Jessica Rosales
Jessica C. Rosales is an Associate Attorney at Phillips & Associates, PLLC, where she represents employees in matters involving sexual harassment and assault, workplace discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination. Ms. Rosales provides a rare and unique lens, equipped with a diversified background and significant experience guiding individuals through the legal system with support, understanding, and empathy.
Experience
Before joining Phillips & Associates, Ms. Rosales centered her legal career on advocacy for survivors of sexual violence. Ms. Rosales served as a Special Victims Bureau Assistant District Attorney for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, where she investigated and prosecuted crimes of sexual violence and abuse of adult and child victims. In this role, she handled complex felony cases, which involved presenting cases before grand juries for indictment, managing discovery, motions practice, and hearings/trial. She gained extensive courtroom experience appearing before judges and juries, and she is adept at handling highly sensitive matters and guiding survivors through the nuances of the legal process.
Her commitment to advocacy for survivors was forged during law school. Ms. Rosales interned for the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division, where she worked on prosecutions of federal child exploitation cases involving the production, sale, and trafficking in child sexual abuse material and the sex trafficking of minors. As a law clinic student attorney, she represented indigent clients in immigration and family law matters, including representation of a woman seeking asylum after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, and representation of a domestic violence survivor in her divorce and child support and custody matters. She also interned in the government and judicial sectors. She interned for the Juvenile Section of the D.C. Attorney General's Office, which oversaw cases involving minors who committed criminal or delinquency offenses, and for a D.C. Superior Court judge, getting an inside look at the work of the “decision-makers” of the judicial system as she supported the judge's docket of civil cases.
Ms. Rosales began her early legal career as a paralegal gaining valuable experience as she studied for the law school admissions test and aspired to go to law school. She worked for a national personal injury and social security disability law firm, supporting clients across all 50 states in their Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income cases. She prepared cases for hearings and adjudication before an administrative law judge. She then worked at a multinational law firm supporting a corporate practice group that represented start-up ventures and pre-IPO companies in the life-sciences and technology space. Here she gained experience with entity formation, venture capital fundraising, stock and option administration, securities filings, mergers & acquisitions, advising on employee and advisor agreements, and contract review and drafting.
Ms. Rosales's multi-faceted background across several sectors of law, including criminal law, state and federal government, administrative law, civil litigation, family law, immigration, corporate and securities law, and the judicial system, makes her apt at approaching the most complex cases with sharp strategy, creativity, innovation and skill to achieve the best outcomes for her clients.
Education
Ms. Rosales attended the American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. and received the Dean’s Merit Scholarship. She served as a Staff Member of the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy, and the Law and was a member of the Moot Court Honor Society, earning semifinalist honors in a national competition.
Ms. Rosales attended Brandeis University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Business and Politics, with a minor in Legal Studies. She was a member of the Mock Trial Association and a tutor to adult English as a Second Language (ESL) Students. She also interned for the Criminal Bureau of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. During school, she also worked as a driver of the campus shuttle bus transporting students around campus and as a retail store associate for a craft & fabric store and for a clothing store.
Bar Admission
- State of New York
- U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court of the Northern District of New York