Biography

Jess maintains a national practice focused on complex environmental litigation, CERCLA, and insurance matters.

Her litigation experience includes defense of toxic tort mass actions and CERCLA liability suits. Jess also represents corporate clients in Superfund-related mediation processes. Jess is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee and frequently reads and writes on related topics. She has litigated suits to enforce policyholders’ insurance coverage under commercial general liability and environmental liability policies. Jess additionally uses her litigation background to address regulatory matters involving solid waste and water permitting issues.

Prior to joining Beveridge & Diamond as an Associate, she was a law clerk for Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

While pursuing her graduate degrees focused on political and legal philosophy, Jess designed and taught courses on Law & Justice and Environmental Ethics and Policy at the State University of New York - Binghamton.

Education

  • York College of Pennsylvania  (B.A., summa cum laude, 2007)
    • Philosophy and Political Science, International Studies
  • State University of New York - Binghamton  (M.A., 2009)
    • Philosophy
  • State University of New York - Binghamton  (Ph.D., 2013)
    • Philosophy
    • Certificate in Feminist Theory
  • University of Maryland School of Law  (J.D., magna cum laude, 2015)
    • Order of the Coif
    • Elizabeth Maxwell Carroll Chesnut Prize

Bar Admissions

  • Maryland

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court - Maryland

Professional Affiliations

  • American Bar Association, Litigation Section

Honors & Awards

  • "Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch," a Best Lawyers® publication, recognition in Health Care law (2024)

Publications

  • Key Developments in Environmental Insurance Coverage: Case Law Update, ABA Coverage (September 2023)
  • The “New Legal Reality”? Peace, Punishment, and Security Council Referrals to the ICC, 25 Transnat’l L. & Contemp. Probs. 109 (2015).
  • Of Constitutions and Cultures: The British Right to Roam and American Property Law, 44 Envtl. L. Reporter 10898 (2014). 
  • Waldburger v. CTS Corporation: Ensuring the Plaintiff’s Day in Court as a Matter of Principle, 73 Md. L. Rev. Endnotes 66 (2014).
  • Kenya’s ICC Withdrawal: The Wrong Face for ICC-Africa Relationship Debates, Jurist, Oct. 8, 2013.
  • Protecting the World: Military Humanitarian Intervention and the Ethics of Care, 28 Hypatia 257 (2013).