President’s Column, 18 VTBJ, Fall 2018-#5
| Position | Vol. 44 3 Pg. 5 |
An Interview with Gary Franklin
Teri Corsones: Today is September 5, 2018, and I’m speaking with Vermont Bar Association Board President, Gary Franklin. Gary, on behalf of Vermont Bar Journal readers everywhere, thank you for taking the time to visit with me today.
Gary Franklin: It’s my pleasure.
TC: First, can you tell us a bit about your background, where you grew up, and where you went to school.
GF: Sure. I grew up on the mean streets of New York City. My parents were pioneers of the Upper West Side in the early 1960’s, and they purchased a brownstone on a block that had a number of vacant lots and uninhabited buildings. I went to a private high school on the Upper East Side, where some of my friends weren’t allowed to come over to my house because the neighborhood was too dangerous. Ironically, many of those friends now live on the Upper West Side. Eventually I went to college in Boston and law school in San Francisco, where I lived for six years.
TC: Your parents were quite the visionaries! What led you to consider law school as a path?
GF: Basically, as a child, I argued with my mother a lot at the dinner table, so it was kind of a natural progression.
TC: That’s probably the start of most legal careers. After living and working in San Francisco, how did you end up in Vermont?
GF: So, that was sort of a longer path. My wife, whom I met out in California, was from upstate New York and we decided to return East so she could attend business school at NYU. However, after having lived in California for a number of years, I’d broken the mold of being a NYC kid. After 5 years in New York we decided to downsize. We picked Vermont as the place to raise a family.
TC: Had you had any prior connections with Vermont?
GF Only as the backyard playground for the Northeast.
TC: So, you’d been here skiing or hiking or things like that?
GF: Yes, we vacationed here a number of times, and at some point, determined that it would be far better to live here and visit the city rather than the other way around.
TC: I think a lot of our members reached the same conclusion! Where did you first work when you came to Vermont to live?
GF: When I first came to Vermont, I worked at a small firm of about 10 attorneys in Burlington, called Miller, Eggleston & Cramer. That firm then became Eggleston & Cramer, when Marty Miller left to become the CEO of Velco. Then Eggleston & Cramer merged with Primmer Piper, when we doubled in size. Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer has continued to grow to the point where it’s doubled in size again, and has become a regional firm. It’s been a good ride.
TC: What year did you start working in Vermont?
GF: 1999.
TC: Did you have the benefit of a mentor when you were first starting out?
GF: I did. Marty Miller, who hired me, was a terrific mentor for...
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