and other online publications such as Counter Punch, The Free Press (not the Burlington newspaper), the Nuclear Green blog, and NEI Nuclear Notes (note: erroneously referred to as "Mark Miller").

Vermont Law School to Honor Former Dean Maximilian W. Kempner

Vermont Law School — 09 Sep 2009 16:30:20 EST

Former Vermont Law School dean Max Kempner.

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT—Vermont Law School will honor former dean Maximilian W. Kempner, who headed the school from 1991–1996, in a 4 p.m. ceremony on Saturday, September 12.

Current dean Jeff Shields will unveil a portrait of Kempner by Middlebury artist Kate Gridley that will hang in Waterman Hall.

In his five years as dean, Kempner led Vermont Law School's progress on many fronts. The school's endowment increased four-fold; study-abroad opportunities multiplied; women became fully integrated into the faculty, staff, and student body; and VLS became an active partner in the life of the town. Kempner also initiated a master plan of VLS's campus and programs, resulting in a new classroom building and enhanced access to technology.

R. Allan Paul, who headed VLS's board of trustees during a portion of Kempner's deanship, recalls, "Max was clear in his vision of what VLS should be doing as a leading Vermont institution, and he had the respect of all with whom he dealt, including the faculty, student body leaders, fellow members of the board and political leaders from the Governor on down. He had a vast knowledge of what a legal education would require in the current practice of law."

Kempner's guiding motivation as dean was to promote the highest standards of professionalism and service in the law-standards his own professional life has long exemplified.

A recipient of law degrees from both Harvard and Columbia law schools, Kempner joined the New York City firm of Webster & Sheffield in 1957 and became an authority on the law of nonprofit organizations. He used his skills as a volunteer in the causes of justice, legal education, and international relations, serving as a director of the Legal Aid Society, cochairman of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, and as counsel to such organizations as the United Nations Development Corporation and the United States-Japan Foundation.

During a pivotal time in the relationship between law schools and the bar, Kempner chaired the American Bar Association's Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. When he and his wife, Paige, a sculptor and writer, and their family moved to South Royalton, Kempner became legal advisor to numerous Vermont nonprofits.

He says of nonprofit work, "You're surrounded by people who want to do the right thing." In 1996, VLS honored his achievements by establishing the Maximilian W. Kempner Award, presented to the VLS student representing his civility, integrity, fair mindedness, and public service.

Artist Kate Gridley, whose work hangs in public and private collections in the U.S. and Europe, says about painting Kempner, "I wanted people to see his great warmth and humanity." Coincidentally, during their sittings, Kempner and Gridley discovered that her father and Kempner had been grade school classmates in New York City.

Kempner is especially pleased with the portrait because it is set outdoors on the VLS campus.
He says, "It's a physical manifestation of my relationship with Vermont Law School, South Royalton, the White River, and the nearby mountains. Others will have to judge if the portrait captures my likeness, but my relationship with the landscape it depicts goes very deep."

Prof. McCann Discusses Perjury Charges Related to MLB Steriod Use

Vermont Law School — 08 Sep 2009 18:27:26 EST

Professor Michael McCann discusses, in his June 16 SI.com column, the potential of perjury charges against players like Sammy Sosa in the ongoing investigation of steroid use in MLB. Professor McCann's article is further discussed in a Wall Street Journal blog. Professor McCann's June 15 SI.com piece explores the possibilities of NFL sanctions against player Plaxico Burress before his trial September on criminal charges from an incident in November 2008.

Ruth Rubio Marin Speaks on Her Recent Book, The Gender of Reparations

Vermont Law School — 29 Aug 2009 18:33:13 EST

Book launch: The Gender of Reparations

Vermont Law School recently hosted a Book Launch and book signing by Ruth Rubio-Marín, editor of The Gender of Reparations: Unsettling Sexual Hierarchies while Addressing Remedies for Human Rights Violations (Cambridge University Press). At the book launch, she discussed the reparations project and took questions from the audience. Ruth Rubio-Marín holds the Chair in Constitutional Law at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and has a tenured position in constitutional law at the University of Seville. She has been teaching a seminar at Vermont Law School on Comparative Constitutional Law for the past seven years.

Vermont Law School Awarded Grant for U.S.-China Exchange on Environmental Law

Vermont Law School — 21 Aug 2009 20:09:50 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT-Vermont Law School (VLS) has been awarded a $350,000 federal grant to support a U.S.-China exchange program for young professionals working in environmental law. Funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State, the educational and cultural exchange will provide leadership training opportunities to 18 Chinese and American women and men, particularly members of minority groups, who are active in environmental justice efforts. Participants in the program will jointly examine the environmental burdens, including climate change impacts, on minority communities and low-income populations in the U.S. and China and will propose ways to advance environmental justice for those communities.

"This program creates a rare opportunity for young legal professionals in China and the U.S. to learn from each other and to work toward a common goal of advancing environmental justice. It will position them for further leadership within their communities and countries," said Vermont Law School Dean and President Geoffrey B. Shields.

