Joette Katz

In a year-end editorial, "Hearts and darts, Connecticut’s highs and lows, for 2018," the Hartford Courant awarded Katz a Heart, saying, "... we believe her policy of trying to keep struggling families intact did a lot of good."

Commissioner Katz retired from DCF in January 2019.

She is co-author of the book, Connecticut Criminal Caselaw Handbook: A Practitioner’s Guide, published in 1989 by the Connecticut Law Tribune.

On Dec. 6, 2018, Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform [21], wrote an op-ed in the Hartford Courant titled, "Connecticut losing the gutsiest leader in child welfare." He called her job as commissioner, "probably the hardest in state or local government."

On Jan. 14, 2018, Katz joined the law firm Shipman & Goodwin LLP as a partner in its Business Litigation Practice Group. She works in several areas, including with the firm's practitioners who handle federal, state and administrative appeals. In addition, she provides mediation services, and assists the firm's clients both when facing government investigations, and in the conduct of their own internal investigations. The firm's business litigation practice group comprises nearly 70 attorneys representing clients in state and federal courts throughout the U.S. across a range of subject areas. She works in the firm's Stamford and Hartford, Connecticut offices.

Connecticut made considerable progress reforming the state child welfare system under the leadership of Commissioner Katz. In 2015, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, one of the leading organizations in child welfare issues in the U.S., published a case study that described changes at Connecticut's DCF as the “Connecticut Turnaround”. In this report, they indicated that, "Over five years, Connecticut has made substantial progress in turning around its troubled child welfare agency. ... the state has instituted improvements, driven down the number of unnecessary child removals and ensured that children entering state custody live in families whenever possible, not in group placements."

Katz was nominated for the Superior Court bench by Gov. William A. O'Neill in 1989. She was elevated to the state Supreme Court by Gov. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. in 1992. Her appointment at age 39 made her, at the time, the youngest justice ever appointed to the Connecticut Supreme Court[4][5]. She was reappointed by Gov. John G. Rowland in 2001 and Gov. M. Jodi Rell in 2009 [6]. From 2006 until her resignation on January 5, 2011, she also served as administrative judge for the state appellate system, a position she previously held from 1994-2000.

Joette Katz was confirmed as Commissioner of DCF by unanimous vote of the Connecticut State Senate on February 4, 2011.

A report ("The Malloy-Wyman Record: A Review Across Five Areas of Policy, January 5, 2011 – January 9, 2019") released by Governor Malloy and Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman at the end of their terms, summarized some of the progress made at DCF under Commissioner Katz's leadership:

On November 30, 2010, incoming Gov. Dannel Malloy named Justice Katz to head the troubled Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF). She stepped down from the Connecticut Supreme Court on January 5, 2011 in anticipation of assuming the DCF post. Justice Katz said she looked forward to the challenge of leading DCF, noting, "I can think of few things more important than the mission of this agency."

Justice Katz has been an instructor of ethics at the Yale Law School in New Haven. She also has been an instructor of criminal law and ethics at the Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden and also served from 1981 to 1984 as an instructor in legal research and writing, Moot Court, and appellate advocacy at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Katz started her professional career in 1977 as an attorney at the law firm of Winnick, Vine and Welch (now Winnick, Vine, Welch & Teodosio [2]) in Shelton, Connecticut. From 1978 to 1981 she was as an assistant public defender in the appellate unit of the office of the Chief Public Defender [3] in New Haven, Connecticut. From 1981 to 1983 she was an assistant public defender in the trial unit in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She served as Chief of Legal Services for the Office of the Chief Public Defender from 1983 to 1989 and was the first woman to serve in this role in Connecticut.

Katz went to high school at the Berkeley Institute in Brooklyn (now known as the Berkeley Carroll School). She received a bachelor of arts degree, graduating cum laude, in 1974 from Brandeis University and her J.D. degree, graduating cum laude, from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1977.

Joette Katz (born February 3, 1953) is an American attorney who is a partner at the law firm, Shipman & Goodwin LLP [1]. She was an Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, where she also served as the administrative judge for the state appellate system, and as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families.