Jessica Kitson (she/her)
Director of Legal Advocacy

Jessica Kitson is the Director of Legal Advocacy at Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) where she leads the legal and policy work for the organization. With national expertise on advocacy for human trafficking survivors, Jessica represents survivors through VLJ’s New Jersey Survivors Justice Project, and has served as a consultant with the Survivor Reentry Project, a national training and technical assistance project. 

She advocates against the criminalization of survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence, through legislative and other policy reforms. Jessica also oversaw the expansion of VLJ’s anti-eviction work, and works closely with tenant advocates across New Jersey in pursuing broader landlord-tenant reforms.

Prior to joining VLJ in 2014, Jessica was director of the Eric R. Neisser Public Interest Program at Rutgers Law School where she oversaw all public interest and pro bono programming. Jessica was previously at Duane Morris LLP as public interest counsel and has served as an adjunct professor at Rutgers Law, teaching seminars on domestic violence law and human trafficking.

Jessica is a member of the New Jersey Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force and the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Gender in the Courts, and previously served on the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Outside of VLJ, Jessica volunteers with the Election Protection Hotline run by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

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““Justice is a legal system that is truly accessible for all, and where outcomes are not determined by an individual’s income, race, or gender.” ”
— Jessica Kitson