VAAP presents to Vermont Bar Association
VAAP was proud to present to an audience of about 200 lawyers, law students, and legal workers at last month’s Vermont Bar Association (VBA) 2025 Mid-Winter Thaw Conference. The session was titled, “Reimagining Inclusivity in Times of Change: Strategies for Supporting Diverse Teams to Effectively Represent Diverse Clients.” The session was held on January 17 from 2 to 3:30pm in Montreal, QC for 1.5 diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandatory continuing legal education credit.
At the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP), diversity is not just a value—it’s a cornerstone of our mission and model, and a driving force in our success. As a majority-minority-led legal services provider, our team’s varied backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences uniquely position us to represent under-documented noncitizen clients facing systemic barriers to social and economic participation. Yet, we recognize that achieving true inclusivity requires more than making law firm staff representative of the client communities we serve; it demands intentional efforts to eliminate bias and foster equity in every aspect of legal service. The incoming, explicitly anti-immigrant federal administration will put VAAP's service model to the test as we work to stay grounded in our equity and inclusion practices while managing an overwhelming volume of immigration law, policy, and practice changes.
VAAP was proud to present this 90-minute session exploring actionable strategies for creating legal work environments that honor and uplift individuals of all races, ethnicities, religions, national origins, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities. Participants will learn from VAAP’s approach to integrating and supporting diverse team members to navigate bringing their whole selves to representing diverse clients, while addressing the unique challenges of immigration lawyering in 2025. Together, we’ll discuss practical steps to eliminate bias, expand accessibility, and build legal workplaces where everyone—not just clients but colleagues, too—can thrive. This program is designed to satisfy diversity and inclusion CLE requirements by providing tools to advance equity in legal practice and ensure a more inclusive and just legal profession.
VAAP staff modeled Circle Process to respond to mutually agreed thematic prompts with opportunities for audience members to speak with their neighbors and share out with the larger audience. Several participants reached out afterward to express gratitude for VAAP staff’s authenticity, creativity, and grace. To quote one participant, “Your panel at Mid-Winter Thaw was truly awesome and meaningful. I continue to reflect on the wisdom you all shared. Standing with you.”
Here’s to many more open and honest conversations about how we do the work of preserving human rights, civil liberties, and due process for all in times of strong opposition and unprecedented change.
A huge thank you to the VBA Young Lawyers Division for lifting up our work and service model!