Minority groups and low-income populations in China and the U.S. are disproportionately bearing adverse health and environmental effects from pollution. As China overtakes the U.S. in the production of greenhouse gases, the challenges of climate change and clean energy will further affect these marginalized groups. While the environmental injustice problem in China has not attracted the same level of attention as in the U.S., environmental impacts are awakening Chinese citizens to speak out for their right to environmental justice and to seek solutions through laws and regulations.

The program aims to cultivate leadership among these young legal professionals and to provide them with opportunities to gain insights into legal tools, policies, and activism that can assist vulnerable communities in addressing environmental challenges. The participants in the program will attend a series of roundtables, study tours, and hands-on internships in both the U.S. and China. They will examine the issues of environmental justice and climate change through a comparative and collaborative approach and will participate in experiential learning exercises to build mutual approaches to the issues. The participants will spend a total of six weeks together: three weeks in South Royalton, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., and three weeks in Beijing, Yichang, and Guangzhou.

VLS has over five years of experience in China, with strong partnerships and a demonstrated commitment to advancing environmental law to effect short- and long-term improvements. The six-week educational and cultural exchange program was developed by the law school's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law as part of its ongoing effort to strengthen the rule of law in environmental protection in China. Launched in 2006 with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the partnership aims to build capacity among individuals and academic, government, and private-sector institutions to solve pollution and energy problems in China. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy helped secure the funding for the partnership. Professor Tseming Yang, director of the partnership, says, "The ECA grant from the State Department will expand our efforts to assist Chinese citizens and grassroots organizations to influence the development of policies and laws that affect environmental justice communities."

Organizations participating in the six-week educational and cultural exchange program include the China Environment Forum (CEF) at the Woodrow Wilson Training Center, the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) at China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), and Sun Yat-sen University School of Law (SYSU). With extensive networks of energy and environmental practitioners in the government, business, NGOs, and research sectors in the U.S. and China, the CEF will contribute important outreach resources. CLAPV is the leading environmental public interest litigation center in China. Its director, Professor Wang Canfa, one of China's most respected environmental leaders, is an honorary distinguished lecturer in environmental law at VLS, and heads the CUPL environmental law program. SYSU, a leading Chinese educational institution located in Guangzhou, established one of the first environmental law clinics in China and now has developed a juris master program in environmental law.

Small State Capital Provides Big Legal Opportunities

Vermont Law School — 19 Aug 2009 15:35:43 EST

State and Main streets intersect at the heart of Montpelier, where dozens of VLS graduates work to strengthen the state and empower its people.

In Montpelier, Vermont, the term "State and Main" needs no clarification. It is the epicenter of this small state capital, the intersection that brings together not only the two main streets, but the architectural features of the 1800s with the communication tools of the 21st century. Within blocks of this downtown intersection, dozens of Vermont Law School graduates put their legal skills to work each day in state government, law firms, nonprofits and private businesses. The quaint look and feel of Montpelier belies the scope of the lawyers' reach.

Of nearly 150 VLS alumni who list themselves as working in Montpelier, roughly half are identified as state government employees-and many more work at state agency headquarters in nearby Waterbury.

From his second-floor office at 50 State Street, David Farnsworth JD/MSEL'93, senior associate of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), works as a utility regulatory consultant with ministries and commissions in Mozambique, Swaziland, and Tanzania. Partners in his office-all former utility regulators-are working with colleagues in India, South America, and the European Union, with the aim to devise the best approaches to cap-and-trade systems that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Before joining RAP in 2008, Farnsworth served as a hearing officer and staff attorney with the Vermont Public Service Board, during which time he spent five years on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative staff working group. And beyond the regulatory matrix, Farnsworth works with low-income advocates to promote energy efficiency measures for their clients.

The mission, he says, is to develop an approach to climate change policy "that will be the best for everybody.

"My work on climate change policy is based in large part on the background I gained as an attorney at the PSB and on my experience at VLS as a student interested in environmental policy and administrative law," Farnsworth says, crediting the time he spent as a research assistant for Professor Dick Brooks in the early 1990s with educating him on "the various iterations" of the Clean Air Act.

A block west of Farnsworth's office, Susanne Young JD '81 spends her days on the fifth floor of the Pavilion building, where she counsels Governor Jim Douglas on a wide range of legal matters that might fall on her desk. During the legislative session, it means filtering her way through every bill that will require the governor's signature. A former editor in chief of the Vermont Law Review, Young has served as the governor's general counsel since Douglas first took office in January 2003. Before that, she served as his deputy when he was state treasurer. Young says she never anticipated that she would serve as the chief legal adviser to a governor.

"It's all been very serendipitous in that respect," she says. She got her start in state government while working in the Vermont Attorney General's office while still a student at VLS, which prompted her to set her sights on criminal procedure. She later clerked with the chief of the AG's criminal division, followed by a year's clerkship in Chittenden District Court with the venerable Judge Edward Costello. She then returned to the AG's office, where she would spend 16 years.

"I really fell in love with criminal law," says Young, who manages to keep close ties with that area of law as the governor's liaison to the state's criminal justice system and to the AG's office.

