Law in the Pub. Interest: Meet Robert Depper, Esq.

• Citation: Vol. 50 No. 2
• Publication year: 2024

Law in the Public Interest: Meet Robert Depper, Esq. Vol. 50 No. 2 Pg. 32 Vermont Bar Journal July 2024

Interview

by Douglas Keehn, Esq.

Robert Depper, General Counsel at the Vermont Department of Labor, took the long road to the Green Mountain State from his origins in the southern deltas of Arkansas. Depper started his job at the DOL in April 2022.

Doug Keehn, Co-Chair of the Vermont Bar Association's Government and Nonprofit Division, spoke with Depper about the kinds of experiences and influences that bring skilled public interest attorneys, from all places and backgrounds, to practice in Vermont.

DK: First, a belated welcome to Vermont, and to Vermont public interest legal practice. Did you begin your career as a public interest attorney?

Depper: Thank you, and it depends on what you mean. I was doing public interest work, certainly, before entering the legal profession or running my own practice. It turned out to be just a matter of time before my legal career became fully public interest.

DK: A lane-merge from private practice into public interest law is increasingly common. In your case, what was the appeal?

Depper: Not the money, of course. But as many people in our sector will tell you, money isn't the only compensation. One of the most important early lessons I learned was how many of the things that we need most can't be bought. You have to find them. Wise choice of place, community, and career can get you the most important things in life, things that a paycheck can't.

DK: How did you first learn that lesson?

Depper: To some degree, I was raised with it. My family went back a long way in a small delta town of El Dorado, Arkansas, with attorneys going back several generations. We're liberal Democrats in a very "red" place. But I was taught that the quality of your word, and your credibility, transcends labels. That was the foundation of my concept of community...