Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Vermont Bar Journal, Summer 2019 | Page 6

Director
vocacy, having served two terms as a state
representative from 1986 – 1990. Asked
what his favorite part about the legislative
advocacy work he’s done has been, Bob re-
plied: members of the VBA who made many
sacrifices to improve and modernize
our laws. Legislative advocacy on be-
half of our association only works be-
cause of members’ involvement.
I’d say my favorite part of the work has
been positioning the VBA in a place
where legislators rely on the associa-
tion as they work on bills. Since 1996
we’ve become the “go to” resource
for many issues, many of which didn’t
even appear on our radar screen. But
legislators have come to respect us
and seek us out for advice and sug-
gestions for how best to proceed
even if the topic at hand wasn’t nec-
essarily one that we’d identified. Earn-
ing that position of respect is one of
my proudest accomplishments. The VBA is happy to help our mem-
bers make a very positive difference at
the statehouse. Without members’ will-
ingness to share their expertise, and their
generosity of time and effort in preparing
and delivering testimony, legislators would
be at a distinct disadvantage when voting
on bills that impact members and their cli-
ents. We are very grateful to all the lawyers
who have answered the call to testify when
asked, to propose legislation, and to other-
wise inform legislators about a wide variety
of topics. And Bob, we are very grateful
to you for the standard of excellence that
you’ve brought to VBA legislative advo-
cacy. We will do our best to maintain and
build upon that standard!
And his least favorite part?
I’d say it’s the unpredictability of
scheduling and the amount of down
time involved. There’s certainly a lot
of “hurry up and wait” as those of
you who have traveled to Montpelier
to testify certainly know. I can’t count
how many times I or one of you was
stymied by ongoing floor debate that
kept committees from meeting as
scheduled. My thanks go to all of the
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THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • SUMMER 2019
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