Charlie Merriman JD'95 has gone public, private, and may soon be public once again in his legal career. Merriman says he decided to become a lawyer after an earlier career in commercial real estate in Cleveland, Ohio, left him "bored to tears." After law school, he spent nine years as an attorney with the Vermont Tax Department, during which time he defended the state's new education funding law against a lawsuit brought by the town of Killington. The case made it to the Vermont Supreme Court, which heard Merriman's argument during the court's annual spring session held at VLS (Merriman proved successful in the 2003 decision).

By 2006, Merriman decided to leave state government and go private, joining the Montpelier firm of Tarrant, Marks & Gilles, where he is now partner. With the firm's focus on municipal law, much of Merriman's caseload has involved land use law and property right-of-ways.

"I wound up working with towns, and grew to appreciate the central role that government plays in keeping this unique character or Vermont-this participatory democracy of Vermont-alive," he says. It's an appreciation that recently led Merriman to declare his candidacy to be Vermont's next secretary of state, where there will be a vacancy with the current office holder, Deb Markowitz, running for governor.

Merriman remembers attending his first Vermont Town Meeting—a storied tradition in the state—while still a student at VLS.

"It just blew me away," he says, equating the experience with something akin to a Quaker Friends' meeting. "People just stand up and say what is on their minds. It is not something I experienced in the Midwest. That was my first experience with what Vermont politics were like."

From the downtown offices of the Conservation Law Foundation, Chris Kilian JD/MSL'91 has chalked up major legal victories pursuing violations of the Clean Water Act. A recent federal court ruling found in CLF's favor in a high-profile stormwater pollution case brought against the Massachusetts Highway Department. Another pending federal case involves an appeal of a permit that CLF argues has contributed to nitrogen pollution in the Upper Narragansett Bay. Many of CLF's actions have been aimed at the state of Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources—cases in which Kilian, a vice president at CLF, has found himself squaring off against fellow VLS alumni representing the state. But Kilian says such situations rarely prove awkward.

"I think it's a collegial group and people tend to find common ground in the fact that we went to VLS. Everybody is proud of the school. I think VLS does a great job training people," Kilian says, crediting the master's program with providing him "a leg up" when he came out of law school.

Warren Coleman JD'99 serves as Agency of Natural Resources' general counsel, overseeing a staff of 13 attorneys handling issues ranging from relicensing hydropower facilities to the hotly debated issue of allowing all-terrain-vehicles on state lands. While his agency is based in Waterbury, Coleman spends much of his time at the statehouse during legislative sessions, testifying before committees and coordinating with the governor's office.

Coleman enrolled at VLS after receiving his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Florida. With a "good grounding" in natural resources science and environmental economics, Coleman saw law as being "the third leg of the stool" that would give him "the ability to assess complex environmental issues."

"I wanted to be a part of the decision making," he says, noting that the broad environmental curriculum drew him to VLS over other schools he was considering. After graduating from VLS, Coleman moved to Boston for a position with a major firm, where he worked on behalf of electric cogeneration facilities in their efforts to acquire bank funding. He also handled siting and permitting issues for bringing the first transatlantic fiberoptic cable into the New England area. "It was a humungous undertaking," he says, calculating that one-and-a-half years with the large firm provided him with three to four years of experience. "They had some very impressive clients."
But his love for Vermont-and flyfishing-drew him back in the fall of 2000.

Vicky Parra Tebbetts JD'95, MSL'96 has taken a different direction in her legal career. As senior vice president of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce (headquartered at the edge of Montpelier city limits), Tebbetts heads up the Vermont Hospitality Council, the chamber's tourism division. With direct spending for goods and services valued at $1.6 billion a year, tourism is a critical component of the Vermont economy.

Tebbetts' position includes lobbying on behalf of the tourism industry and the issues that are vital to its success. For Tebbetts, the job combines advocacy, education, marketing, networking and leadership-areas in which a law degree trained her well. (She is still a member of the Vermont Bar Association and keeps current with her CLE training).

One recent accomplishment of her lobbying efforts included the creation of a grape and wine council in Vermont, in recognition of what Tebbetts calls "a burgeoning industry." Vermont is now home to about 20 active wineries.

"I really love the communication and advocacy, not in terms of litigation but in terms of the people, the relationships," says Tebbetts. "I think I have really found a great niche."

Christopher J. Curtis JD/MSEL'06 took to public service in his early 20s. In Vermont, he worked on political campaigns before heading to Portland, Oregon, where he worked at a substance abuse clinic. After testing out several different careers, Curtis says, "I realized pretty quickly that if I wanted to make an impact, I needed access to the law." He also had a solid mentor in his late father, David Curtis, a noted Vermont lawyer and legendary political figure in his day.

The younger Curtis, who entered VLS as a 33-year-old student, says, "I was looking for something that would marry my interests," and Vermont Legal Aid offered the answer. From his office on Court Street (two blocks from State and Main), Curtis assists low-income Vermonters with myriad legal challenges involving housing and public benefits, and lobbies at the statehouse on their behalf. One recent session found Curtis working to "mitigate the impacts" of a major change to Vermont's landlord-tenant law, and with state budget cuts looming, Curtis has labored to blunt the pain of funding cuts for Vermonters in need.

