President's Column

• Publication year: 2023

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN Vol. 49 No. 3 Pg. 5 Vermont Bar Journal October 2023

Interviewed by Kim Velk, Esq.

Meet VBA Board President, Judith Dillon

KSV: I'm meeting with the new President of the VBA Board of Managers, Judith Dillon, Judith, can you tell us a bit about your background? Where did you grow up and where did you go to school?

JD: I grew up in New Jersey with my parents, sister, and brother. At times my Scottish grandparents lived with us. I was the first in my family to go to a four-year college, so I had to figure out the process on my own. I followed a high school friend to the schools she was researching. UVM was one of those schools and we made a trip to Burlington, just the two of us, in the fall of my senior year. I fell in love with the UVM campus, school of Natural Resources, and decided that's the school for me. I went to VLS.

KSV: What led you to consider law as a profession?

JD: I was a political science and environmental studies major and initially thought about going to graduate school in political science but wasn't ready to dedicate another 3-5 years in graduate school. After graduating I worked in a halfway house for pre-release inmates and helped provide them with the skills, housing, and services needed to better prepare them to avoid the decisions and situations that led to their entering the system. The experience also put in focus the disparity in sentencing and treatment/sentencing based on economics, race, and gender. I wanted to be involved in the legal system at the beginning of the process.

KSV: Have you always practiced in Vermont?

JD: Yes.

KSV: What law jobs have you had during your career so far?

JD: I have been fortunate to have had a diverse career. I was a judicial clerk for Vermont's trial court Judges in Rutland County, working in the Family, Criminal, and Civil dockets which was great exposure for a new attorney. I then accepted a job at Lisman & Lisman, a general practice firm in Burlington, where I worked as a litigation attorney on family, criminal, employment, contract, and whatever services our clients needed. It was a great experience, and I had some talented mentors and colleagues there. I was exploring the idea of having and raising a child on my own and thought that private practice might not afford me the work-life balance I needed so I transitioned to working for the state. After my daughter was born, I served as an Assistant Attorney General assigned to the Vermont...