Jess has been an adjunct professor at the Vermont Law School since 2019 teaching courses on the intersection of agriculture and the environment. Jess is Associate General Counsel at The Lyme Timber Company. Prior to joining Lyme, Jess most recently worked for a leading Vermont law firm in its real estate and environment practice groups. Before that, he served as an Attorney-Advisor in the USDA’s Office of General Counsel, Natural Resources and Environment Division, in Washington, D.C., and with Historic New England, as Team Leader for Preservation Services. Jess frequently writes on conservation easement-related topics with representative articles appearing in the Harvard Environmental Law Review, Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, Ecology Law Quarterly, N.Y.U. Environmental Law Journal, Virginia Environmental Law Journal, and the Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum. He is on the Board of Trustees of the Vermont Land Trust. Jess earned a J.D. from Drake University Law School (with highest honors and service as Editor-in-Chief of the Drake Law Review) and a B.S. from Iowa State University.