Spotlight
Vermont Immigrant Assistance Project
Soon after establishing the CF! Project,
the Clinic developed another pro bono en-
terprise for a different Vermont population
in need of essential legal services. Found-
ed in 2003, the VIA Project aims to provide
civil and administrative legal assistance to
Vermont’s growing community of non-cit-
izens. Staff attorneys Erin Jacobsen and
Arthur Edersheim represent non-citizens
in wide array of humanitarian immigration
cases.
With the assistance of student clinicians,
Jacobsen and Edersheim represent immi-
grants and their family members in asylum
proceedings; assist individuals who have
been subjected to domestic violence with
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-
petitions; work to obtain U-Visa status for
non-citizens who are victims of crime; ap-
ply for T-Visa status on behalf of trafficking
victims; and help immigrant children who
have been abused, abandoned, or neglect-
ed obtain Special Immigrant Juvenile Sta-
tus. Jacobsen and Edersheim are always
looking to expand legal services to Ver-
mont’s immigrant population, and the two
regularly mentor attorneys who are inter-
ested in doing these kinds of cases on a
pro bono basis.
Since its creation, VIA has assisted peo-
ple from all over the world — 64 countries
from Afghanistan to Zambia— and who
have since taken up residence in nearly ev-
ery county in Vermont. From July 1, 2015
to June 30, 2016, Jacobsen and Edersheim
represented 40 clients in 43 cases. In ad-
dition, they handled forty-four significant
requests for legal information providing
research and consult, assistance in filling
out immigration forms, and help collecting
supporting documentation. For nearly 14
years, VIA’s work has helped hundreds of
vulnerable Vermont immigrants find safety
and stability in their new homes.
Impact of Funding from the
Vermont Bar Foundation
Through your donation to the Vermont
Bar Foundation and your participation in
the VBF’s “I Bank on Justice” program you
can ensure that these and the other wor-
thy projects funded by the VBF can con-
tinue into the future. To learn more about
the South Royalton Legal Clinic, go to their
website 3 where you can find information
and statistics about the core civil practice
areas and other programs aimed at help-
ing low income Vermonters in need of le-
gal representation. If you are inspired by
the work the Clinic does and want to learn
more about how your donations and IOL-
TA contributions help Vermonters around
the State please check out the newly re-
designed Vermont Bar Foundation web-
site which features stories about real peo-
ple who have been helped through the VBF
grants.
____________________
Ryan P. Kane, Esq. is an associate attor-
ney in the Montpelier firm Tarrant, Gillies
& Richardson and is a member of the Ver-
mont Bar Foundation Promotion Commit-
tee.
____________________
I hope! If you have not yet donated to the
VBF it is not too late—head on over to the brand
new and exciting Vermont Bar Foundation web-
site at https://vtbarfoundation.org , read stories
about how the VBF grants make a difference in
the lives of Vermonters, and donate what you
can to support this important work. If every
attorney reading this gave one billable hour it
would go a huge way toward ensuring the work
funded by the VBF continues.
2
See footnote 1, supra. Seriously though,
check out the new VBF website at https://vtbar-
foundation.org and donate to the VBF.
3
http://www.vermontlaw.edu/academics/clin-
ics-and-externships/south-royalton-legal-clinic
1
1959ers REUNITE A SIXTH TIME
Pictured from left to right are Steve Martin, Ted Tyler, Joe Frank, and John Hutton
who gathered for dinner with their spouses at Pauline’s Restaurant
in Shelburne on October 7, 2016. All 1959ers are holding copies of
Judge Martin’s published analysis of the circumstances of the death of Orville Gibson.
40
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2016-17
Praise from a student clinician for
the South Royalton Legal Clinic (SRLC):
“Working at the SRLC has given me
a unique opportunity to learn more
about the law and sharpen my lawyer-
ing skills. The SLRC is a diverse envi-
ronment and provides various areas of
practice for me to gain exposure to. I
particularly enjoy being able to apply
what I have learned in the classroom to
real-life cases and situations.”
– Meggie Kane VLS C’17
The attendees were celebrat-
ing for a sixth time their success
on the Vermont bar exam in 1959
and their subsequent legal ca-
reers in Vermont. Missing from
this reunion was the most illustri-
ous 1959er, Tom Salmon, who is
remembered among lawyers for
his service as Governor of the
State of Vermont; he sent his re-
gret. These five are among the
fourteen law school graduates
who took and passed the Ver-
mont bar exam in calendar year
1959. The others include six who
are deceased, one who has dis-
appeared, one who lives out of
state, and one in Vermont who
is usually absent but sent his re-
gards. To their knowledge, no
other group of examinees for the
Vermont bar has ever held a re-
union. Yet, at the conclusion of
this sixth reunion, the attendees
decided to have another reunion
dinner in 2018. The inescapable
conclusion is that the 1959ers
have been a convivial group
since their entry into the bar of
Vermont.
www.vtbar.org