About NAAG
William H. Sorrell (D)
Vermont Attorney General
Elected: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
109 State St., Montpelier, VT 05609-1001
(802) 828-3173
http://www.atg.state.vt.us/
A native and resident of Burlington, Vermont, Attorney General William H. Sorrell graduated from the University of Notre Dame (AB, magna cum laude, 1970) and Cornell Law School (JD, 1974). Bill served as Chittenden County Deputy State’s Attorney from 1975-1977; Chittenden County State’s Attorney, 1977-78 and 1989-1992; engaged in private law practice at McNeil, Murray & Sorrell, 1978-1989; and served as Vermont’s Secretary of Administration, 1992-1997. As State’s Attorney, he personally successfully prosecuted several significant matters, including the first case allowing the admissibility of DNA evidence in a Vermont State Court and a ten-year-old homicide in which the victim’s body had never been found.
Governor Howard Dean appointed Attorney General Sorrell to fill the unexpired term of Jeffrey Amestoy, commencing May 1, 1997. He has enjoyed strong voter support in standing for election in November 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. His current term of office will expire in January 2011.
Bill is chair of the board of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) Mission Foundation; from 2004 to 2005 was president of NAAG; from 2005 to 2008 served as chair of the board of the American Legacy Foundation and remains on that board as immediate past chair; has served on the Vermont Judicial Nominating Board; as president of United Cerebral Palsy of Vermont; secretary of the Vermont Coalition of the Handicapped; and on the board of the Winooski Valley Park District. Prior to his presidential year, he was the chair of the NAAG Tobacco Committee and co-chair of its Consumer Protection Committee. In June 2003, Bill was selected by his peers from around the country to receive NAAG’s Kelley-Wyman Award, given annually to the “Outstanding Attorney General” who has done the most to further the goals of the nation’s attorneys general. In 2008, in recognition of his service, the American Legacy Foundation created an endowment in his name to fund an annual lecture series on Tobacco Policy and Enforcement issues that will be given yearly at a NAAG meeting.
