Kristina Pisanelli counsels corporate and nonprofit clients on a broad range of public policy issues, including health care, education and appropriations. Before entering the private sector, she served on the staff of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Her specific assignments in that office included Medicare and Medicaid policy; child welfare programs; elementary, secondary and higher education issues; and other matters under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. Prior to joining Senator Leahy’s office, Pisanelli served as a policy analyst in the Office of the Governor of Vermont for the current Democratic National Committee Chairman, Howard Dean. In this position, she advised the governor on matters relating to agriculture, education, workforce development and state-federal relations (working closely with officials at the National Governors’ Association and the Democratic Governors’ Association). Pisanelli earned a J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Vermont. She is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia (pending) bars. Pisanelli joins Pillsbury as a Public Policy Associate.