First Fellow: Grace B. Pazdan

In November 2008, Grace B. Pazdan, Esq. became the first Vermont Poverty Law Fellow. The two-year fellowship is funded by the Vermont Access to Justice Campaign and is administered by the Vermont Bar Foundation. Thanks to the generosity of numerous firms and individual members of the private bar, Grace is based in the Montpelier office of Vermont Legal Aid, Inc. Her focus is the foreclosure crisis in Vermont.

Grace B. Pazdan, Esq.

Ms. Pazdan provides low and moderate-income Vermonters facing foreclosure with a wide range of legal services, from full representation in court to brief counsel and advice over the phone. She has also brought predatory lending claims on behalf of Vermont homeowners who have been harmed by unscrupulous lenders and mortgage servicers.

In addition to representing individual homeowners, Ms. Pazdan is engaged in a variety of outreach and advocacy projects aimed at stemming the tide of foreclosures in the state and strengthening consumer protections for Vermont homeowners. For example, in collaboration with the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, she is advocating for legislation that would mandate mediation in all foreclosure cases in order to prevent the needless loss of homes.

Ms. Pazdan is committed to increasing the number of Vermont attorneys trained in foreclosure defense and is collaborating with the Vermont Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Vermont Bar Association to ensure that Vermonters in need will be able to find competent, effective representation to save their homes.

Vermont Poverty Law Fellowship – Update: April 2010

2009 Vermont Access to Justice Campaign Cabinet

• Spencer Knapp, Chair
• Victoria Brown
• Thomas Carlson
• Robert DiPalma
• James Gallagher
• Hon. Denise Johnson
• Thomas Hayes
• Tom Jacobs
• Eric Miller
• Joseph O’Rourke
• William Reedy
• Donald Rendall
• Potter Stewart