[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12829]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO GEOFFREY B. SHIELDS

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today I honor the dean and president 
of Vermont Law School, Geoffrey B. Shields, as he announces his 
retirement after four decades as a practicing attorney, educator, and 
scholar. He will leave a legacy about which he should be very proud.
  Dean Shields arrived at Vermont Law School in 2004, following a 
distinguished career in the public and private sectors. He received a 
bachelor of arts in economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard University 
in 1967. He earned his juris doctor from Yale Law School in 1972.
  Over the last 8 years, Dean Shields has guided Vermont Law School 
along a path of steady growth. Through his leadership the school has 
gained many new and talented faculty members, and has seen substantial 
growth in its endowment. He has initiated capital improvement projects 
on the school's campus, expanded the school's international 
partnerships, and has developed new clinics and institutes to focus on 
distinct fields of legal study. And he has sustained and built upon 
Vermont Law School's environmental law program, which has been rated 
the best program in the Nation for the last three consecutive years, 
and in the top two for the last 21 years. These continuing successes 
are reflective of Dean Shields' strong leadership and the dedication of 
the faculty, staff, and students who sustain a vital community of 
learning and innovation in the hills of central Vermont.
  During his career in public service, Dean Shields served as assistant 
to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and 
Welfare, counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and 
as counsel to Senator Frank Church. After he earned his law degree, he 
served as a law clerk for the late Judge James Oakes of the U.S. Court 
of Appeals for the Second Circuit, for whom a class room building at 
Vermont Law School is named.
  In the private sector, he served as a partner at the Chicago and 
Washington, DC, law firm of Gardner Carton and Douglas, where he was 
nationally recognized for his expertise in nonprofit law, corporate 
law, health care law and international trade law.
  Dean Shields has also made important contributions to education and 
scholarship beyond Vermont Law School. In Brattleboro, VT, he served as 
a foreign student advisor and assistant to the president at the 
Experiment in International Living and as an adjunct professor of 
economics at Marlboro College in Marlboro, VT. Dean Shields has also 
been involved in foreign policy issues through editing and writing, and 
as a member of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the Council 
on Foreign Relations in New York.
  In addition to his professional accomplishments, Dean Shields 
recently overcame serious illness with grace, humility, and 
determination. As he moves into the next chapter of his life, Marcelle 
and I wish him and his wife Genie the best for continued health and 
happiness.
  I thank Dean Shields for his 8 years of dedication to Vermont Law 
School, and I convey my admiration and respect for the contributions he 
has made to Vermont. He will leave Vermont's young law school and its 
faculty, staff and students in a strong position for continued growth 
and success. I am sure he will be greatly missed by all of those who 
have worked with him and learned from him. I wish him all the 
best.

                          ____________________