About Colleen E.
Colleen E. Masse began her legal journey after completing a J.D. at the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1995, following an A.B. from Bates College in 1992. She entered practice at a time when elder law and special education were becoming more prominent in public conversations. That timing helped shape early work that combined client advocacy and institutional experience.
Her early career included pro bono work for Lawyers for Children America in 2006 and practice at the Law Office of Gerry McMahon, LLC beginning in 2011. In the same year she served as a surrogate parent for the Connecticut State Department of Education in matters of special education law and advocacy. Those roles exposed her to the concrete issues families and children face in educational settings and provided a foundation for later practice areas.
In 2016 she served as a trust coordinator for PLAN of Connecticut, a role that brought her into the technical side of trust administration and planning for individuals with disabilities. That work dovetails with later responsibilities at a private firm and informs how she approaches interactions between public benefits and private planning.
Masse joined Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC as an associate lawyer in 2017 and became a partner in 2022. Her progression at the firm reflects years of practice across related fields rather than sudden specialization. She handles cases that require coordination among family members, trustees, public agencies, and care providers. She is experienced in drafting and overseeing estate planning documents and advising on matters where public benefits and private trusts intersect.
Outside the office she has remained active in professional and nonprofit circles. She has held membership in the Connecticut Bar Association since 1995 and joined the Connecticut chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys in 2020. She served on the board of Community Health Resources from 2021 to 2023 and has a history of volunteer leadership in organizations focused on education and disability: she was vice president and parent advisor at SPEdConnecticut from 2007 to 2016 and secretary of the Dyslexia Society of Connecticut from 2010 to 2014. In 2022 she took on the presidency of the North Central Area Agency on Aging, a role she holds currently.
Her practice integrates elder law, trust and estate matters, and special education advocacy. She is currently a partner at Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC, where her work concentrates on elder law, trust administration, and special education-related legal matters.
