VTACDL

Lori Jensen

Executive Director
90 Beech Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452

802-343-4628

vtacdl@gmail.com

www.vtacdl.com

President:

Devin McLaughlin



President-Elect:
Josh O'Hara



Secretary: 

Tim Fair



Treasurer:

Mary Kay Lanthier

Public Defender Rep:

Zach Weight



At-Large Directors:

(3-year terms expiring 2019)

David Silver

Frank Twarog

(3-year terms expiring 2020)

Rob Sussman

Paul Volk

(3-year terms expiring 2021)

Stephanie Foley

Dan McManus

THE VERMONT ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS  

presents
 

“THE DO’S & DON’TS OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE”

Friday, November 2, 2018

Middlebury Inn, Middlebury, Vermont

8:30 am Registration, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm Program

REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, OCT. 26th

REGISTER NOW by filling out the form below.

8:30 - 9:00             Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 – 9:15            Opening Remarks- Devin McLaughlin, VTACDL President

9:15 – 12:00         Effective advocacy lessons from the trenches:  Our panel of experienced criminal defense attorneys will share their insights on how to successfully defend your clients.  The topics will include overcoming your fears of trial, necessary case investigation and preparation, pretrial and in limine motions, effective voir dire, strong openings and closings, and witness examination.  SPEAKERS: Chris Montgomery, Esq., Dan Sedon, Esq., MaryKay Lanthier, Esq. and Brian Marsicovetere, Esq.

10:30 - 10:45        BREAK

12:00 – 1:15         LUNCH ON YOUR OWN or ORDER AT THE MIDDLEBURY INN

(must place order by 10:30 am)

12:30- 1:15           VTACDL MEETING

1:15 – 3:15           Effective advocacy lessons from the bench:  Our panel of distinguished judges will discuss what they have seen work well and not so well, and what you need to be paying attention to in the courtroom.  The topics will include pleas and surviving plea colloquies, motion practice, effective voir dire, persuasive openings and closings, witness examination and objections, and what works in sentencing. SPEAKERS:  Judge David Fenster, Judge Dennis Pearson, and Judge Timothy Tomasi

3:15 – 3:30            BREAK

3:30 – 4:30           Vermont Supreme Court Advocacy: Our Appellate Defenders will discuss effective representation of your clients’ interests on appeal, including tips for preparing your brief, arguing before the justices, and preserving issues for the appeal during trial.  SPEAKERS:  Josh O’Hara, Esq. and Rebecca Turner, Esq.

SPEAKER BIO’S:

MaryKay Lanthier, Esq. has been the supervising attorney at the Rutland County Public Defender’s Office since 2007.  Mary Kay worked in Addison County from 1998 -2007, alternating between private practice and the Addison County Public Defender’s Office.  She served as a law clerk for the Vermont trial courts, covering the Chittenden District Court and Addison County courts from 1996-1998.  Mary Kay is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and a past president and current Treasurer of VTACDL.  She is a graduate of Amherst College and Northeastern University School of Law.    

Brian Marsicovetere, Esq. joined the Law Offices of Kevin Griffin, PC as an associate upon graduation from Vermont Law School in 1999.  He assumed management of the firm, currently Marsicovetere and Levine, PC, upon Judge Griffin’s appointment to the bench in 2012. Brian has handled criminal and civil rights cases in Vermont and New Hampshire state and federal courts since 1999 and has taught students and attorneys at various trial practice and/or clinic programs for Vermont’s Defender General and Vermont Law School (Adjunct Professor).  He has robust trial experience in criminal cases ranging from DUI to murder.

Chris J. Montgomery, Esq. is a senior associate at Barr, Sternberg, Moss, Silver and Munson, P.C. A graduate of Rice University and Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Chris has been practicing law first in Texas and then Vermont since 1985. He currently specializes in criminal defense, handling litigation in both private practice and for the Vermont Defender General’s Serious Felonies Unit. He is a member of the VBA, VTACDL and regularly contributes as a speaker for the Green Mountain Juvenile and Criminal Defense Institute annual June training seminar.

