Vanessa L. Bryant
Connecticut Bar and the Connecticut District Court Bar
Vanessa L. Bryant was appointed as a United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut by President George W. Bush on April 2, 2007 and entered on duty on April 3, 2007. She received her B.A. cum laude from Howard University in 1975 and her J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1978. Judge Bryant is a member of the Connecticut Bar and the Connecticut District Court Bar.
Prior to her appointment as a Federal District Judge, Judge Bryant served as a Connecticut Superior Court Judge from 1998 until 2007. During that period, she was a criminal trial judge, a civil trial judge, Presiding Judge of the Civil Division for the New Britain and Hartford Judicial Districts, and Administrative Judge for the Litchfield Judicial District.
Before joining the judiciary, Judge Bryant was a Partner at Hawkins, Delafield & Wood LLP, a member of the Connecticut Board of Pardons, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut, Bridgeport Division, Vice President and General Counsel of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, Counsel to Shawmut Bank and Aetna Life and Casualty Company, and an associate at the law firm of Day Pitney LLP, formerly Day, Berry & Howard LLP. While in practice, Judge Bryant represented issuers, underwriters and insurers in connection with complex financing transactions and programs.
Judge Bryant has been associated with numerous professional, philanthropic and community organizations, including the Oliver Ellsworth Inn of Court, the George W. Crawford Black Bar Association, the New England Legal Foundation, the United Way of the Capitol Area, the Avon United Way, the Rehabilitation Center, the N.A.A.C.P. State conference and Hartford Branch, the Amistad Center at the Wadsworth Atheneum, The Greater Hartford Arts Council, The Capitol Region Conference of Governments Regional Planning commission, and the Hartford Human Relations Commission.
- Member
- Connecticut Bar and the Connecticut District Court Bar
- Current
- Judge
- U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut
- - Current
- Judge
- Connecticut Superior Court
- -
- Attorney
- Private practice, Hartford, Connecticut
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- also 1978-1981
- Vice president and general counsel
- Connecticut Housing Finance Authority
- -
- Counsel
- Shawmut Bank
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- Counsel
- Aetna Life & Casualty Company
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- University of Connecticut School of Law
- J.D. (1978)
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- Howard University
- B.A. (1975)
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- Greater Hartford Branch Freedom Award
- N.A.A.C.P.
