Attorney Sarah Poriss has devoted her career to educating others and helping people solve problems. She started out as a teacher and coach, but gravitated toward the law in 1996 by taking a position with the Attorney General’s Office as an assistant to a blind attorney. That attorney’s strength and intelligence, and her creative, thoughtful and unique approach to the law, inspired Sarah Poriss to begin her own career as a lawyer.
As an associate attorney at Consumer Law Group in Rocky Hill, Connecticut for four years, Sarah Poriss gained a wide variety of experience representing consumers in diverse areas from auto fraud, lemon law and repossession and representing waiters and waitresses in class actions against large restaurant chains. Her main focus was on representing consumers who were being harassed by debt collectors and assisting victims of identity theft. One identity theft case required a lawsuit against three creditors and one credit bureau in order to repair the damage to her client’s credit reputation.
In 2006, Attorney Poriss opened her own office and expanded her practice to defending consumers being sued by their credit card companies and homeowners who are in foreclosure. Most consumers ignore foreclosure lawsuits or suits seeking the collection of a debt, usually because they think they have no defenses because they owe at least some of the debt, or because they are confused or intimidated by the court system. However, it is possible to challenge credit card companies and to date, Attorney Poriss has saved her clients over $1 million*. In addition, the foreclosure mediation program is there to help homeowners and Attorney Poriss’ goal is to make the court system accessible to the average person and to level the playing field between hard-working homeowners and the lawyers collecting debts and foreclosing on homes.
Attorney Poriss graduated from Colby College in Maine in 1992 and from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2002. She is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, whose members pledge to never represent business interests that are contrary to the rights or interests of consumers. She is a member of the Judicial Branch’s Bench-Bar Foreclosure Committee and Small Claims Committee. She regularly speaks at local non-profit organizations in their first-time homebuyer and ready-to-rent programs, educating participants about credit reports and credit scores and how to manage money to obtain and maintain a good credit rating, and is a volunteer attorney with the Connecticut Fair Housing Center's foreclosure prevention clinics and the Judicial Branch's New Haven foreclosure help program. In 2006 and 2007, Attorney Poriss was a Money Mentor at the Money Conference For Women, sponsored by the YWCA and the State Treasurer’s office. Sarah Poriss is the Hartford County Bar Association's 2011 Pro Bono Award Recipient.
Education
University of Connecticut School of Law, 2002
Colby College, 1992
Professional Associations
National Association of Consumer Advocates (www.naca.net)
Connecticut Bar Association
Hartford County Bar Association
Better Business Bureau
*Updated 11/18/2011
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