Joshua S. O’Hara, Esq. is an Appellate Public Defender working in the Montpelier branch of the Office of the Defender General.  He has held that position since 2011, and he was in private practice from 2008 to 2011.  His practice has included trial and appellate defense of people accused of crimes ranging from disorderly conduct to murder.  He is president-elect of VTACDL, an associate member of the Board of Bar Examiners, and vice chair of the Burlington Housing Board of Review.  He is a graduate of Truman State University and Vermont Law School.

Dan Sedon, Esq. has been a criminal defense attorney for 25 years and is a partner in the law firm of Sedon & Ericson, P.C, in Chelsea, Vermont. He practices in all areas of criminal law, from grand jury appearances through jury verdict and appeal. He has tried over 100 cases to jury verdict and has obtained acquittals on behalf of clients with charges ranging from Murder and Embezzlement to Illegal Possession of an Alligator. He has testified as an expert witness in numerous Post Conviction Relief and Legal Malpractice cases. He has previously presented on criminal law and procedure, evidence and trial practice at the Green Mountain Criminal Defense Institute summer seminars, the Vermont Bar Association, Vermont Law School and Vermont Technical College.  He is a member of the Vermont Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure. Dan received his B.A degree from Rutgers College and his J.D degree, cum laude, from Vermont Law School.

Rebecca Turner, Esq. is the supervising attorney of the Appellate Division of the Office of the Defender General.  She has been an appellate defender for over ten years. Prior to this, Rebecca was a criminal-immigration attorney and focused on deportation defense in the Washington D.C. area. Rebecca went to the University of New Mexico School of Law and Oberlin College.

Judge David R. Fenster was appointed to the Vermont Superior Court in 2016. Before being appointed, Judge Fenster served as the Addison County State’s Attorney from 2009 to 2016. He also practiced criminal defense while in private practice and served as a Deputy State’s Attorney in Bennington County. Judge Fenster clerked for the Honorable Conrad W. Krafte of the New Jersey Superior Court in Hackensack, New Jersey. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and a juris doctor, cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Judge Fenster currently serves on the Criminal Division Oversight Committee and, as an attorney, served on the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure. He is a Judicial Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Past President of the Vermont Bar Association.

Judge Dennis Pearson (Ret.) served as a Superior Court Judge for almost 18 years in every courthouse and every Division in the northern tier counties, after appointment in December 2000. Prior to appointment he was a very busy civil litigator with Gravel & Shea after arrival in Vermont in 1983; in that capacity he appeared at least once in every courthouse in Vermont, a fact Governor Dean found persuasive.  He earned a B.A. from the Residential College at the University of Michigan, and his J.D. degree from New York University in 1977, where he was selected for the NYU Law Review through a writing competition and spent most of his 3^rd year in clinical practice at Legal Services for the Elderly Poor. He served a 2-year clerkship with a federal District Judge in Cleveland, and then was a civil litigation associate for 3+ years in a large New York City firm (Coudert Brothers, since defunct, probably because he left for Vermont) located in what was then the Pan Am building.

Judge Timothy B. Tomasi was born in Montpelier, Vermont, in 1963.  He is a 1985 graduate of Columbia College and a 1988 graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was a Notes and Comments Editor of the Columbia Law Review and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.  In 1988-89, he served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Hugh H. Bownes of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.  From 1989 to 1994, he worked in the Trial Department of a Boston firm and volunteered a portion of his time to serve as a Special Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County.  From 1994 to 2007, he was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Vermont and served as Chief of the Civil Division from 1999 to 2007.  From 2007 until his appointment to the bench in 2010, he was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Vermont.  He has been a presenter at a number of CLE programs for the VBA and other entities on trial and appellate litigation and serves on a number of committees within the Judiciary.  

Questions?  Contact VTACDL Executive Director Lori Jensen at (802) 343-4628 or email vtacdl@gmail.com.

Thank you for registering for our CLE!