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always be remembered and celebrated for the won-
derful colleague he was,” Katzmann added.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Hall moved as a
child with his family to Vermont, where his great-
great-grandfather, Peter Washburn, served as the
state’s governor from 1869 to 1870. Hall later attend-
ed Cornell Law School, where he served as president
of the Legal Aid Clinic, and graduated cum laude in
1977.
He served eight years as a federal prosecutor, but
left government to form the Vermont firm Reiber,
Kenlan, Schwiebert, Hall and Facey prior to his
nomination as U.S. attorney in 2001.
After joining the court in 2004, Hall kept his
chambers in Rutland and traveled every few weeks
to Lower Manhattan, where he sat for arguments at
40 Foley Square. Jonathan Lamberti, a Milbank as-
sociate who clerked for the judge from 2011 to 2012,
recalled that his boss was a “fastidious editor,” who
preferred to mark up draft opinions by hand.
A Vermont Republican, Hall was also often a swing
vote on contentious issues that sometimes became
the subject of rare en banc rehearings in the circuit.
“He was not ideological,” Lamberti said. “He was
always in the middle.”
Outside of the court, Lamberti said, Hall was Peter W. Hall. Photo: Rick Kopstein

“warm and gracious to everybody,” forging close Lamberti said he had a similar experience with
and lasting bonds with his former clerks. the judge while setting up for an annual barbecue
“The thing about Judge Hall, and this is the hard for Hall’s current and former law clerks one sum-
thing to talk about,” Lamberti said. “He would put mer. Hall mentioned that they would need a picnic
the focus on them. He was very humble.” table, and asked him to go and grab some two-by-
Hall was also known as an avid outdoorsman, fours that were laying around.
who was well-suited for life in Vermont. One for- “He gets out his hammer and nails and builds the
mer clerk, cited in Livingston’s tribute, recounted picnic table in a matter of 30 minutes,” Lamberti
the story of one winter day when Hall showed up to said. “It was a solid table.”
chambers midday in his dirty work pants and torn “He really was Mr. Vermont. He probably could
flannel shirt, or “in other words, no more haggard have been governor if he wanted,” Lamberti said.
than usual.” “He could have been a lot of things, but he really
“He explained that he had taken his truck through loved being a judge.”
the woods that morning after taking care of the hors- Hall is survived by his wife, Maria Dunton; his
es, but had gotten stuck. Luckily he had an ax, so it five children; and five grandchildren. The cause of
was only a matter of chopping down a few trees to his death was not immediately clear.
put under the truck tires for traction,” the clerk said. ¦

“He freed himself and made his way into chambers Tom McParland of New York Law Journal can be
like it was nothing: just another day on the Second contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on
Circuit.” Twitter @TMcParlandALM.

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