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Aidan Bearor, a Rising 3L, is working at the Vermont Attorney General Office this summer. 

(The following excerpts from a recorded interview have been edited for clarity and brevity.)

On the work of the Vermont AG Office: 

The AG Office itself has various agencies within it, including Consumer Protection, the Criminal Division and the Civil Division, and the Department of Corrections.  I represent the Department of Corrections.  There are two main categories of cases under Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure --  75 cases and 74 cases.  A 74 case involves an internal appeal, when there is a remedy within the administrative procedure of the agency itself.  These might be furlough revocations, for example.  There's parole and there's furlough. Furlough means that you're actually serving out your sentence in the community, and it's counting towards your sentence; whereas parole does not count towards your sentence. And when furlough is revoked, there is an internal procedure under Rule 74 that the inmates must follow if they want to appeal.  With Rule 75,  there isn't any remedy like that. So that would be civil-rights claims, habeas corpus, everything else that isn't within the statute. 

On his daily work there: 

I currently am working on two Rule 74 cases. I'll be appearing in court on July 24th and 10th for those. I'm very excited about them. And these cases are actually starting and finishing while I'm there. So I've been able to stick with these cases from the beginning, and I'm very attached to them.  We get upwards of 12 cases a week. It’s nowhere near the caseload of a defender's office, but it is a pretty hefty caseload. 

Vermont is actually very open to the idea of getting interns in court.  I get to appear in status conferences, and I actually will be conducting a hearing on July 10th, where I'll be doing direct, and I'll be doing the opening. It's a great department for developing those skills because we have everything down to small claims cases where they're suing over a $25 razor that went missing. So I am able to present those cases without the stress of knowing someone is going to go back to jail, or someone is going to get out of jail necessarily every time. 

It's a very small department.  You really do get close to these attorneys, and I have absolutely loved every day working with them. They're a fantastic crew, and they truly have the interests of justice in mind rather than a blind adherence to what the client is necessarily advocating. Like we'll have cases where there was clearly a due process concern, and we will advocate for a new hearing rather than pushing forward with the litigation and potentially violating someone's due process rights. So we are an advocate in every sense of the word. 

We're on the front lines with this kind of work. We really are the bastion between the actual facility and the community, making sure that decisions are made properly and everyone is benefiting. 

On what he’s hoping to achieve this summer: 

It would be outstanding to be in court and conduct a good direct and a good cross, and then have on a piece of paper that I've appeared in court and that I won for the department, that I won for the client. That would just be momentous for me.

I have on my wall behind me, framed next to my diploma, the order granting my motion to appear as an intern. I've wanted to be an attorney since I was 11. This is all I've wanted to do my whole life, to be in a courtroom. And I have, on a sheet of paper, the day I'm going to do it. It would be really, really cool if it was a win. I am thinking it will be, but I don't want to jinx myself.

Another thing I would really like to accomplish this summer is making a good impact on this very overworked and underappreciated corner of the law. We know about prisons. We know about prisoners. We know about the Crim Pro aspect of it. But what happens after people are incarcerated? What happens when you're focusing on rehabilitation? What happens in those situations? And if f I could bring something to the table this summer where they would look back and say, wow, he really made this easier for us, I wouldn't be able to thank this opportunity enough. It's really quite neat to be in this position and to hopefully help.