"Many of our clients are really very good advocates if they are given the opportunity to tell their story to someone," Curtis says. "Part of my job is to help draw their stories out of them and help them become better advocates for themselves."

Prof. Dworkin Nominated to EPRI Executive Committee

Vermont Law School — 04 Aug 2009 18:20:33 EST

Professor Michael Dworkin has been nominated by the Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) Governance and Nominating Committee to one of the six seats on the Executive Committee of EPRI's Board of Trustees. This will become effective and public at the EPRI Annual seminar and Board meeting in Palo Alto on August 4-6, 2009.

EPRI is a $300-$325mm/year non-profit research center jointly funded by the utilities of the US, with moderate input from Japan, Canada, France, South Africa, etc. Its bylaws call for the 33 member Board to have 18 investor-owned-utility members, 9 co-op or muni "public-power" members, and 6 non-utility 'outside' directors.

MSEL Program Renamed Master of Environmental Law and Policy

Vermont Law School — 15 Jul 2009 15:45:52 EST

The ELC is pleased to announce that, after thorough consideration, the faculty recently voted to change the name of the Master of Studies in Environmental Law degree program. The new name of the program is the Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP).

The program name will not change for graduates or currently enrolled students. The new name will be effective for students who matriculate after August 18, 2008. The old MSEL name will show up in searches of the website, so so that employers and others will be able to locate applicable information.

Before making this change, the ELC consulted with the newly-formed MSEL Alumni Committee, as well as with current MSEL students, and the idea of adding “Policy” to the name of the degree received overwhelming support from both groups.

The name change is the first step in a comprehensive review of the content of the master’s program. We plan to spend time throughout the coming year working to update the program and make sure that it is preparing our graduates for the best careers in the environmental field.

For more information on the Master of Environmental Law and Policy program at Vermont Law School, visit our MELP degree pages.

Eliza Meeker Passes Paris Bar

Vermont Law School — 01 Jul 2009 18:15:33 EST

Eliza Meeker of Washington, D.C., became the first Vermont Law School graduate to pass the Paris Bar exam, thanks to a unique dual-degree program VLS offers in partnership with the University of Cergy-Pontoise, home to one of France's top law schools.

New Dean Guides Academics at Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School — 01 Jul 2009 17:42:19 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt.-VermontLaw School announces the appointment of Professor Gil Kujovich as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, effective July 1, 2009. Professor Kujovich will replace Vice Dean Stephanie Willbanks, who will return to full-time teaching and scholarship at VLS.The vice dean focuses on developing faculty potential in scholarship and teaching, while catalyzing the continuing evolution of legal education for students.

President and Dean of Vermont Law School Geoffrey Shields said about Kujovich's appointment, "Like his predecessor, Gil has been here for well over 20 years and knows the institution and its needs extremely well. He has the complete confidence of the faculty, staff, and students, and I know he will be very successful in this role."

Since his arrival at Vermont Law School in the 1980s, Professor Kujovich has taught Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, and Civil Rights. Prior to joining the VLS faculty, Professor Kujovich clerked for Supreme Court Justices Potter Stewart and Byron White, served as assistant to the first Secretary of Education Shirley Hufstedler, and was counsel to the Intelligence Oversight Board in President Jimmy Carter's White House.

About his new position, Professor Kujovich says: "Dean Willbanks and I have worked closely to ensure a smooth transition and the continuation of the program developments already underway. These include the enhancement of our experiential programs, the expansion of our programs for international study, and the continued development of our first-rate legal writing program-all major parts of the future of legal education at VLS."

ENRLC Announces New Toxics Actions Fellowship

Vermont Law School — 30 Jun 2009 15:36:04 EST

Vermont Law School's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) has announced a new two-year graduate fellowship designed to aid communities dealing with toxic pollution issues.

The fellow will take a lead role in coordinating a project designed to provide free community organizing and legal resources to communities faced with serious toxic problems throughout northern New England, said David Mears '91, ENRLC director.

"The Toxics Action clinic fellow will have the rare and exciting opportunity to help train law students to solve environmental problems through working with these communities," Mears said.

The project is officially named the Partnership for Justice: Protecting the Rights of Pollution-Impacted Communities, is a joint effort between the not-for-profit Toxics Action Center and the ENRLC. The focus of this project will be to assist community members with navigating through regulatory processes related to pollution and contaminated sites and to lay the groundwork for litigation if it becomes necessary.

Read more about the Toxics Action Fellowship and how to apply.

China's Environmental Hero Joins Vermont Law School as Distinguished Lecturer

Vermont Law School — 05 Jun 2009 20:25:00 EST

Professor Canfa Wang

Professor Canfa Wang, one of the most recognized environmental law scholars in China, will give a presentation on "The Challenges of Environmental Enforcement and Its Solutions in China" at Vermont Law School on Wednesday, June 10, as part of a week-long stay including lectures and discussions on future collaborations.

