Leadership and Governance

Anne Louise Blanchard, Esq.

Executive Director

Executive Director Anne Louise Blanchard has served at CLS for more than 35 years, and as CLS’ Deputy Director for seven years prior that time.  She was CLS’ first female Litigation and Advocacy Director and held a variety of other roles within the agency, including Managing Attorney of CLS’ Children at Risk Unit, Managing Attorney of CLS’ Willimantic Office, and Regional Director of the Eastern Local Services Team. Attorney Blanchard has practiced across a range of the organization’s substantive law units and has litigated a variety of class action lawsuits on behalf of CLS’ client communities.  Serving as a key member of CLS’ leadership team, she also has provided administrative oversight, led an organization-wide strategic plan implementation, and revamped CLS’ litigation and advocacy practices. 

In addition to her work at CLS, Attorney Blanchard is a James W. Cooper Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, was a former co-chair of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Federal Practice Section, has served as a trainer for national seminars with the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and served on the Connecticut Federal Court Advisory Committee for seven years, after being appointed by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy.

Helen Harris, Esq.

Chair, Board of Directors

Partner of Day Pitney LLP

Helen Harris joined the CLS Board in 2014 and became Chair in 2024.

Helen is a litigation partner at Day Pitney LLP, where she has practiced for twenty years. She represents companies and individuals in complex commercial litigation in the federal and state courts in Connecticut and New York. She also conducts corporate internal investigations, and guides clients through regulatory inquiries. Helen is a long-term practice group leader in Day Pitney’s litigation department. She served on the Federal Grievance Committee in Connecticut for six years, and on a committee to consider the appointment of a federal magistrate judge in Connecticut.  At her firm, Helen has served on the leadership committee of Day Pitney’s Women Working Together, which facilitates and encourages women in the practice of law, for over ten years, and also on the leadership committee for the Day Pitney Alliance, which supports LGBTQ+ rights, for several years. She previously chaired Day Pitney’s firmwide Pro Bono Committee.  She is a regional director of the Yale Alumni Schools Committee.  Helen graduated from Yale College and Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar. She was also a law clerk to the Honorable Reena Raggi.