by Jesse D. Bugbee, Esq.
Vermont Bar Foundation Grantee Spotlight:
Community Restorative Justice Center Legal Clinic
This is the second in a series showcas-
ing organizations that receive competitive
grant funding from the Vermont Bar Foun-
dation (VBF).
In the Spring issue of the Journal, VBA
President Mike Kennedy urged us renew
our spirit of helping others. That spirit is
alive and well in Caledonia County, in the
form of a legal clinic that can serve as a
model for other counties to emulate. The
clinic is one of the many programs offered
by the Community Restorative Justice Cen-
ter (CRJC), a non-profit community-based
organization located in St. Johnsbury, Ver-
mont.
Home for the CRJC is a wood frame
building on Railroad Street, a short dis-
tance from the Passumpsic River. The
CRJC is one of 21 community justice cen-
ters around the state, whose common mis-
sion is to resolve conflict through the use of
integrated restorative justice programs and
techniques. In plain language, these cen-
ters seek to give both the victims of crime
and the local community a say in the pro-
cess of holding an offender accountable.
Centers such as CRJC may be 501(c)(3) or-
ganizations, connected to law enforcement
agencies, or departments of a municipality
that are all authorized by statute to provide
those services. 1 They do so in a manner
that is non-punitive and non-adversarial, so
that the relationship between the commu-
nity and the offender can be repaired in a
collaborative manner.
For Susan Cherry, the Executive Director
of CRJC, the central theme is one of con-
nection, or re-connection, as the case may
be. Her passion is to connect the commu-
nity with the resources it needs to address
a particular harm, and to reconnect the of-
fender with the community. She notes that
offenders often have become distanced
from the community, which engenders
feelings of resentment or isolation that can
lead to further and more serious criminal
behavior. This reconnection allows both
offenders and victims to repair the harm
and repair relationships. Susan’s mantra
is: “Shame separates, and restorative jus-
tice brings people back together.” Illustra-
tive of this philosophy is the practice of re-
ferring to the offender as the “responsible
party.”
Her referral sources are law enforce-
ment agencies, the State’s Attorney, and
the Criminal Division of the Superior Court.
There are many resources available to an
offender, such as education programs,
www.vtbar.org
work training, re-entry assistance for those
released from incarceration, and the legal
clinic that is supported by a VBF Grant.
The clinic is not limited to use by offenders,
but it can be an important part of their re-
integration into society.
Neil Favreau is the Program Coor-
dinator for CRJC. Part of his job is to over-
see its legal clinic. A native Vermonter who
grew up in nearby Morrisville, Neil spent
nine years with the Northeast Kingdom
Youth Services, which had the contract for
the local Court Diversion Program. While
there, he started the Juvenile Reparation
Program. In 2008, he joined CRJC, and has
continued to work with reparation panels.
The grant from the VBF helps to pay Neil’s
salary for the time he spends managing the
clinic.
Several counties in Vermont have some
form of legal clinic. Some ar e sponsored
by the Vermont Bar Association; others are
maintained by the county bars. The disad-
vantage many suffer, however, is that they
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • SUMMER 2017
lack a coordinator. They often rely on oth-
erwise busy court staff or the attorneys
themselves to manage their operations.
As a result, some clinics wind up with diffi-
culty coordinating schedules, a lack of con-
flict checking mechanisms and an at-times
ineffective random pairing of attorneys to
clients. At CRJC, Neil maintains a list of
15 participating attorneys with varying ar-
eas of concentration. With such a high lev-
el of participation, he is able to match cli-
ents with attorneys who have the right ex-
perience to meet their needs. He keeps a
chart in his office listing the preferences of
each attorney, which range from issues per-
taining to custody, visitation and divorce to
landlord/tenant and elder law. The num-
ber of available attorneys and the manner
in which the clinic is managed allows the
clinic to serve a catchment area of not only
Caledonia County, but Essex and Orleans
Counties as well. The front office staff at
CRJC provides in-kind contributions to the
clinic in the form of making reminder calls
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