About Marissa
Marissa Elkins took an unconventional path to the law. She earned a B.A. in History and Communication Arts from Austin College in 1993, then pursued a master’s degree in Theater at the University of Houston, finishing in 1999. She returned to study law at the University of Connecticut School of Law and received her J.D. in 2002. Those varied academic interests show in her work: an ear for narrative and an attention to detail.
Her early legal work placed her in public defense. In 2006 she served as a staff lawyer at the Committee for Public Counsel Services in the Northampton Superior Court Office. That role put her inside the court system and involved day-to-day representation of clients who relied on public counsel. Three years later she was listed as a partner at Allison, Angier, Bartmon, Elkins, & Fernald, LLP, a role she took on in 2009. The records show steady movement between public and private practice during that period.
Elkins is licensed to practice in both Massachusetts and Texas. She has been active in local and national professional groups. Since 2012 she has been part of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Indigent Defense Committee. She joined the Hampshire County Bar Association’s Executive Committee in 2011 and retains that role. Her memberships in the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers date to 2009.
Her background in theater and communication is an obvious thread through a legal career that has included public defense work and partnership at a private firm. Those earlier degrees inform how she organizes a case and presents argument. Colleagues and court records reflect a lawyer who spent substantial time on courtroom matters and on representation for clients who could not otherwise afford counsel.
Today she practices from an office at Elkins, Auer, Rudof, & Schiff, LLC. The firm listing is the most current professional affiliation on record. Her practice continues to involve criminal defense and court-appointed representation in Massachusetts and Texas. She currently handles criminal defense and related court-appointed matters.
