PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
Interview with Mike Kennedy
Teri Corsones: It’s May 5, 2017, and I’m
meeting with VBA Board President Mike
Kennedy in Montpelier to interview him
for his President’s interview for the jour-
nal. Mike, on behalf of Vermont Bar Jour-
nal readers everywhere, thank you for tak-
ing the time to meet with me today.
Mike Kennedy: Thank you for taking the
time to talk with me. torney’s Office and volunteered. I ended
up working with Cindy Maguire, who at
the time was married to our now President-
Elect Dan Maguire, and she told me that
Dan had an opening in his office at the At-
torney General’s Office at the time. I got
hired, and worked for several years as an
Assistant Attorney General assigned to the
Department of Corrections.
TC: First, can you tell me a bit about your
background; where you grew up and where
you went to school.
MK: Sure, I was born in Burlington and
grew up in South Burlington. I graduated
from South B urlington High School, and
spent three semesters at Boston College
before finishing up my undergrad at UVM.
I took a year off working, and then went to
law school at George Washington in DC. TC: Were you working with Dan?
MK: Yeah, we worked together in the
same office, and now here we are over 20
years later as President and President-Elect
of the VBA.
TC: I read in one of your President’s Col-
umns that you started out in the oil and gas
field after graduating from college.
MK: Oh, that makes me laugh; the oil
and gas field is one way to put it. A friend
of mine in high school, his parents owned
a gas station on Shelburne Road. That was
back when you still had full service, so I was
pumping gas and checking oil, so yeah, I
was in the oil and gas business. Teri, I was
in heaven at the time. I worked there 40
hours a week and was making $300 a week
and I couldn’t imagine anything better. I
was coaching football and basketball at the
time, and got off work in time to do that.
So yes, I started in the oil and gas business
and really enjoyed it.
TC: What led you to law school?
MK: Well, I remember my Dad one day
asking me in a way that only my Dad could
ask me, “do you want to be pumping gas
all your life?” I took the hint and applied to
law schools, and here I am.
TC: Did you ever consider settling any-
where besides Vermont?
MK: I always planned to come back to
Vermont, and when I graduated from GW,
I came back home to study for the bar in
Vermont. I haven’t left since.
TC: What did you start out doing after
taking the bar exam?
MK: After I passed the bar, back then
you still had to do the clerkship. My Dad
said, why don’t you just go down to Bill
Sorrell’s office and volunteer. So, I went
down to the Chittenden County State’s At-
www.vtbar.org
TC: The circle of life.
MK: Yes! I left that job for a different job
in the AG’s office, as the prosecutor for in-
voluntary commitment cases. My boss at
the time was Jessica Porter, and she left to
take a job as the Disciplinary Prosecutor.
She got permission to hire a Deputy, and
she asked me if I would be her Deputy, so
I took it. The job was in Burlington, which
was where I lived, and it included benefits.
Jessica left a couple years later, and I be-
came the Disciplinary Prosecutor.
TC: What year was that?
MK: I came on as a Deputy in Decem-
ber of 1998 and then became the full-time
Prosecutor in December of 2000. From
2000 to 2012, I was Disciplinary Counsel,
which you know investigates and prose-
cutes, and then in 2012, I switched over
to become Bar Counsel. As Bar Counsel,
I don’t have anything to do with the pros-
ecutions but I work within the attorney eth-
ics program.
TC: I’ve noticed that your blog “Ethical
Grounds, the Unofficial Blog of Vermont’s
Bar Counsel” is a real favorite of the Bar.
Over 600 followers! What prompted you to
start the blog?
MK: Part of my job as Bar Counsel is to
help people understand what the rules are,
and that’s more than just doing CLE’s. One
way that I thought would be a good way
to get information and educational mate-
rials out there was through a blog. So, I
started it in the spring of 2014. The thing
with a blog is you have to constantly up-
date it with new and current posts. At the
time, I had been doing a lot of pop-quiz
style programs in my CLE seminars, which
people seemed to like. So, I started post-
ing five ethics questions every Friday, pop-
quiz style.
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • SUMMER 2017
TC: Oh, so the “Five for Friday” weekly
ethics quiz grew out of the blog?
MK: Exactly. I decided that if this is go-
ing to work then I’m going to have to keep
the blog updated on other topics, too, and
then that grew into the regular posts that I
make on the blog.
TC: Well, the “Five for Friday” quiz, to
me is one of the most entertaining, cre-
ative and educational reads out there. How
much time does it take you to come up
with something so engaging each week?
MK: Well, thank you. It takes me prob-
ably 45 minutes each week to draft up the
question and then get it posted.
TC: Really? That’s all? It’s so chock full of
great information.
MK: Well, I appreciate that Teri, but you
also have to remember, the rules of pro-
fessional conduct are finite, and there are
only so many ways that you can ask ques-
tions. I’m at the point where I don’t have to
put as much thought into is as I did when
I started.
TC: Oh, ok. Well, I really appreciate all
that I learn about pop culture as well as
ethics!
MK: That was part of my goal, because
when I first started going to CLE’s, I think
people would sort of roll their eyes and
yawn. But it’s such an important topic, so
why not make it entertaining? It is impor-
5