More About Our Staff

Education

Rachel Putterman graduated with her B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego in March 1987. She then went on to receive her J.D. from the Washington College of Law, The American University in May 1994. She graduated cum laude from the Washington College of Law.

Legal Experience

While a law student at the Washington School of Law, Rachel worked as a Law Clerk at the National Veterans Legal Services Project. As a clerk in the Intake Department, she was responsible for representing veterans at administrative hearings. She also assisted in the implementation of a settlement agreement resulting from a class-action lawsuit.

After graduating from the Washington College of Law in 1994, Ms. Putterman spent several years at The Law Office of Wildhaber and Associates as an Associate Attorney. She later returned to the law office as an Of Counsel Attorney in 2004. As an Associate Attorney she litigated appeals on behalf of Vietnam-era veterans seeking disability benefits for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Her responsibilities included legal and medical research, motion practice, drafting and submission of written argument, presentation of oral argument, training of veterans’ advocates, and supervision of a law clerk.

From February 1997 to October 2004, Rachel worked at Queens Legal Services Corporation in Jamaica, New York. She initially worked as a Staff Attorney in the Housing Unit representing tenants in the Civil Court of the City of New York in nonpayment, holdover, and ejectment proceedings. In 1998, she transferred to the Family Law Unit which focused on the representation of domestic violence survivors in matrimonial and family law matters. In addition to conducting dozens of trials on issues such as divorce grounds, equitable distribution of marital property, orders of protection, child custody, child support, and child neglect, Rachel engaged in extensive outreach into the community. She coordinated and conducted trainings on family law and domestic violence for advocates and lay people at community-based organizations. In 2003, she was promoted to Deputy Directory of the Family Law Unit and assumed responsibility for supervising, training, and evaluating staff attorneys and support staff as well as writing grant proposals and compliance reports.

Bar Memberships and Professional Affiliations

New York, 1995
United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, 1995(?)
United States Court of Appeals for Federals Claims, 1995(?)
Break the Cycle, New York Advisory Board