Insights and Experiences from Women Leading the Legal Profession (EWL261028)

Enelsa Díaz is a Managing Attorney at Greater Hartford Legal Aid (GHLA). She supervises GHLA’s Family Violence work, including the Restraining Order program for the Judicial District of Hartford, the Family Law unit, and the Immigration Law unit. She has been the co-chair of GHLA’s Anti-Discrimination Diversity Equity and Inclusion committee since 2016.

Enelsa is the Immediate Past President of the Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association and has served on the Executive Board for over four years. She is a member of the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity where she serves as a mentor to law students of color. She served on the Board of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence for six years and, in 2015, was honored as a First 100+ recipient for demonstrating leadership and commitment to ending domestic violence in Connecticut. She is frequently asked to speak and train attorneys and advocates concerning domestic violence throughout the state. She is also a longstanding member of the Family Law Section of the CT Bar Association and worked closely with Judicial in ensuring that low-income litigants and victims of domestic violence received access to justice under the new Pathways program.

Enelsa is a 1st generation Dominican-American and is fluent in Spanish. She is a graduate of The University of Hartford, summa cum laude, and of Western New England University School of Law where she was the Vice President of the Multicultural Law Students Association.

Carolyn Ikari is Counsel at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, where she is part of a team bringing 32,000 arbitrations against Amazon for underpaying its workers.  Previously, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division of the District of Connecticut for 30 years. Her practice focused on trials of employment matters in which she represented various federal agencies, such as the Departments of Labor, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and the US Postal Service. She also litigated a wide variety of civil matters, including immigration, tax, Freedom of Information, military records, prisoner cases, and Medicare.

Attorney Ikari is the current Co-President of the Connecticut Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She has spoken and presented on several occasions about her family's experience with Japanese American incarceration during World War II and the racially segregated US Army unit, the 442nd RCT.

Rowena is Co-Managing Partner of Brenner, Saltzman & Wallman LLP and Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department, where she practices in the areas of commercial, employment and probate litigation. Rowena graduated with high honors from the University of Connecticut Law School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After her clerkships with U.S. District Judge Dominic Squatrito and U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Smith, Rowena joined Brenner, Saltzman & Wallman LLP in 2000 and became a principal in 2005. She is honored to serve as CBA President-Elect.

Moy Ogilvie is the Hartford Office Managing Partner at the law firm of McCarter & English.  She has over twenty-five years of legal experience and her areas of practice have included product liability, pharmaceutical, toxic torts cases and complex business litigation. She has regularly handled pro bono matters through organizations such as Lawyers for Children America and Greater Hartford Legal Aid.  Moy also serves as the partner overseeing McCarter’s culture and inclusion initiatives firm wide.

Moy is active in the legal and local community.  She is the Immediate Past President of the Hartford County Bar Association.  She currently serves on the Connecticut Criminal Justice Commission as well as various local boards, including Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity and Hartford Youth Scholars.  Moy received her bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College and her J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

Attorney Quirk is a graduate of Western New England University, School of Law with law school. During law school, she participated in the Jessup Moot Court Competition, BLSA International Negotiations Team, and the Small Business Clinic. Upon graduation, she worked as a clerk at the Hartford Superior Criminal and Civil Courts and then entered private practice as an associate attorney for a long-standing personal injury firm in Bristol, Connecticut. As an associate attorney, she diligently pursued, handled, and settled a number of personal injury cases as well as workers’ compensation claims. She was also responsible for a large number of the firm’s favorable decisions before the Social Security Administration.

Attorney Quirk opened her downtown Meriden, Connecticut office in 2010 and continues her legal practice in Residential Real Estate Closings, Probate (including Decedent Estates, Conservatorships, Title 19 Medicaid claims & applications), Wills, Trusts, and Landlord Tenant.  Attorney Quirk is a member of the New Haven County Bar and the George W. Crawford Black Bar Associations and remains a member of the Meriden Economic Board.

Namita Shah practices in the area of public and private finance. Namita serves as the primary attorney in Day Pitney's roles as Lead Bond Counsel and Lead Disclosure Counsel for the State of Connecticut. She has acted as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, borrower's counsel, underwriter's counsel and trustee's counsel on general obligation, special revenue and conduit financings throughout the region.

She has extensive experience with general state and municipal law as well as laws relating to state agencies and authorities. She frequently drafts state legislation on a range of matters, including the authorization of economic recovery notes and GAAP deficit bonds as well as state legislation to ensure compliance with new federal requirements and regulations. Her institutional finance and commercial lending work includes secured and unsecured bank lending, asset-backed structured financing and private placements of secured and unsecured senior and mezzanine debt.

Attorney Tamara J. Titre serves as Deputy Commissioner for the State of Connecticut Office of the Claims Commissioner. A dedicated public servant, she previously served as Assistant General Counsel for the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations and as Assistant City Attorney and Senior Labor Relations Officer for the City of Bridgeport. Tamara is President of the George W. Crawford Black Bar Association, Vice President of the Greater Bridgeport Bar Association, and a member of the Connecticut Bar Association’s House of Delegates. Her commitment to justice, equity, and public service has earned her appointments to the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the Judicial Branch Civics Academy, as well as election to the Connecticut Bar Foundation’s prestigious 2026 class of James W. Cooper Fellows.

Beyond her legal career, Tamara is deeply committed to mentorship, youth empowerment, leadership development, and community service. She serves on the boards of Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County and Full Circle Youth Empowerment, Inc., and provides guidance to initiatives such as Journey 2 Justice, Inc., a law pipeline program dedicated to inspiring and preparing the next generation of legal professionals, and the University of New Haven’s Women in Leadership with AI-Driven Engagement Program. Tamara also actively supports Connecticut Bar Association initiatives that expand access to legal resources and engage future leaders, including Lawyers in Libraries and the High School Mock Trial Competition.

Tamara earned her bachelor’s degree from Fairfield University and her Juris Doctor from Michigan State University College of Law.

Outside of her professional and community endeavors, Tamara enjoys journaling, traveling, practicing self-care, and spending time with her family. She is a member of Chums, Inc. and Jack and Jill of America, Inc.