by Mary C. Ashcroft, Esq. Bennington Attorney John Lamson Honored with VBA Pro Bono Service Award
As John Lamson’s roots run deep in Ver- mont, so does his empathy for Vermonters. This year’s VBA Pro Bono Service Award winner was born and raised in Orange County. His father was a surveyor for the forest service, later a nurse, and his mother a school librarian. John attended schools in Royalton and graduated from South Royal- ton High School.
Giving back to the community is a Lam- son family tradition. John’s father was a volunteer with the local rescue squad. The family are Quakers, with a strong belief in public service, and monthly Quaker meet- ings at the Lamson home when John was growing up exposed him to caring individ- uals committed to social justice. Like many young Vermonters,
John
wanted to leave the state and try city liv- ing. In high school he had developed a taste for theatre, acting in plays and mu- sicals. New York City beckoned, and he at- tended NYU, waited tables, and picked up acting jobs. His break came in 2002 when he was the voice of the Sundance channel for a year. John Lamson knew that he didn’t want to settle down and raise a family in the city, and he was intrigued with the law. His un- cle, Roger Lamson, had practiced law in Ludlow, Vermont. John sensed a parallel between acting and the law. “I told people that as an actor, I felt like I wanted to relay a message. I liked the idea that someone saw a movie and then was inspired to do some- thing with his life as a result.”
But for Lamson, movies or a play were too far removed from real life. “As an attor- ney, you can be involved one on one, know the result, know the effect, and really have a direct impact.”
So Lamson decided to return home and attend Vermont Law School. The school offers a full scholarship to any student who graduates from South Royalton High School. As luck would have it, another SRHS student also decided to attend VLS that year, so John and she split the schol- arship.
Because of his strong interest in public service, John knew he wanted to work for an organization like Legal Aid, and signed up to do poverty law at the South Royal- ton Legal Clinic. In his second year at law school, John learned about Have Justice– Will Travel. Its founder and director, Wyn- ona Ward, was a guest lecturer who spoke about the epidemic of domestic violence. Intrigued, John went to work as an in-
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tern for HJ–WT during the summer after his second year in law school. He so im- pressed Wynona that she told him to fin- ish up school and pass the bar “so we can hire you”.
Upon graduation from VLS in 2006, John asked Wynona if they had a job for him. “She told me ‘Yes, we’re not joking, now we just have to find the money to pay you,’” Lamson recalled. Have Justice–Will Travel received fund- ing for a project in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, and John started with them as a part-time lawyer in the fall of 2006. To supplement his income and pay his bills, he also continued to work in construction. For HJ-WT, John covered Orleans, Essex, and Caledonia Counties. He lived in Barnet, worked out of Brownington, and traveled all over the Kingdom. But he worried more about the amount of traveling his clients had to do, especially during early discus- sion of court consolidation. “How would a client get a relief from abuse order if she lived in Canaan but had to get to court in St. Johnsbury?” he pondered. “It’s not easy.”
Eventually Lamson’s legal position grew to full-time, but when a position opened up with Have Justice–Will Travel in Benning-
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • SUMMER 2012
ton, he took that, knowing that the grant funding was secure for two years. The Bennington Family Court had start- ed an integrated domestic violence docket under the leadership of Judge David Son- tag. Lamson liked the collaborative envi- ronment created by this integrated docket: people from PAVE, the states’ attorneys’ of- fice, public defenders and court staff all im- mediately became closely connected with all elements of the case as they worked to- ward resolution. “All were willing to work together,” noted Lamson, who appreciat- ed the collegial bar in Bennington County. In 2009, drastic funding cuts hit Have Justice–Will Travel. “We had to do every- thing on a shoestring,” John recalled. He lost funding for his paralegal at the same time his work load increased—Have Jus- tice’s Brattleboro Office closed, and John tried to pick up those cases in addition to his own Bennington cases. HJ–WT in south- ern Vermont went from a staff of four to just John. He briefly tried private practice for five or six months, but when the firm could not sustain an associate, John went back to Have Justice.
In May of 2011, grant funding ran out en-
tirely. “It was pretty tough,” recalled Lam- son, “we didn’t get much notice.”
www.vtbar.org
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