RC: Immediately after the end of the 2015 annual meeting.


BP: And it’s a two-year term? RC: Yes.


BP: So what does that mean for Rich Cas- sidy and this office and this desk? RC: It means that I am busier than ever. Since the annual meeting this year, I have been making an effort to get to every draft- ing committee meeting, and as many of the joint editorial board committee meetings as I can.


BP: Make that concrete, what does that mean? Every month? RC: I attended five drafting committee weekends this fall. There will be five more between the first of the year and the end of April. So for six months out of the year, al- most every other Thursday afternoon, I hus- tle out to the airport and fly to our meeting site, often Chicago.


At a drafting committee weekend typi- cally at least three committees are work- ing. The president and I split the meetings and go from one to another to keep track of what is happening. We pay particular attention to decisions that may affect en- actability. We take the pulse of the pipe- line to have the right volume for upcoming annual meetings. A few years ago, we had twelve acts for second reading and approv- al during one a seven-day meeting—that’s too much.


So I attend those meetings and try to get home on Saturday night. I will be doing that next spring and I anticipate for three years thereafter.


Of course, there other meetings, tele- phone calls, email and reading to do.


BP: Your annual meeting is seven days


long? RC: It is. Until very recently it was eight


days.


BP: And you meet twice a year? You have a mid- year meeting? RC: We have a mid-year meeting that is attended by the Executive Committee and the Committee on Scope and Program.


BP: Is that meeting shorter? RC: It is three days, although for me it’s five days because the leadership also does a strategic planning meeting and a coordi- nation meeting with the leadership of the Uniform Law Commission of Canada.


BP: One of the perks of being president is that you get to decide where the two an- nual meetings that you have to run will be? RC: That’s right.


BP: So you are working on that already? www.vtbar.org


RC: Yes. We have agreed to bring the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Uniform Law Commission to the Stowe Mountain Lodge. That will be the first time in the 124-year history of the Conference that an annual meeting has been conducted in Vermont. I am smiling as I say that, because I love Ver- mont and Becky and I have worked with these people for a long time and know many of them very well. Most have never been here. We are looking forward to see- ing them experience this state that we love. They will love it too.


BP: So this is the big meeting, the week- long meeting. How many people are com- ing to Vermont in 2016? RC: There are 381 commissioners, all lawyers, judges, or law professors. I ex- pect around three hundred members of the Conference for most of the week. Most will bring their spouses or partners. The draft- ing committees will bring their reporters, their ABA liaisons, and many observers. The Conference staff will be here. That should total about seven hundred people, includ- ing spouses, partners, children, and other guests.


BP: That’s an amazing number for that long a period of time. RC: Yes, it takes real commitment, but these people demonstrate it.


BP: That’s going to have a big economic impact on this state, hopefully. RC: I think it will. The room rents alone


will bring half a million dollars in revenue. I expect that the direct impact on Vermont to be a million and a half dollars, maybe more.


BP: Restaurants, entertainment, car rent-


als … RC: All of that and more. It’s a wonder-


ful gift that we have the privilege of bring- ing to Vermont. Some members aren’t al- ways in meetings; some will take some time besides Sunday afternoon to do side-trips. And spouses, partners, and family mem- bers will be doing sightseeing in the Stowe area. We are going to put together a great meeting for them. We need to find some things for people to do, and plan some so- cial events, but that won’t be difficult.


BP: It’s a great opportunity. You know,


until we talked a week or two ago, I would have just assumed, that this was the first time a Vermonter would be president of the Uniform Law Commission, and you cor- rected me. RC: I will not be the first president from


Vermont, but the first in a very long time. George Brigham Young, from Newport, served a two-year term as president of the Conference from 1925 through 1927. I don’t know much about him, but I have


THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2014 17


learned a little, and I intend to learn more.


BP: What do we know about him? RC: He was a very prominent Vermont


lawyer. He was the president of the Ver- mont Bar Association and general counsel to the National Life Insurance Company. I read some of his remarks at Vermont Bar Association meetings and he was interested in federalism, an issue that remains a very important concern for the Commission. He was eager that state law remain vital and be the primary governing law on subjects like domestic relations, commercial law, proper- ty law, estates and trusts, tort law, and crim- inal law. All are traditionally matters of state law. In recent years, there has been more federal involvement in those areas. For one thing, globalization has drawn the federal government into those subjects. For ex- ample, there is international concern about child custody and visitation, and so trea- ties and conventions have been adopted that relate to those issues. One thing that I didn’t know—and probably wouldn’t have known, except for my involvement with the Conference—is that not all treaties are self- executing. A treaty may have been adopt- ed by the United States, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the laws are in place to implement it. So the ULC works with the State Department and the Hague Confer- ence on International Private Law on trea- ty implementation. That allows a state law perspective to fill in the some of the blanks in these treaties and conventions.


BP: Interesting. Anything else you want to add to this? RC: I feel very fortunate for this oppor- tunity to be involved in guiding an impor- tant American legal institution. So far, it has been entirely worthwhile and I am delight- ed. I hope that the fact that it has happened will be good for Vermont.


BP: You have to keep us up to date as plans come together. For the summer of 2016, I am sure members of the VBA would be interested in knowing what is going to happen and how maybe we can be involved in that. RC: We will do that. One of the things we can count on is that lawyers who want to see what’s happening can do so. There will be some social events that will bring Ver- mont lawyers and Commissioners together.


BP: That’s great. Well, Rich, thank you for doing this. RC: Thank you for the opportunity.


Interview with Rich Cassidy


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