Last year, Wang was named by Time magazine as one of the world's 50 environmental heroes. He is a professor at China University of Political Science and Law and director of the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV), one of the most prestigious environmental NGOs in China.

Vermont Law School's Partnership for Environmental Law in China program has collaborated with CLAPV to sponsor environmental law and policy workshops and conferences, including a recent workshop on environmental courts and litigation at the National Judges College in Beijing. In 2007, Wang visited Vermont Law School to deliver the keynote address at the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law's "China in Transition" symposium.

"Professor Wang has won cases for hundreds of pollution victims in China," says Vermont Law School Professor Tseming Yang, who directs the Partnership for Environmental Law in China. "His work is a shining example of what environmental lawyers can accomplish even in a place like China, which faces enormous pollution challenges."

The public is invited to this free presentation by Professor Wang on June 10, noon to 1:30 p.m. in Oakes Hall, Room 110. Vermont Law School President and Dean Jeff Shields will present Professor Wang with an appointment as an Honorary Distinguished Lecturer in Environmental Law in recognition of his efforts to promote the development of environmental law in China and his collaboration with VLS.

Vermont Law School Graduate Passes Paris Bar

Vermont Law School — 01 Jun 2009 17:38:40 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt.- Eliza Meeker of Washington, D.C., has become the first Vermont Law School graduate to pass the Paris Bar exam, thanks to a unique dual-degree program VLS offers in partnership with the University of Cergy-Pontoise, home to one of France's top law schools.

Through this program, Meeker earned a JD degree from Vermont Law School and a Masters I droit des affaires from Cergy-Pontoise. All classes at Cergy were in French, and Meeker passed with honors both semesters. Meeker fulfilled the experiential learning component of the dual-degree program through a stage, or internship, at the Paris office of the international law firm Salans.

The Paris Bar exam Meeker took is a rigorous, multi-day experience of both written and oral exams in French law, practice, and procedure for lawyers who are already licensed to practice in a foreign jurisdiction. Professor Stephanie Farrior, director of International and Comparative Law Programs at Vermont Law School, says, "Eliza's accomplishment is all the more notable because she may have been the only non-EU foreign lawyer to take the exam who was not already practicing law through another jurisdiction. Eliza had previously passed the New York bar, and went straight from her law studies to taking the Paris Bar."

Meeker had set her sights on this qualification during her first year at Vermont Law School and came to the program after many years of living abroad and with fluency in both French and Japanese. She had spent several summers in France and Belgium while a high school student, and prior to enrolling at VLS in 2004 taught English in Japan for 10 years. Meeker is currently interviewing for positions with law firms in Paris and has also recently been admitted to the Washington, D.C. bar. She says of her law school experience, "VLS's dual-degree program and the Paris Bar were my dream. So now I am living my dream."

Students like Meeker, who wish to study foreign legal systems or international law through Vermont Law School, have an extensive array of options from which to choose. Programs range in duration from two weeks to two years abroad and take place in leading law schools, including McGill (Canada), Cambridge (England), Trento (Italy), Cergy-Pontoise (France), Seville (Spain), and Sun Yat-sen (China). Recognizing the increasing globalization of law practice and the demand for lawyers well-versed in multiple legal systems, VLS also offers students the opportunity to pursue an international semester in practice at law firms, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and international tribunals worldwide.

Commencement 2009

Vermont Law School — 16 May 2009 15:56:32 EST

Excerpt from VLS President and Dean Geoffrey B. Shields' commencement address

Launch Audio Slideshow

Graduates, as you go forth into the world remember that you have a team behind you and with you. A team that will make you proud and will support you in difficult times.

I envy you. You are going into a world that needs you. You were drawn to VLS already passionate in your desire to help others. You yearned for additional skills to help those most in need and to address the difficult challenges of the environment and society. You go forth today armed with those skills.

And as I say, it is a wonderful time to graduate, for there is so much need for your skills and your energy. While the challenges are many, opportunity abounds. There is a renewed determination at every level of government and in the private sector to deal with the environment and social needs.

NRDC President
Frances Beinecke

There is a pressing need for effective and creative ways to deal with the drug addiction which afflicts millions of our citizens, creates the violence which rocks our judicial system, and fuels the violence from Mexico to Afghanistan. There is a need in every corner of America to help those with personal legal issues that have been brought on by the financial crisis. There is a need to creatively address the challenges of hundreds of thousands of businesses as they struggle to survive.

So whether your passion lies with the environment, or business, or government, or serving your community, you will find challenge, excitement and satisfaction. You will make us, your team, proud, as you bring your energy, intelligence, and skills to bear. I know you will make a positive difference.

