McColgin defending the underdog, teaching meditation

David McColgin has spent his entire career representing criminal defendants. Convinced that our country sends too many people to jail for too long, he has devoted his life to doing what he can to keep people out of prison or have them serve shorter sentences.

After taking a criminal law clinic at New York University Law School, McColgin discovered that most criminal law was based on constitutional law which meant that defense work was really defending constitutional rights.

“I found that defending the underdog against the awesome power of the state was the work I wanted to be doing,” he said.

After six years as a public defender for Legal Aid in New York City, McColgin moved to Philadelphia where he worked for 25 years, eventually becoming the head of the Appeals Unit for the Federal Defender Office before leaving urban life behind. McColgin’s husband had attended the School for International Training in Brattleboro and McColgin had always harbored a desire to move to Vermont.

“I wanted to get out of the big city, and we were looking for a progressive rural state with mountains and snow where I could continue doing defense work,” McColgin said. “Vermont was the only state that fit all those criteria.”

McColgin worked as a staff attorney in the Vermont Federal Public Defender Office from 2012 to 2022. He is partially retired but still does court-appointed appellate work for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He is also the defense counsel at Federal Recovery Court in Rutland.

The Recovery Court appeals to McColgin because he is interested in alternatives to incarceration. People who participate in the Recovery Court for a year are spared a prison sentence if they graduate successfully.

“It’s a way of promoting recovery and keeping people out of prison,” he said. “Studies show that putting people in prison doesn’t help with recovery. The highest rate of overdoses is people who have just been released from prison.”

In the 1980s, McColgin became interested in meditation and yoga.

“I was looking for something that would be good for my health,” he said. “I had a lot of stress from being a public defender in Philly.”

Eventually he discovered the Art of Living Foundation and was hooked. McColgin described Art of Living as a breathing meditation that brings about a deep meditative state.

“Breath is energizing and cleansing,” he said. “It works on emotional, physical, mental and spiritual levels and produces a cleansing, revitalizing feeling.”

McColgin organized Art of Living courses and then went through a two-year teacher training process. He teaches the practice on-line and in person at individual homes and the Ten Stones Common House.

McColgin moved to Charlotte in 2013. “I like being in a small rural community and having mountains and the lake nearby and living on the side of Mount Philo,” he said.

McColgin grew up downhill skiing, but since moving to Vermont he has gravitated towards backcountry skiing with alpine touring gear, often spending his time at Camel’s Hump Nordic Center, the Bolton backcountry and on the Camel’s Hump Challenge Trail.

“Once I moved up here, I realized this is where I should have always been living,” he said. “I love the fact that we have six distinct seasons including stick and mud seasons. I love seeing dramatic changes from season to season.”

McColgin appreciates the fact that he can see the Milky Way at night and enjoys taking moonlight hikes up Camel’s Hump.

Lately, McColgin has gotten involved in Third Act Vermont, an organization founded three years ago by Bill McKibben to harness the energy, wisdom and time of people 60 and older. He was part of the divestment action team which tried to get the Vermont Pension Investment Commission to divest from fossil fuels. While that didn’t happen, the commission did agree to develop a decarbonization plan. McColgin is now a co-facilitator for the coordinating committee and was pleased to be part of a successful lobbying day at the State House which combined 50 Third Act seniors and 15 students from the University of Vermont.

McColgin is also on the board of Therapeutic Works which provides transition and stabilization for people coming out of prison; either from finishing a sentence or being released on bail. The organization helps provide therapy and assistance for housing, getting medication and other requirements for reintegrating into society.

Although McColgin notes that defense work can be frustrating, he has never regretted his career choice. He says that what has kept him motivated is the inspiration he gets from his clients and his desire to make sure they are not defined by the worst day of their lives.