Jennifer R. Cervenka

Jennifer R. Cervenka /
Jennifer R. Cervenka /

AGE: 37
POSITION: Associate, Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP
RESIDENCE: East Greenwich
LIFELONG AMBITION: To represent the United States before the International Court of Justice at the Hague
FAVORITE BOOK: “Tortilla Curtain,” by T.C. Boyle
GUILTY PLEASURE: A mid-afternoon nap

Jennifer R. Cervenka grew up very far from Rhode Island, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. She graduated with honors from a prestigious preparatory school, went away to college in California, but returned home for law school at the University of Hawaii.
After graduating, she joined her father’s practice in Honolulu, learning from a man whom others have described as “a prince among lawyers,” and who she says has influenced her more than anyone else.
“His achievements are a result of a Midwestern work ethic, honesty and integrity, characteristics I try to emulate in developing my own career,” she wrote in her 40 Under Forty application.
So how did she end up halfway around the world, employed as an environmental litigator and working pro bono for community organizations such as Children’s Friend and Service?
It was the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court that brought her back stateside. She served as the regional administrator in 1996 and 1998, hosting competitions at the University of Hawaii, and she was so interested in international law that she decided to go back to school and pursue a master’s degree in international environmental and business law.
Soon after completing her studies at American University, she met Dr. Jan Cervenka, a dentist who was about to start a practice in Rhode Island. She moved here with him, and they got married.
After passing the Massachusetts and Rhode Island bar exams, Cervenka took a job at the environmental boutique firm McGovern, Noel & Benik. Soon it merged with the national firm Holland & Knight LLP, and she split her time between the Boston and Providence offices.
While at Holland & Knight, she served as co-trial counsel, pro bono, in a major case filed in U.S. District Court in Boston under the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Her client was a mother in Northern Ireland whose four children had been abducted by her former husband and taken to live in Massachusetts, and she helped her get two of her children back and make visitation arrangements for the other two.
Last year, Cervenka joined Partridge Snow & Hahn, which was looking to expand its environmental law expertise. Along with that work, she is involved with the Rhode Island Big Sisters Fund and serves on two municipal boards in East Greenwich.

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