Jessica Ritter is a partner in the firm’s School Law practice group and serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. Jessica represents schools in student, school governance and employment matters. Jessica negotiates certified and non-certified collective bargaining agreements on behalf of numerous public boards of education and advocates for public schools in arbitrations and in a wide variety of administrative proceedings before various state agencies. She also works with both public and independent schools addressing student conduct issues, school policies, labor disputes and employment litigation arising in the education context.
Prior to joining Shipman & Goodwin, Jessica represented school clients in Connecticut and Massachusetts with a primary focus in education, civil litigation and labor and employment matters. Prior to attending law school, Jessica served as a volunteer with AmeriCorps in the greater Boston area. She also worked for the Massachusetts House of Representatives Ways & Means Committee, where she reviewed and analyzed budgets of Massachusetts' educational state agencies and drafted recommendations on legislation to the Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee.
- Listed as a Connecticut Super Lawyer Rising Star®: Schools & Education (2014-2016)
- 40 Under Forty, Hartford Business Journal (2017)
- University of Connecticut: Adjunct Professor, Neag School of Education
- Connecticut Bar Association
- Connecticut School Attorneys Council: President (2013)
- Oliver Ellsworth American Inn of Court
- Mark Twain House & Museum: Board of Trustees (2017)
- Connecticut Housing Investment Fund (now Capital for Change, Inc.): Board of Directors (2012-2016)
- Fred D. Wish School Volunteer Tutor Program
- Statewide Legal Services of CT, Inc. Pro Bono Security Deposit Clinic