For those of you for whom a desire to impress your parents is a part of your motivation, I offer the following cautionary tale. I've just been hang gliding in Montana. If I can bring one half of my mother's energy, and one quarter of her sense of humor to my new responsibilities, Vermont will be well served. Thank you Attorney General Doyle and thank you Attorney General Malley for your generous words. There are also here individuals to whom I cannot ever make an adequate expression of thanks.
Today is special for many reasons, but most of all because our old friends are here.
Twenty years ago as a young Assistant Attorney General, I spent a Sunday in the law library preparing for an oral argument the next day before the Vermont Supreme Court. Then, as now, the law library was next to the Court. But in those days the doors to the Supreme Court were unlocked during the weekend. And so when I finished a long day's preparation, I went into the empty courtroom and sat in the seat of a Vermont Supreme Court Justice. The next morning I appeared before the Court.