About Elissa Flanagan
Elissa Flanagan Magnant earned her law degree from Western New England College in 1992 after completing a bachelor’s degree in history and political science at the University of Connecticut in 1988. Those formative years set a clear trajectory toward public service and courtroom work. Her academic record paired liberal arts training with practical legal study.
She began her legal career in Connecticut and Massachusetts courts. Early roles included an internship in 1993 at the offices of Governor Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. in Hartford and a law clerk position that same year at Grafstein and Associates in Farmington. In 1995 she worked as a caseflow clerk at the Superior Court in New Britain and returned to private practice as an associate at Grafstein and Associates.
Courtroom procedure and bankruptcy law became central themes in the next phase of her career. In 2000 she served as a law clerk to Judge Joel B. Rosenthal and Judge Henry J. Boroff at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Worcester. She later took a temporary law clerk post with Judge William C. Hillman at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston in 2002. Those clerkships provided sustained exposure to bankruptcy filings, adversary proceedings, and the practical challenges judges face when resolving complex creditor-debtor disputes.
Between and around her clerkships she practiced at several firms. In 1995 she was an associate at Grafstein and Associates and later joined Howd and Ludorf as an associate in 1998. Those years in firm settings involved motion practice, client counseling, and litigation preparation across state and federal matters. The variety of roles gave her a working knowledge of both administrative court functions and private practice dynamics.
She established the Law Office of Elissa F. Magnant in 2011 and has practiced under that name since. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and is licensed in Connecticut and Massachusetts; she also holds admission in the First and Second Circuit Courts of Appeal. Her professional memberships include the American Bankruptcy Institute, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, the Worcester County Bar Association, the Greater Lowell Bar Association, and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education.
Her practice draws on decades of experience in bankruptcy courts and in private practice. She handles consumer bankruptcy matters, represents debtors in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 proceedings, and works on related litigation and creditor negotiations. She currently practices at the Law Office of Elissa F. Magnant, where her work centers on consumer bankruptcy and related matters.
