With 2026 quickly approaching, we’re taking a moment to celebrate highlights from another impactful year at
Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS).
To start the 2025-26 academic year, an esteemed group of nine full-time faculty members joined Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS), bringing expertise in a variety of legal disciplines—including environmental, criminal, food and agricultural, and immigration law, among others.
Terry Campos teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, and appellate advocacy. She spent 17 years as an attorney with the National Crime Victim Law Institute in Portland, Oregon, acted as an assistant defender in the Office of the State Appellate Defender in Chicago, and taught at Lewis & Clark Law School’s Crime Victims Litigation Clinic.
Luis Chiesa is an internationally recognized scholar of substantive criminal law and comparative legal theory who is published widely in leading U.S., European, and Latin American journals. Professor Chiesa joined VLGS from the University at Buffalo School of Law, and he focuses on criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, and mindful lawyering.
Jason Dykstra joined VLGS from the University of Idaho College of Law where he directed its Housing Clinic. Professor Dykstra’s expertise spans from legal research and writing to property and real estate transactions. In his classes, he emphasizes creativity and how divergent learning opportunities can help students thrive.
Beatrice Hamilton brings extensive experience in international environmental law. Professor Hamilton previously served as a teaching fellow with Stanford Law School’s Environmental Law and Policy LLM program. Her expertise includes the protection of the environment during armed conflicts, trends in climate litigation, and opportunities to strengthen nation-state environmental relations.
Hillary Hoffmann returned to VLGS as a visiting professor to share her expertise in natural resources and public lands law, as well as Indigenous law and policy. Her scholarship focuses on Tribal sovereignty and environmental governance. From 2022–2025, Professor Hoffman led the Tribal initiative supporting the Bears Ears Commission during the first Tribal-federal collaborative management planning process for a 1.36-million-acre area of federal public lands—the Bears Ears National Monument.
Lauren McLane, a former public defender, continues to carry active cases focused on systemic litigation in the criminal legal system. A seasoned legal educator and advocate with a strong background in experiential learning, her courses cover trial practice, torts, evidence, Constitutional criminal procedure, and criminal law.
Liz Turner previously served as a fellow with VLGS’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems. She specializes in policies related to urban agriculture, land use and local government. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Professor Turner has spent more than a decade working in the food system, as a farmhand, cook, barista, and more.
Lindi von Mutius—a 2008 graduate of VLGS—returned as a visiting professor in the Environmental Justice Clinic, where she coaches student clinicians and handles cases related to waste, biofuels and toxics. Her research interests include adaptation to extreme heat, natural disaster management for vulnerable populations, biodiversity protection in forests, environmental history, and increasing equitable access to the outdoors.
Christopher Worth, an immigration attorney, is serving as a visiting assistant professor with the Center for Justice Reform Clinic. He has successfully represented clients detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities throughout the U.S. Prior to entering private practice, Professor Worth was an immigration staff attorney with My Sisters’ Place, a nonprofit in White Plains, New York, which represents survivors of domestic violence.
