What do you do?
‘I am devoted to the City of Hartford where I live and work.’
I am my clients’ lawyer.
Please describe your career path…
I attended Mount Holyoke College, and upon graduation was named Glamour Magazine’s Best Woman Commencement speaker in the United States. I received my law degree cum laude from the Western New England College School of Law, where I served as the managing editor of the Western New England Law Review. Prior to founding Freed McKeen, I was counsel to Hartford Steam Boiler, where I managed the company’s litigation. I was formerly associated with the firms of Shipman & Goodwin and Bingham McCutchen here in Hartford. I founded Freed McKeen to bring the best of my big firm and big corporate legal background to individual and small business clients. I am experienced in and an advocate of alternative dispute resolution and am a graduate of Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. I am also particularly proud of my estate planning, family, and real estate legal practice within the LGBT community.
What’s been your biggest challenge professionally?
Leaving workplaces and colleagues I loved in order to continue to grow, learn, and build.
Where do you want to be in 10 years?
Right here in Hartford.
What is the best advice you received?
“Put on a helmet.”
How are you involved in your community?
I am devoted to the City of Harford, where I live and work. We chose to restore a historic 1880s downtown Hartford building to house our law firm. The office was showcased in Hartford Magazine’s green office edition, and the firm was recognized with an award from the Hartford Preservation Alliance.
I also support the arts in Hartford and gay and lesbian causes. I devote the majority of my pro bono legal work to helping local arts organizations, and my name appears in the Connecticut Supreme Court’s groundbreaking decision on marriage equality, Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, for which I co-authored an amicus curiae brief.
