Presented by the Women in the Law Section and
Young Lawyers Section Women in the Law Committee
Pathways to Leadership for Women Lawyers is an annual dinner and award ceremony hosted by the Women in the Law Section and Young Lawyers Section Women in the Law Committee where the Ladder Award is presented to a distinguished woman attorney each year.
The Ladder Award was created by the YLS Women in the Law Committee in 2007 to honor a woman attorney who has “left the ladder down” for those women who follow in her footsteps. The award is aimed at recognizing the efforts of women in the profession who have recognized the importance of mentoring and supporting more junior lawyers in their own journeys to success in the profession.
We invite you to join us for this year’s event, where we will honor Attorney Kimberly Jacobsen with the 2025 Ladder Award.
Cost
$89 CBA Member
$99 Non-Member
2025 Ladder Award Recipient
Kimberly Jacobsen
Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, Hartford
Kimberly Jacobsen began her career in state service with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) as a housing discrimination investigator. She later served as a staff attorney for the Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission, where she concentrated on appellate issues and served as the state attorney general’s designee for the commission.
Attorney Jacobsen later rejoined the CHRO in its legal division as a litigation attorney, representing the commission at administrative hearings held before its public hearings office and in a variety of litigation before state courts. Her work also included appellate litigation, during which she argued before the Connecticut Appellate Court.
Most recently, Attorney Jacobsen was promoted to Managing Director and Commission Attorney of Employment Litigation at the CHRO. She manages attorneys, investigators, and support staff. Additionally, she serves as a resource for the commission’s regional offices and is involved in the preparation of its legislative proposals. She has a special interest in breastfeeding rights, disability law, and mediation.
Attorney Jacobsen earned her B.A. in sociology from the University of Delaware and her J.D. from Western New England University School of Law. She serves as a member of the CBA’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee and on the town of West Hartford’s Disability Commission. In recent years, she has spoken publicly about living well with Parkinson’s Disease in many different forums, including the article “My Disability Makes Me a Better Lawyer,” which she wrote for the January/February 2022 issue of CT Lawyer magazine.
Keynote Speaker
Nina T. Pirrotti
Garrison Levin-Epstein Fitzgerald & Pirrotti PC, New Haven
Nina T. Pirrotti serves as a partner at Garrison Levin-Epstein Fitzgerald & Pirrotti PC in New Haven, where she represents individuals in employment and civil rights litigation and negotiation. She is well-versed in all aspects of employment law, including discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, contract disputes, family and medical leave of absence and related leave of absence issues, unpaid wages, severance agreements, and whistleblower claims.
Before she began empowering employees, Attorney Pirrotti empowered survivors of physical violence at the Queens County District Attorneys’ Office Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau, where she prosecuted homicides, gang assaults, and other violent crimes. She is an experienced trial advocate, having served as lead counsel in approximately 25 jury trials and 50 bench trials. She taught trial advocacy at the New York Prosecutor’s Training Institute, the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, and the New York City Law Department, and trial practice at Quinnipiac Law School as an adjunct professor.
In 2015, Attorney Pirrotti was appointed by the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut to serve as a member of the Local Civil Rules Advisory Committee, which advises the Court concerning the rules for civil litigation. In 2021, she was elected to the Connecticut Bar Foundation James W. Cooper Fellows Program. Fellows are nominated by their peers based on their outstanding service to the profession and larger community.
Attorney Pirrotti is a fellow of the American Bar Association (ABA) and has served as a liaison for the ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law’s Diversity in the Legal Profession Committee and as a track coordinator. She is a co-chair of the Employee Privacy Subcommittee of the ABA’s Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee. She is also a member of the executive board of the National Employment Lawyers Association, a past president of the Connecticut Employment Lawyers Association, and a graduate of Yale Law School.