Meet Marc Mihaly

Rooted to place

I live in East Calais with my wife, Christy, a children’s book author. We have three children and a growing number of grandchildren. Vermont has been our home since 2004. I love Vermont because of its people and its landscape, both unique. I’ve lived in many places, and there’s no place like here. We live on land owned cooperatively by three families, much of it in hay tended and harvested by the McKnight Family Farm.

I was born and raised in Cincinnati. After college, I spent two intense years as a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador. The mayor of San Salvador, where I lived and worked, was an attorney, and I so admired him that I decided to go to law school.

Professional Experience

I found my way to law school in California, worked at Legal Aid, then joined the California Attorney General’s office. But a new governor eliminated my job with the environmental protection division. So, I helped start one of the nation’s first public interest environmental law firms. In my work as an attorney, I represented farmers, community groups, tribal governments, and environmentally progressive cities and towns. The firm I founded became the largest pro-environment law firm in the country.

But twenty years ago, my wife and I decided to leave California. Our older kids were away at college, and my parents had recently passed away. We sought a strong community, a place with four seasons and natural beauty, and a good place to raise our youngest. We found our way to Vermont where we felt truly at home. I found work at Vermont Law School. I taught and ran the VLS environmental law program, and then became President and Dean, retiring in 2017. I consider Vermont my true and final home.

Volunteer Commitment

I’m proud to serve currently as the vice chair of the Calais Selectboard. I’m on the board of the East Calais Community Trust dedicated to the renovation and re-opening of the East Calais store, and I’m helping a volunteer committee working to find federal funding for needed repairs and reinforcement of the Curtis Pond dam. I’m a member of the board of VEIC, the non-profit parent to Efficiency Vermont. And I had the honor to serve as a member and then chair of the board of the Vermont Land Trust for 11 years.