The Class of 2009

Student Speaker
John Miller

Sally Adams, Juris Doctor
Thaddeus Adkins, Juris Doctor
Guy Alsentzer, Juris Doctor
John Alsup, Juris Doctor
Samuel Ames, Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Damon Amyx, Juris Doctor
Lauren Anderson, Juris Doctor
Thomas Baker, Juris Doctor
Paul Ballenger, Juris Doctor
Samantha Balmes, Juris Doctor
Shannan Barclay, Juris Doctor
Alfie Bartley, Juris Doctor
Alan Benedict, Juris Doctor
Mary Bleier, Juris Doctor
Jamie Bolyard, Juris Doctor
Jacqueline Bowie, Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Justin Brown, Juris Doctor
Rebecca Burke, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Shelby Buso, Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Caitlin Callaghan , Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Megan Campbell, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Jared Carter, Juris Doctor
Jacquelin Carty, Juris Doctor
Karla Chaffee, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Kimberly Chehardy, Juris Doctor
Bonnie Christian, Juris Doctor
George Cilley, Juris Doctor
Andrew Clopman, Juris Doctor
Jack Cohen, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Torend Collins, Juris Doctor
Timothy Connolly, Juris Doctor
Allison Cook, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Danna Cooper, Juris Doctor
Shannon Cosentino-Roush, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Shayla Crenshaw, Juris Doctor
Michael Cretella, Juris Doctor
Erin Curley, Juris Doctor
Camille Dalmacio, Juris Doctor
Jeffrey Davis, Juris Doctor
Jonathan DeCarlo, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Rachel Degenhardt, Juris Doctor
Nicholas Delis, Juris Doctor
James DeVerna, Juris Doctor
John-Austin Diamond, Juris Doctor
Samuel Dixon, Juris Doctor
Debra Doby, Juris Doctor
Richard Donovan, Juris Doctor
Nicholas Dreher, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Emilie Dubreil, Master of Laws in American Legal Studies
Ronald Dupuis, Juris Doctor
Elisa Durum, Juris Doctor
Richard Eckley, Juris Doctor
Muhammad El Gawhary, Juris Doctor
Ross Elwyn, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Charles Eypper, Juris Doctor
John Feder, Juris Doctor
Melanie Fenzel, Juris Doctor
Ronald Ferrara, Juris Doctor
Lydia Fiedler, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Blas Fonalledas, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Lisbeth Freeman, Juris Doctor
Adam Ganson, Master of Environmental Law and Policy
James Gardner, Juris Doctor
James Garrett, Juris Doctor
Mave Gasaway, Juris Doctor
Matthew Gerke, Juris Doctor
Adolfo Gil, Juris Doctor
Peter Gill, Juris Doctor
Eric Goldwarg, Juris Doctor
Joshua Gorman, Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Del Maria Greer, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Samatha Grist, Juris Doctor
Ashley Harriman, Juris Doctor
Joshua Haskins, Juris Doctor
David Hayes, Juris Doctor
Lucas Head, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Christine Hill, Juris Doctor
Amanda Holder, Juris Doctor
William Holt, Juris Doctor
Lauren Husbands, Juris Doctor
Ashley Ivanov, Juris Doctor
Erin Jehn, Juris Doctor
Anna Johnson, Juris Doctor
Mary Johnson, Juris Doctor
Susan Johnson, Juris Doctor
Jason Kaplan, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Natalie Karas, Juris Doctor
Christopher Karr, Juris Doctor
Natalie Kee, Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Peter Keegan, Juris Doctor
Matthew Keister, Juris Doctor
Sara Kelly, Juris Doctor
Stephen Kim, Juris Doctor
Scott King, Juris Doctor
Kelly Krug, Juris Doctor
Edward Kulschinsky, Juris Doctor
Jennifer Kuntz, Juris Doctor
Matthew LaMothe, Juris Doctor
Ashley Laney, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Xavier LeRoux, Master of Laws in American Legal Studies
Emily Lewis, Juris Doctor
Tracey Lewis, Juris Doctor
Kyle Lewis, Juris Doctor
Victoria Lloyd, Juris Doctor
Aaron Lotlikar, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Akram Louis, Juris Doctor
Brenda Luciano, Juris Doctor
Mirline Mallord, Juris Doctor
Meghan Manion, Juris Doctor
Sandy Marks, Master of Environmental Law and Policy
James Marren, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Stephen Martin, Juris Doctor
LaNita Matthew, Juris Doctor
Hayley Mauskapf, Juris Doctor
Daniel McCabe, Juris Doctor
Jennifer McCave, Juris Doctor
Codee McDaniel, Juris Doctor
Sean McGrath, Juris Doctor
Catherine McLinn, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
John Meyer, Juris Doctor
Cecile Michel, Master of Laws in American Legal Studies
John Miller, Juris Doctor
Kenneth Miller, Juris Doctor
Renee Mobbs, Juris Doctor
Katherine Moll, Juris Doctor
Regine Monde, Juris Doctor
Randy Mondesir, Juris Doctor
Ifeoma Monu, Juris Doctor
Melissa Mooza, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Elizabeth Mortimer, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Erin Murphy, Juris Doctor
Heidi Murphy, Juris Doctor
James Nealis, Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Aanchal Nebhnani, Juris Doctor
Taylor Neff, Juris Doctor
Laurel Nugent, Juris Doctor
Onyinyechi Nwaohuocha, Juris Doctor
Maggie Olson, Juris Doctor
Viraj Parmar, Juris Doctor
Diana Perez, Juris Doctor
Mathew Perrone, Juris Doctor
Wenonah Petersen, Juris Doctor
Adam Province, Juris Doctor
Tracey Quincel, Juris Doctor
April Quinn, Juris Doctor
Amanda Rauer, Juris Doctor
Kristen Reed, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Bridgette Remington, Juris Doctor
Sherriff Richards, Juris Doctor
Elise Rindfleisch, Juris Doctor
Carolyn Rooney, Juris Doctor
Kristin Ross, Juris Doctor
William Rothstein, Juris Doctor
Michael Sabbeth, Juris Doctor
Sacha Saint-Cyr , Juris Doctor
Jennifer Saunders, Juris Doctor
Darin Schroeder, Juris Doctor
Ryan Searle, Juris Doctor
Geoffrey Sewake, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Adam Shor, Juris Doctor
Ravi Sinha, Juris Doctor
Scarlett Slenker, Juris Doctor
Kane Smart, Juris Doctor
Jennifer Snow, Juris Doctor
Daniel Sotelino, Juris Doctor
Craig Sparks, Juris Doctor
Robb Spensley, Juris Doctor
Gretchen Staft, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Daniel Stevens, Juris Doctor
Catherine Stitt, Juris Doctor
Christopher Suggs, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Allison Summerville, Juris Doctor
Daniel Tesini, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Jonathan Thorne, Juris Doctor
Matthew Tjosvold, Juris Doctor
Tamara Toles, Juris Doctor
Maja Toncic, Juris Doctor
Jesse Traugott, Juris Doctor
Kelly Trendell, Juris Doctor
Oliver Trixl, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Jason Tucker, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Micaela Tucker, Juris Doctor
Anthony Tuorto, Juris Doctor
Julie Van Erden, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Joshua Walter, Juris Doctor
Weston Watts, Juris Doctor & Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Lucie Wedrychowski, Master of Laws in American Legal Studies
Ray Weisinger, Juris Doctor
Amy Wilcox, Juris Doctor
Fonda Wilcox, Juris Doctor
Sara Wilkinson, Juris Doctor
Patrick Wilson, Juris Doctor
Tera Woods, Master of Environmental Law and Policy
Graham Zorn, Juris Doctor

