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Beth McCormack

Titles

  • Dean, Vermont Law School
  • Professor of Law

Degrees

  • JD, Boston University School of Law
  • AB, University of Chicago

Contact

Phone: 802-831-1004

Biography

On March 21, 2023, Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Board of Trustees named Beth McCormack dean of Vermont Law School. Prior to serving as dean, she had been appointed interim president and dean of VLGS, becoming the first woman to hold that position in the school’s history.

While interim president and dean, McCormack led the school through the COVID-19 pandemic and the adoption of its strategic plan. As part of that strategic plan, McCormack led the development and implementation of the school’s part-time Online Hybrid JD program.

McCormack served as the vice dean for students from 2017-2021. For the 2016-2017 academic year, she served as the deputy vice dean for academic affairs. From 2013-2016, McCormack was the assistant director of the Legal Writing Program. For the 2012-2013 academic year, she served as the assistant director of the Academic Success Program.

McCormack joined the Vermont Law School faculty in 2011. She teaches Civil Procedure in both the residential and Online Hybrid JD programs. She has also taught Appellate Advocacy, Legal Writing I, Legal Writing II and Legal Methods, Arbitration, Advanced Appellate Advocacy, Dispute Resolution Writing Seminar, and Environmental Dispute Resolution.

McCormack practiced in the litigation section of the Boston law firm Mintz Levin from 2001-2011. She has extensive experience in commercial litigation with a focus in construction law. Her practice included all aspects of state and federal litigation, as well as alternative dispute resolution. She is experienced in arbitration practice and procedure and has represented clients before arbitration panels and in pre-arbitration and post-arbitration proceedings. She was a member of the firm’s hiring committee and served as a mentor to new associates. In addition, from 2003-2011, she was an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Law, where she taught Legal Research and Writing to first-year law students. In 2007, McCormack served as a special assistant district attorney at the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office for a six-month term, where she took more than 20 criminal cases to trial. She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, before the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

She received her AB from the University of Chicago and her JD, cum laude, from Boston University School of Law. During law school, McCormack was a member of the Public Interest Law Journal. She also participated in the Stone Moot Court Competition, the Albers Honors Moot Court Competition, and was a member of the Craven National Moot Court Team. She was a Paul J. Liacos Scholar and an Edward F. Hennessey Distinguished Scholar.

McCormack is a Board member for the National Association of Stand-Alone Grad Schools. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the North Country Animal League in Morrisville, Vermont.

Curriculum Vitae

Expertise

  • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Appellate Advocacy
  • Arbitration
  • Constitutional Law
  • Legal Writing
  • Mediation

Departments

  • Dean's Office

Courses Taught

  • Advanced Appellate Advocacy
  • Appellate Advocacy
  • Arbitration
  • Dispute Resolution Writing Seminar
  • Environmental Dispute Resolution
  • Legal Methods
  • Legal Writing I
  • Legal Writing II