Sorrell
Wendy Morgan, female. I brought Wendy in
just after she was a managing attorney with
Vermont Legal Aid, and she’s been a rock
in this office for the longest time. Kristin
Clouser, my Human Services Division Chief is
female, formerly my Criminal Division Chief
for a long time, Cindy Maguire. If you walk
around the office and, I’ve never taken the
chart and counted, but I would be surprised
if we don’t have 50/50 number males to
female.
TC: I think now in law schools, there’s an
even higher percentage of women than men.
I know when I was at Cornell, it was only
about 10% women, so it’s really increased
dramatically in a relatively short period of
time.
BS: Well, the funny thing is a former US
Attorney was saying to me within the last few
years, “you know, one of the things that you
should be proud of is how much you’ve done
for women in the Bar, giving them high profile
positions with authority.” When I stopped
and reflected, I realized, boy, I guess so! It
was never like I thought “I need to have a
woman for that position . . .”
TC: Another testament to your mother’s
influence, I’m sure.
BS: Sure. I’m a momma’s boy, I admit it.
I was very fortunate; I had such a wonderful
mother.
TC: Is there anything, in hindsight, that
you would have done differently during your
tenure?
BS: I have some regrets, but I don’t
know that I would have done it differently.
We got to the US Supreme Court with our
law trying to restrict both spending by and
contributions for political candidates. We
won at the District Court level, we won at
the Second Circuit, and I argued the case at
the Supreme Court. I was 30 seconds into
my argument and realized that Chief Justice
Roberts wanted me for lunch. We lost that
case, and now seeing that the Court handed
down the Citizens United decision, and the
billions of dollars in outside money that have
floated into presidential, gubernatorial and
even the legislative races around the country,
we’ve gone totally the wrong way. I think
we’re turning off more and more average
citizens from running or even voting. Some
of that was reflected in this recent election,
and so many people are feeling essentially
disenfranchised, so I regret that.
I regret that Vermont led the nation with
its GMO labeling law and we were winning
in court until large money interests led
Congress to enact legislation that pre-empts
Vermont. We’re going to have a national
standard on labeling, and we’ll see if it’s
going to be effective or not. There are a
few years for the rule-making process, and I
hope that my successor and a few other AG’s
38
around the country will push to have the
regulations be as effective as possible, and
we will see on that.
TC: Speaking of your successor, do you
have any advice for TJ Donovan when he’s
sworn in?
BS: It’s a big job. I think from talking to
him, we’ve had some transition meetings,
that he’s been impressed by the breadth of
the issues that are on the table and on the
horizon. We swore him in as special assistant
AG, so we can talk in confidence about
decisions that need to be made fairly soon
about different matters. A lot of decisions
get made with 98 lawyers, and there are a
lot of things I don’t know personally. For
example, the EB5 case that came out in
the Spring, I personally spent an awful lot
of time getting ready for that case, on the
other hand, there are any number of other
cases where I will get brought in only at the
settlement level. There are also some other
cases where they don’t need me to make a
decision, but it’s one that they want me to
know about, because the media is going to
call me.
TC: That’s why you’re looking more and
more relaxed and TJ doesn’t have that
luxury?
BS: I’ve been the Chittenden County
State’s Attorney two different times and it’s
an important position, but the position is
essentially criminal justice and criminal justice
related issues in one county. The AG position
encompasses environmental protection
issues, the decommissioning of Vermont
Yankee, defending the state in everything
from tort cases to statutes alleged to be
unconstitutional. There are also national
issues where we weigh in, whether it’s the
federal courts, immigration, reproductive
rights, the Affordable Care Act, all of the
consumer protection issues in state and out
of state, all of the consumer education, all
of the civil rights and discrimination in non-
public sector employment, important roles in
the Legislature, advising the Legislature on
constitutionality of this or that, and the public
policy agenda in various ways. I’m flying
to DC this afternoon, and have two thirty-
page documents I need to read, where my
personal involvement has been requested. I
have three more weeks to go, but I wouldn’t
say I’m on the glide path.
TC: So you went back to your roots again,
this time working in a general practice firm
on a grand scale, in all different areas.
BS: I’m such a lucky guy to have worked
on so many important issues with so many
great people. I think that Vermont and
Vermonters are safer and healthier as a
consequence of any number of things that
we’ve been able to do. I hope that we’ll have
a profoundly positive impact for a long time
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2016-17
going forward. And so, just to repeat, I’m the
lucky guy!
TC: Any words of advice for young people
wanting to enter the profession of law?
BS: