A Lawyer's Life to Live - by Kimberly B Cheney (Paperback)

About the Book

A memoir of a extraordinary legal life.

Book Synopsis

Kim Cheney came to Vermont at a time when the US Supreme Court ordered reapportionment of the legislature, ended small town dominance, and loosed a flurry of excitement to bring the State into the progressive world. As the first lawyer ever assigned to the Education Department, Cheney replaced ancient laws with a system of checks and balances for running the schools. Once elected Washington County's State's Attorney, he handled crimes from traffic tickets to multiple murder and other serious crimes, and as State Attorney General, tackled many issues like women's rights, public access to governmental documents, and protecting Lake Champlain by suing New York State in the US Supreme Court. Later, in private practice, Cheney helped create laws to protect children in child custody decisions and revised laws governing adoption so that birth parents and adoptees could find each other. In this memoir of a legal life, Cheney shows us how a lawyer can help pave a path to live peacefully with each other.

Review Quotes

"Kim Cheney's memoir is an engaging story by itself and also familiar and illuminating to this former prosecutor. Personal and poignant, the memoir reveals how a child of relative comfort and privilege grows up to dedicate his life to public service and the pursuit of justice. With occasional humorous anecdotes and insights, Cheney captures the nuance and human complexities of the law. His story is also, importantly, one that will appeal to young people of any calling, seeking a career by taking on new challenges with no idea how to do a job, working hard to learn it, and then doing it very well. This is a great read for anyone interested in the evolution of the legal community in Vermont."

-Bobby Sand, founding Director of the Center for Justice Reform, Vermont Law School