Archives for September 2014

Owen J. McClain Joins Sheehey’s Energy Group

Sheehey Furlong & Behm P.C. is pleased to announce that Owen J. McClain has joined the firm as an associate attorney.  Owen will practice primarily in the firm’s energy group, alongside attorneys Peter Zamore and Debra Bouffard.

Prior to joining the firm, Owen attended Vermont Law School, and clerked for Vermont’s trial courts in Chittenden and Addison counties.  Owen has also worked as a summer associate for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and as a law clerk for the Executive Office of the Governor.

Carie Tarte to join Vermont Joint Commission on the Future of Legal Services

Carie Tarte, RP®, has been invited to join the Vermont Joint Commission on the Future of Legal Services.  The Commission has been tasked by Chief Justice Paul Reiber of the Vermont Supreme Court to study the question of how to ensure that all Vermonters have access to quality, affordable legal representation.  It was created in a response to a sharp rise in the number of self-represented litigants in Vermont’s courts.

The Commission will consist of four committees.  Ms. Tarte will join the Legal Education and Practice Committee, which will study and develop responses to such questions as:

  • What reforms in the funding and provision of legal education could improve new lawyers’ ability to represent populations that currently lack representation?
  • Are there changes that can be made to Vermont’s unique clerkship program that would attract would-be law students to Vermont and enable new lawyers to provide more economical legal services?
  • What legal education is currently available for paralegals and other legal support personnel?

Ms. Tarte is the President and CLE Committee Chair of the Vermont Paralegal Organization.  Last winter, Ms. Tarte and two other VPO members published an article in the Vermont Bar Journal entitled “Equal Access to Justice: Paralegals and Limited Legal Licensure.”

Ian Carleton Files State and Federal Actions After DNA-Based Exoneration of Man Wrongfully Imprisoned For Nearly 18 Years

Attorney Ian Carleton has filed state and federal civil rights actions on behalf of John Grega, who was wrongfully convicted in 1995 of allegedly murdering his wife and sentenced to a prison term of life without parole. On May 14, 2012, post-conviction DNA testing results (also obtained by Attorney Carleton) revealed the presence of DNA from an unknown male (not Mr. Grega) on never before tested swabs taken during the autopsy of Mrs. Grega. On August 21, 2012, the Vermont Superior Court vacated Mr. Grega’s conviction based on this newly discovered exculpatory evidence. Mr. Grega was released the following day, after 17 years and 8 months in prison. In the wake of these events, Attorney Carleton has filed a variety of state and federal claims on Mr. Grega’s behalf, including claims for wrongful imprisonment, failure to investigate, and malicious prosecution.

Earlier: Ian Carleton Achieves Ground-Breaking Ruling.