Jessica E. Jay, Esq.

Ms. Jessica Jay is the founding partner of Conservation Law, P.C., a law firm devoted to ensuring the permanence of conservation through sound land conservation transactions and the defense and enforcement of perpetual conservation easements. Ms. Jay represents and partners with land trusts, governmental entities, and private landowners to preserve working landscapes and environmentally significant properties in the Rocky Mountain West. She actively engages conservation professionals, land trusts, and landowners in conservation workshops, and guides the next generation of land conservationists through her Conservation Law course at Vermont Law School. Ms. Jay continues her research, development, and publication of subjects including tax incentives for conservation, third party enforcement of conservation easements, and legal defense and enforcement of conservation easements held by land trusts. She collaborates with Colorado’s land trust community to create a defense and enforcement model for Colorado’s conservation easements and to monitor the success of Colorado’s relatively new conservation tax credit incentive. Ms. Jay also assists other states with the research, development, and implementation of their own legal defense mechanisms and tax credit incentive programs. Ms. Jay received her undergraduate bachelor of arts with a coordinate major in government and environmental studies. Ms. Jay received her Juris Doctor and her Master of Studies in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School, where she was the Senior Articles Editor for the Vermont Law Review, a member of the Debevoise Moot Court Board, and a Dean’s Fellow. Prior to founding her own law firm, Ms. Jay practiced conservation, real estate, and environmental law for several years with Isaacson, Rosenbaum, Woods & Levy, P.C. and prior to that, she spent a year clerking for the Honorable Peter H. Ney of the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Education
Master of Studies in Environmental Law, Vermont Law School, 1999 (magna cum laude)
Juris Doctor, Vermont Law School, 1997 (magna cum laude)
Bachelor of Arts, Bowdoin College, 1992 (magna cum laude; honors in Government)
Adjunct Law Professor, Vermont Law School, 2003-present
The Oxford Round Table, Invited Participant, Oxford University, Harris Manchester College, 2005

Memberships
Admitted to the Colorado Bar, 1997
Membership in Colorado, Denver, and Jefferson County Bar Associations

Jessica E. Jay, Esq. Conservation Law, P.C 52 Meadowlark Drive Evergreen, CO  80439 Phone: 303-674-3709 Fax: 303-674-3715  Visit Website

Changes to Colorado's Conservation Income Tax Credit Law

Changes to Colorado's Conservation Income Tax Credit Law By. Jessica E. Jay, Esq.. On January 1, 2003, the amount of state income tax credit available for Colorado taxpayers donating perpetual conservation easements on their Colorado properties increased from $100,000 to $260,000. House Bill (H.B. 01-1090 e ...

Court Opinions on Conservation Easements

An Examination of Court Opinions on the Enforcement And Defense of Conservation Easements and Other Conservation and Preservation Tools: Themes and Approaches To Date ByJessica E. Jay, Esq.. and Melissa K. Thompson. Introduction. This article surveys conservation easement enforcement and defense decision ...

Legal Defense And Enforcement Of Conservation Easements

Legal Defense And Enforcement Of Conservation Easements By. Jessica E. Jay, Esq.. As the dawn of the next century approaches, the private land conservation movement in this country must prepare to face a daunting opponent—landowners and their challenges to the restrictions placed on their land. These chall ...