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TG : Yes . Particularly here in Burlington , because of the new American communities that are here who are more likely to walk in than use the phone . We also do a Saturday Clinic . Sandy Baird runs the Saturday clinic , which is a walk-in clinic , and people can just walk in and talk to lawyers and get some help right then and there , get a referral , or it can turn into a case .
VBA : That is great . So your last day is ? TG : The 15 th .
VBA : The 15 th of August . Two weeks . Will you go back to your passion for film ?
TG : I haven ’ t really thought much about it . I would say I didn ’ t really get used to this idea until after the Legal Services Corporation board meeting last week , as that was occupying a lot of my time and a lot of my brain space for many , many weeks . I was too busy to think about retirement , so I don ’ t know what I am going to do . There was a time , when I think back to my days before I even went to law school , and I was interested in a lot of different things . There was a time when I did a lot of different things , but I will definitely do some film things . I actually already have a commitment to do more work around film .
VBA : For producing films or directing , or do you do the whole kit and caboodle ?
TG : Yeah , actually I have directed a couple of films , yes .
VBA : So you have committed to a few of those ?
TG : I have , they are going to involve yoga . My daughter is a yoga teacher .
VBA : Nice ! That is a good place to start , where you know .
TG : I am going to do those things . I might still be involved in some stuff here .
VBA : That was going to be my next question . Are you committed to helping find and train your successor ?
TG : Yes . I will definitely be available to my interim successor , Sam Abel-Palmer , and yes , I have certainly committed to him , and also , I have made certain commitments to help Legal Aid and also the Access to Justice Coalition .
VBA : Excellent . It ’ s an addiction ; you just can ’ t leave , right ? All the various things you have been doing .
TG : It ’ s something that I am very interested in and committed to . I will be happy to leave behind a lot of things , like budgets , reports , etc . The other thing that I may continue to be involved in is our website , www . vtlawhelp . org , which is another thing that came out of our thinking about education and helping people help themselves
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. The website has got a huge amount of information on it and we think it ’ s been very successful , but there is always more stuff to do . I feel like I am in the middle of something that is not quite done , in terms of that , so I might do some work around that .
VBA : Well , I ’ m sure you know what the most popular thing on websites , for reaching people generally is , right ? YouTube . You ’ ll have to do some film making and put some shorts on there , right ?
TG : There are already tons on everything . Yeah , you can use film for it , for sure , film is very powerful .
VBA : I did come across old videos where you did a lot of town-meeting type videos throughout the years to try to educate people on what you were working on .
TG : Yeah , the things we did with CCTV ? That was fun ! Like a lot of lawyers , I have a little bit of a performance gene in me , so I don ’ t have any problem ….
VBA : Doing a little interview … hopefully you will be travelling and doing things that people who retired do .
TG : My wife and I will definitely be travelling , though we don ’ t have a lot of commitments , but we also have 3 grandchildren . And 2 of them live a backyard away from where we live in Burlington .
VBA : So you cannot be gone too long . That ’ s nice . There ’ s nothing better than that , right ?
TG : I just think they are delightful . They can do whatever they want .
VBA : Spending time with grandchildren is one of the most rewarding things if you ask anyone . So you cannot travel too far or too long .
TG : There will be some of that , but we will definitely do some traveling . We went to Portugal in the spring , and biking in Portugal , so we will do that sort of stuff .
VBA : Excellent . So do you have any final advice for your successor or anyone looking to get into your line of work ?
TG : My advice would be to respect and enjoy your clients . I think in the end , the most rewarding part of being a lawyer is the contact with clients , working with clients , helping people . I think that is really where the reward is .
VBA : I am not going to say it ’ s a luxury in public service , but in my practice , there was always this tension between the more work you do , the more you have to charge them , and so there was never that freedom you could have in Legal Aid or public service , where you could actually , truly enjoy
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the client and not think that every minute you have some sort of adverse monetary relationship being created .
TG : Yeah , that is a real dilemma for private attorneys . I worked for a private attorney way back . He used to say , jokingly , that the object of being a private attorney is to get your client to pay the biggest fee they could afford .
VBA : ( laughing ) and you said “ no , that ’ s not for me ”.
TG : Yeah . He knew it by then . And he didn ’ t believe it either , but it ’ s that pressure that you are talking about . It ’ s hard when you commoditize every moment with a client , and that is hard , but yes , Legal Services people are fortunate to spend the time with clients whenever they need to .
VBA : And then it is an extremely rewarding experience so that we should encourage everybody to do that kind of work .
TG : And I think a lot of people agree , I mean a lot of people coming out of law school now have done a clinic and have a bit of a public service bug , and really do want to serve .
VBA : it ’ s true , it ’ s generational and I guess it ’ s picking up .
TG : In terms of creating pro bono clinics in Chittenden County , there are all these young people who are working for the firms in Burlington and they want to do stuff with clients , they want to stand up in court with a client and it ’ s ok if they only have 10 minutes to prepare for it . They will go for it . The firms also are being great because they see that it is reward for their associates and strengthens the firms .
VBA : The point being we encourage everybody to do their pro bono work and to enjoy it . TG : Yes .
VBA : Well thank you for letting me interview you and best of luck to you in your retirement .
TG : Sure . Thanks .
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Interview with Tom Garrett |