William E. Drislane
Attorney
Bill serves clients throughout northern Vermont covering a broad range of estate and trust work -- estate and tax planning, settling estates and trusts, developing instruments and transactions to help preserve and transfer estates economically and efficiently.
Bergeron Paradis & Fitzpatrick invited Bill to join the firm, and with many thanks, he accepted the invitation and has been Of Counsel to the firm since July 2025 following the closing of his solo practice of 31 years, Drislane Law Office.
Bill arrived in Vermont in 1996 at a time when he was also practicing law in Massachusetts and New York. He has since focused strictly on Vermont practice. He is a member of the Vermont Bar Association and participates in the probate, trust, and estate law sections. On his arrival in Vermont he clerked for Honorable Susan Fowler at the Chittenden County Probate Court. He served on the Advisory Committee on Probate Rules by appointment of the Vermont Supreme Court, and he has spoken at numerous seminars and presentations on the subjects of probate, trusts, estates and taxes.
He graduated from Western New England College School of Law in 1994 and attained licenses in Massachusetts, New York and Vermont. Bill earned his undergraduate degree from Boston University School of Liberal Arts in 1974 with distinction in American History. He was manager and business owner of the Albany, New York tax preparation firm Tax-Prep from 1977 through 1992 started by his parents in 1967, where Bill honed his skills and knowledge of tax law, accounting, labor matters and services to the owners of small businesses. He is a native of Albany, New York and served in the US Navy 1967 - 1971 as a communication yeoman in Norfolk, Virginia and Keflavik, Iceland. Bill resides in Richmond, Vermont and enjoys visits to his son Will in the Tampa, Florida area.
He has counseled numerous non-profit organizations and is a current board member of Sundog Poetry Center advancing literary arts in Vermont. He was a founding board member and president of Young Tradition Vermont promoting traditional music and dance for young Vermonters. He also was board member and past president of HomeShare Vermont, matching the housing needs of elders, people with disabilities, and home seekers; and past president of Camp For Me, a summer day camp for adopted teens and children, founded by the Vermont Children's Aid Society. Bill is a musician and singer, composer of choral pieces, reciter of poems and stories, enjoys the outdoors, Nordic skiing, biking, hiking and loves to till the soil and cultivate the garden.