Vanessa Avery

- is a Business Litigation attorney with experience in complex commercial litigation, trust and probate litigation, an appellate advocacy.  She represents corporations and individuals in the state and federal courts, in arbitrations and mediations, during every stage of the civil pretrial process, and at the appellate court levels.  Ms. Avery's commercial litigation experience includes representation of financial institutions, government agencies, and technology and telecommunications companies.  Her experience with trust and probate litigation includes will contests, disputed accountings, fiduciary claims, and challenges to private and charitable trusts in the Probate and Superior Courts.  Immediately prior to joining McCarter & English's Hartford office, Ms. Avery was a Trial Attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, in Washington, D.C.  Since 2007, Ms. Avery has served as the President of the George W. Crawford Black Bar Association, the Connecticut affiliate of the National Bar Association.  She is also a pro bono advocate with Lawyers for Children America, representing abused and neglected children in civil proceedings in Juvenile Court.  In addition, Ms. Avery volunteers as an instructor and mentor in the Peer Mediation Program at Fox Middle School and tutors at Barnard Brown Elementary School both in Hartford.  Ms. Avery has received a number of professional honors.  She is a 2008 recipient of the Connecticut Supreme Court's Law Day Award and the New Haven Public School Foundation's Alumni Legacy Award.  In 2007, she was selected as a 40 Under Forty award recipient by the Hartford Business Journal.  The award honors 40 young professionals annually in the Greater Hartford area who have demonstrated skill and talent in their fields and made significant contributions to their communities.  Vanessa Avery resides in Hartford, CT.