Outgoing Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell is set to join the faculty of Vermont Law School in January as a visiting scholar at the U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental Law.
“I am most grateful to Vermont Law School for providing me this opportunity for an extraordinary overseas experience shortly after I complete my time as attorney general,” Sorrell said in a statement Wednesday.
His one-year stint will include two months of lectures at the law school’s partner schools in China, where he will discuss his work on environmental and public health issues. The U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental Law was founded in 2006 and aims to bring together lawyers, lawmakers and others to promote strong environmental policy in Asia.
Siu Tip Lam, director of the program, said the college was honored Sorrell agreed to work with it to advance environmental issues and advocacy.
“We look forward to introducing him to our colleagues in China, where we are likewise committed to training environmental stewards and legal advocates to use the power of the law to protect the environment, public health, and welfare,” the director said.
Sorrell, a Democrat, was appointed as Vermont’s attorney general in 1997 by then-Gov. Howard Dean and repeatedly won re-election. He announced in September that he would not run again. He is to be replaced by TJ Donovan, a Democrat who is Chittenden County state’s attorney.