Jessica K. Winters, Of Counsel, was born in Hampton, Virginia in 1977. She was admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 2004, and is also admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, as well as the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Jessica graduated magna cum laude from the University of Kentucky in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. She received her Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from the University of Kentucky College of Law, in 2003, where she was admitted to the prestigious Order of the Coif, was awarded the Faculty Cup (most outstanding graduate), and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Kentucky Law Review. Ms. Winter's Note, Pro Se Litigants at the Summary Judgment Stage: Is Ignorance of the Law an Excuse?, was published in the Kentucky Law Journal, at 90 Ky. L.J. 701, 737 (2002).
Following law school, Ms. Winter served as law clerk to the Honorable Karl Forester, then Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. She later worked in the Labor & Employment Practice Group at Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP before joining Getty & Childers as Of Counsel in 2007. Ms. Winter's practice focuses on the general area of commercial litigation, with emphasis on employment law, class action litigation, and small business development. Ms. Winters has provided day-to-day guidance for employers on a variety of employment issues, has drafted employee handbooks and policies, and has represented employers in connection with EEOC & unemployment claims. In the class action context, Ms. Winters, working with Richard A. Getty, was successful in obtaining class certification for Kentucky VIOXX consumers seeking reimbursement of monies spent on purchasing the drug the first class of its kind certified in the nation. Ms. Winters, who opened a mid-sized music venue in Lexington in the Fall of 2009, also has first-hand experience with the development and implementation of a successful business plan, as well as other issues attendant to entrepreneurial endeavors.
Ms. Winters serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors of the Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation. She also served on Lexington Mayor Jim Gray's economic development task force in 2010, and continues to be active with respect to preservation and development issues in Lexington. In 2009, Ms. Winters was featured as one of Lexington's Leading Women in business in the Business Lexington publication. Ms. Winters is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association, the Fayette County Bar Association, and the Fayette County Young Lawyer's Association. She regularly assists pro bono clients in obtaining divorces through the Fayette County Pro Bono Program.
