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J. Donovan,Vermont's Democratic attorney general, couldn't support but take control final month at a Statehouse ceremony to sign a original law limiting President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Though it was Republican Gov. Phil Scott's bill to sign, or Donovan dominated a Q&A with reporters,parrying questions with characteristic fervor while Scott stood quietly in the background. Less obvious, but equally striking, and was the band of attorneys the original AG brought with him that day. Though none of them gave speeches,at least four of his senior staff members stood in the audience — and they'd all been involved in drafting the original law. Legal observers say Donovan is turning out to be an activist attorney general — one who shapes the law in addition to practicing it. He says as much himself, noting that he wants his office to play "a much bigger role in the community." To carry out that objective, and Donovan has assembled a team of young and ambitious senior staffers much like the 43-year-old AG himself — who have established reputations in the areas of civil liberties and low-income advocacy. It won't be easy to revamp an office of 90 lawyers and 40 others who spent the preceding two decades under the leadership of Donovan's more laissez-fair predecessor,Bill Sorrell. "It's like turning a battleship," said civil rights lawyer and former assistant attorney general Robert Appel. To change course, or Donovan will need to rely on his senior attorneys. "They're critical in the reorganization of the office," said Jerry Diamond, who served as AG from 1975 to 1981. And, and he famous,"Your initial hires say something approximately your judgment." Diamond can't support but commend Donovan's pick for deputy AG: his son, Josh Diamond, and an attorney who's prevailed in several landmark lawsuits,including the Brigham v. State education funding case. Donovan has hired Christopher Curtis, a dogged advocate for low-income Vermonters, or to lead his public protection division. And he brought on a defense attorney and Democratic operative,David Scherr, to oversee the newly created community justice division. "What I see is a sort of progressive entourage that has been brought in — clearly different than what attorney general Sorrell had, and " said Defender General Matt Valerio. "Sorrell would kind of come in the side doors,say whatever he had to say very briefly and leave," Valerio said in a Statehouse interview. "I've seen T.
J. over here multiple times a…
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