Vermont H.C.R. 33: House concurrent resolution honoring Bonnie and Timothy Burke for their outstanding work at Wilson House in East Dorset

Bill Text

R-42 Page 1 of 1
2025

VT LEG #382066 v.1
No. R-42. House concurrent resolution honoring criminal defense and personal
injury attorney and Thetford Academy indoor track coach Charles Buttrey of
Thetford.
(H.C.R.33)
Offered by Representatives Masland of Thetford and Holcombe of Norwich
Whereas, Charlie Buttrey of Thetford graduated from Vermont Law and Graduate
School, and he initially practiced law in Norwich before moving his professional life
across the Connecticut River to Lebanon, New Hampshire, where he joined the law firm
now known as Schuster, Buttrey, and Wing, and
Whereas, the focus of his legal career has been as a criminal defense attorney who
participates in New Hampshire’s public defender conflict program, and this entrée
provides him a clientele consisting largely of persons who are frequently indigent and
who society has often written off, and
Whereas, a creative advocate in the courtroom, he employs ingenuity and spirited
argument to spare his clients from being imprisoned or paying fines, and he finds it
sobering that the U.S. Department of Justice reports that, in both New Hampshire and
Vermont, 40 percent of the released prison population is reincarcerated within three
years, and
Whereas, although his professional passion is the criminal defense side of his practice,
to which he devotes 80 percent of his time as a lawyer, the other 20 percent, composed of
personal injury law cases, is essential to the financial viability of his career, and in pursuit
of these clients, Charlie Buttrey has aired attention-grabbing television advertisements,
featuring persons whose activities could lead to injuries, including a skydiver, a character
he personally portrayed, accompanied with the catchy tagline, “Not Just Another
Lawyer,” and
Whereas, away from the courtroom drama, Charlie Buttrey enjoys fulfilling an equally
satisfying role as the Thetford Academy boys’ indoor track coach, and in 2025, the
athletes under his wise guidance convincingly clinched the Division II championship, and
in a desire to pursue a scholarly interest, he recently earned a graduate degree in theology
from Boston University, and
Whereas, after 38 years as a member of the bar, Charlie Buttrey has decided to step
aside from the active practice of law but intends to remain a vigilant warrior for criminal
justice reform through volunteering with Orange County’s Restorative Justice Center and
advocating at both the New Hampshire and Vermont State Houses to eliminate life
without parole criminal sentences, now therefore be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly honors criminal defense and personal injury attorney and
Thetford Academy indoor track coach Charles Buttrey of Thetford, and be it further
Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to
Charlie Buttrey.