(540) 908-4212

201 Green StreetBridgewater, Virginia  22812

J. Jay Litten

J. Jay Litten, Town Manager
J. Jay Litten
E-mail: jjlitten@bridgewater.town
Phone:    (540) 908-4838
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Jay Litten started work as Town Manager on January 1, 2016.  Before then, he had been Town Attorney for nine years and Assistant Town Attorney for 21 years.  He says that leaving the full-time practice of law was incredibly difficult, “but when your home town comes calling, you listen.”

Jay graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1982 and from the W&M law school in 1984.  As a lawyer at Litten & Sipe, LLP, he was peer-reviewed by Martindale-Hubbell as “AV” (preeminent).  He was listed in Best Lawyers in America, Virginia Legal Elite, and Virginia Super Lawyers Top 100.  He is still “of counsel” with the law firm—meaning he helps out occasionally—but he works full-time for the Town.

When asked how his legal experience will assist him as Town Manager, Jay says, “I suppose the substantive knowledge will be of some help, but the bigger point is that life is life.  As a lawyer, I learned to work hard, to find solutions instead of excuses, and to hold everybody accountable, especially myself.  I’m hoping those traits will serve me well with the Town.”  He says the arcane world of municipal finance was a bit foreign to him when he came to the Town, so he obtained his Master's Degree in finance in 2021.