NRDC President Frances Beinecke and CLI Director Burns Weston to Speak During Commencement Week

Vermont Law School — 05 May 2009 13:58:59 EST

Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), will speak at Vermont Law School's 34th commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 16. The public is invited to attend the event, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. on the South Royalton town green.

Beinecke's keynote speech, "From Corner Offices to Capitol Hill: The Changing Role of the Environmental Advocate," will address the many ways today's graduate can help protect the Earth, from working at a clean tech start up to shaping state regulations to helping distribute federal stimulus money.

Under Beinecke's leadership, the NRDC has focused its efforts on curbing global warming, moving America beyond oil, reviving the world's oceans, saving endangered wild places, stemming the tide of toxic chemicals, and accelerating the greening of China. During her 30 years at NRDC, she has worked as a member of the water and coastal program, served as the organization's executive director for eight years, and in 2006 was named president. In addition to her work at NRDC, Beinecke serves on the boards of the World Resources Institute, the Energy Future Coalition, and Conservation International's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, and is on the steering committee of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership.

VLS commencement week events will also feature a guest lecture by human rights scholar Burns H. Weston, director of the school's Climate Legacy Initiative and the Bessie Dutton Murray Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus at The University of Iowa Law School. His talk, "The Human Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment: To Create or To Enforce?" will be presented Friday, May 15, at 3:30 p.m. in Oakes Hall 007. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Both Beinecke and Weston will be awarded honorary degrees during Saturday's graduation ceremony.

The student speaker for graduation will be John Miller, currently of Bethel, Vermont. In addition to his studies at Vermont Law School, Miller has been an active leader with student groups including the Alliance and the Class of '09 Gift Committee. Miller also served as a student clinician at the South Royalton Legal Clinic and was recently awarded the 2009 Law Student Ethics Award from the Association of Corporate Counsel-Northeast, which grants the award to students who have demonstrated exemplary ethical conduct in the course of a clinical program.

For more details on the week's activities at VLS, please visit our Commencement pages.

CONTACT: Jennie Clarke, Communications Coordinator
802-831-1310, jclarke@vermontlaw.edu

Vermont Law School Ranked First in the U.S. in Environmental Law

Vermont Law School — 23 Apr 2009 17:52:07 EST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 23, 2009
Contact: Carol Westberg, Director of Marketing and Communications
802-831-1309, cwestberg@vermontlaw.edu

SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt.—Once again U.S.News & World Report has ranked Vermont Law School’s environmental law program as the best in the nation. The 2010 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools will appear on newsstands on April 28.

Vermont Law School (VLS) President and Dean Geoffrey Shields says, “We are committed to protecting the planet’s most valuable resource––our environment. I commend Environmental Law Center (ELC) Director Marc Mihaly and our outstanding faculty.”

Vermont Law School has placed first 12 times since the environmental specialty rankings began in 1991 and has never placed lower than second. To develop their specialty rankings, US News asked legal educators to identify the top programs.

