Jessica W. Troiano
Litigation Services
Philadelphia Office

BACKGROUND
I was born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs. I spent my summers in high school attending the University of California at Santa Barbara, leading to a love-affair with California. I received my undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley. For the three years between college and law school I worked for Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell in the United States Senate and I then worked in the state of Wyoming for an inpatient treatment facility for Native Americans with alcohol and chemical dependency problems. I received my law degree from the University of Washington School of Law and joined Schnader in the fall of 2001 as a first-year associate.

MY DECISION TO WORK HERE AT SCHNADER
With my public interest and government employment background, I wanted to join a firm with a commitment to pro bono work and Schnader had exactly what I was looking for. This was evident even during the initial summer associate interview process -- my dedication and interest in public interest work and pro bono efforts were applauded and never questioned. I decided to come to Schnader in part because of this pro bono commitment, but I accepted my offer to work here primarily because of the people. Schnader is full of amazingly bright, hardworking and fun attorneys who excel at the practice of law. I also knew Schnader's strong litigation reputation and this appealed to my desire to learn the practice of law from the best of the best.

MY WORK HERE AT SCHNADER
My experiences in my first six years as a Schnader associate have been simply amazing. I work primarily in business litigation. I have had the opportunity to be first chair at my own federal jury trial and have participated in three other trials since I started here. I just can't think of any other big firm where I would be getting such incredible legal experience.

I truly believe that Schnader senior associates and partners care about and focus on the professional development of the younger associates and it shows in the type of work the younger associates are assigned and in the feedback they receive. As a younger associate I was involved in a select few document reviews, but I was also given amazing opportunities to draft discovery and dispositive motions and argue motions in federal and state court.  Now that I am a more senior associate, I try to work with our younger associates and help them develop the superior litigation skills that Schnader values and is known for.  There is no better work environment with big firm resources where young associates can gain great litigation experience quickly and assume as much responsibility as any attorney is willing to shoulder.

I usually work around 10 hours a day, unless I am on a case preparing for trial. I rarely work on weekends, if ever. I feel very fortunate to work at a firm that values quality of life and a real balance between work and family/personal life (I manage to work on several large cases on which I have primary responsibility and I am able to balance hard work at Schnader with a family life -- I just had a daughter this year).  My work, while challenging, stimulating and of a very high level of sophistication, still permits me to spend quality time with my family.

If you would like to get in touch with me with any questions about Schnader, please click here.