The school’s environmental law and policy program offers the largest and deepest selection of environmental law courses in the country. The ELC provides a multidisciplinary program in law, policy, science, and ethics to lawyers, law and graduate students, government officials, teachers, scientists, and citizen activists. The ELC administers the Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP) degree program for lawyers and nonlawyers and the LLM in Environmental Law, a post-JD degree for experienced attorneys who seek to specialize. The school offers unparalleled clinical, research, and experiential programs through the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, the Institute for Energy and the Environment, the Land Use Institute, the Environmental Tax Policy Institute, the Climate Legacy Initiative, and the Partnership for Environmental Law in China.

The ELC’s Summer Session participants acquire a working knowledge of the legal and scientific underpinnings of environmental policy and explore major environmental issues with leading national experts in a collaborative environment. The Summer Session offers a broad curriculum, a Visiting Distinguished Environmental Scholars program, and a popular lecture series that features summer faculty members, distinguished summer scholars, and environmental media fellows speaking about current issues in their fields.

In addition to the Environmental Semester in Washington and the MELP internship program, the ELC is active in international projects, assisting partner schools in China and Russia in the development of environmental law curricula. VLS received a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to support a collaborative partnership with Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, to address the serious environmental problems and energy needs associated with China’s ever-growing market economy.

Vermont Law School—a private, independent institution—is top-ranked in environmental law by U.S. News & World Report. VLS offers a Juris Doctor (JD) curriculum that emphasizes public service, a Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP) degree for lawyers and nonlawyers, and two post-JD degrees, the Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law and the LLM in American Legal Studies (for international students). The school also features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center and the South Royalton Legal Clinic. For more information, visit www.vermontlaw.edu.

Contact: Carol Westberg, Director of Marketing and Communications 802-831-1309 cwestberg@vermontlaw.edu

CLI Releases a New Framework for a Just Climate Legacy

Vermont Law School — 22 Apr 2009 17:52:07 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT—The Climate Legacy Initiative (CLI) at Vermont Law School (VLS) is distributing a ground-breaking policy paper that examines the rights of future generations to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment—Recalibrating the Law of Humans with the Laws of Nature: Climate Change, Human Rights, and Intergenerational Justice. The product of interdisciplinary working groups, law professors and student research assistants from the VLS Environmental Law Center and The University of Iowa Center of Human Rights, and consultation with a distinguished advisor panel, the paper makes 16 recommendations for defining, establishing, and ensuring the ecological rights of our children and the generations who follow them. It is being distributed to national and international policy makers, environmental and human rights organizations, law schools, and the legal bar.

“Our children and grandchildren are living embodiments of our legacy,” says CLI Director Burns Weston. “They deserve the same promise and opportunity we inherited from our parents.” But, he observes, the climate crisis threatens to take that all away. “The present generation must take legal responsibility for the ecological legacy we leave behind. It is a rank injustice to our heirs if our behavior does not change.”

The CLI’s paper examines the law of the U.S. and selected other countries, international law, and indigenous peoples’ law through a three-part framework that advocates the conservation of ecological options, quality, and access of future generations in national and international law. “This means,” Weston says, “that current generations must act to ensure the right of future generations to biological diversity, environmental quality, and equitable access to resources.”

Weston intends to distribute the paper to policy makers who will attend the UN Climate Change Conference this coming December. Vermont Law School Professor Tracy Bach, associate director of the Climate Legacy Initiative, says the CLI findings reinforce the work of scientific delegates at the international congress in Copenhagen. “They’ve detailed how climate change differentially affects people within and between countries and regions, already in this generation. The delegates also agree that an adaptation safety net and a common but differentiated mitigation strategy are required for those people least capable of coping with climate change impacts. The CLI policy paper builds on this environmental understanding, to help human society cope with climate change by recalibrating its laws to those of nature.”

The paper draws on the expertise of distinguished advisor panelists such as Edith Brown Weiss, Georgetown University law professor; James Gustave Speth, dean of Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; David Orr, chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College; Bryan Norton, environmental philosopher from the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy; Harriet Barlow, director of the HKH Foundation and the Blue Mountain Center; Jörg Chet Tremmel, founder and director of the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations, Germany; and Roger Kennedy, former director of the National Park Service and director emeritus of the National Museum of American History.

A paradigm shift in the way law and nature interact, which is at the heart of this policy paper, could not be more urgently needed. As Kennedy writes in the paper’s Foreword, “The earth is the ultimate court of appeals.” The paper is available from VLS or as a download from the CLI home page at www.vermontlaw.edu/cli.

Vermont Law School—a private, independent institution—-is top-ranked in environmental law by U.S. News & World Report. VLS offers a Juris Doctor (JD) curriculum that emphasizes public service, a Master of Environmental Law an Policy (MELP) degree for lawyers and nonlawyers, and two post-JD degrees, the Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law and the LLM in American Legal Studies (for international students). The school also features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center and the South Royalton Legal Clinic. For more information, visit www.vermontlaw.edu.

CONTACT: Jennie Clarke, Communications Coordinator
jclarke@vermontlaw.edu, 802-831-1310

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