Attorney of the Year To Be Announced This Evening
Winners and finalists have been chosen for the Connecticut Law Tribune's sixth annual Professional Excellence Awards.
September 30, 2020 at 11:01 AM
5 minute read
The Connecticut Law Tribune's 2019-2020 Connecticut Legal Awards program will be presented in virtual format this evening starting at 5 p.m. Registration through our website is free, and the program will include the announcement of Connecticut's newest Attorney of the year.
Winners and finalists have been chosen following submissions by Connecticut law firms, public offices and individual attorneys in late 2019 and early 2020. Originally scheduled for May, the awards celebration was delayed due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted first in postponement of a live presentation and ultimately the move to an online-only format,.
Award winners come from a broad range of backgrounds, including private-sector, government and non-profit work, and from varying career levels, from rookie to managing partner.
The three finalists for the 2020 Attorney of the Year include corporate environmental lawyer Franca DeRosa of Brown Rudnick; litigation and appellate pro Brenden Leydon of Wocl Leydon and winning municipal litigator Leslie King of Carlton Fields. The three finalists are among more than 70 individual attorneys and firms being recognized this year at an awards celebration in May at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville.
A list of this year's winners is as follows:
Attorney of the Year finalists
Franca DeRosa, partner, Brown Rudnick
Brenden Leydon, Wocl Leydon
Leslie King, partner, Carlton Fields
Best Mentors
Jonathan Olsson, Deputy General Counsel, Nielsen
John Mutchler, Partner, Murtha Cullina
James Sexton, Partner, Sexton & Company
Mark Carta, Partner, Carta, McAlister & Moore
Ed Doernberger, Partner, Saxe Doernberger and Vita
Robert Keane, Vice President & Associate Group General Counsel, Travelers
Glenn Carberry, Partner, TCORS
Victoria Woodin Chavey, Principal, Jackson Lewis
Best Officiators
Carolanne Rowe, Judge of Probate, Connecticut Probate Court
Distinguished Leaders
Attorney General William Tong, Connecticut Office of the Attorney General
Todd Sharinn, Head of Intellectual Property and Commercial Litigation Practice Groups, Gilbride Tusa Last & Spellane
John Cordani, Partner, Robinson & Cole
Lawrence Adler, Managing Partner, Adler Law Group
Steven Katz, Partner, Rome Clifford Katz & Koerner
Renée Dailey, Head Partner of Hartford office, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Keith Trantolo, Managing Partner Trantolo & Trantolo
Barry Moller, Partner, Cramer & Anderson
Jay Sicklick, Center for Children's Advocacy
Eric Stockman, Partner, Stockman O'Connor
Joette Katz, Partner, Shipman and Goodwin
Game Changers
Mark Dendinger, Partner, Bracewell
Eileen Flug, Berchem Moses
Felice Duffy, Duffy Law
Sharad Samy, General Counsel, Commonfund
GC Impact
Lisa Proch, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Talcott Resolution
Giant Slayer
Daniel Lage, Partner, Ruane Attorneys
Yazmin Rodriguez, Partner, Esperanza Law
Law Firm Innovators
Wolf & Shore Law Group
Lifetime Achievement
Robert Mitchell, Founding Principal, Mitchell & Sheahan
John A. Collins, III, Director, Suisman Shapiro Attorneys-at-Law
Frank Coulom, Partner, Robinson & Cole
Vincent Trantolo, Trantolo & Trantolo
Richard Meehan, MeehanLaw
Amado Vargas, Partner, Vargas Chapman Woods
Maureen Weaver, Partner, Wiggin and Dana
Beverly Garofalo, Principal, Jackson Lewis
In-House Legal Dept Diversity and Quality of Life
Eversource Energy, General Counsel Gregory B. Butler
Litigation Departments of the Year – General
Wiggin and Dana
Litigation Departments of the Year – Specialty Categories
Cowdery & Murphy – Appellate
Murtha Cullina – Appellate
Wiggin and Dana – Product Liability/Mass Torts
New Leaders in the Law
Zachary Phillipps, Wofsey, Rosen, Kweskin & Kuriansky
Stephen Lebedevitch, The Lebedevitch Law Firm
Alex Taubes, Alexander T. Taubes
Emily Trudeau, Assistant State's Attorney Fairfield State's Attorney's Office
Stacy Schleif, Center for Children's Advocacy
Brittany Paz, Ruane Attorneys at Law
Jill Ruane, Ruane Attorneys at Law
Sebastian Lombardi, Day Pitney
Taylor Shea, Robinson & Cole
Kimberly Cohen, Shipman & Goodwin
Alexander Copp, Cohen and Wolf
Julia Camarco, Shipman & Goodwin
Martha Royston, Murtha Cullina
Benjamin Nissim, Murtha Cullina
Jonathan Schaefer, Robinson & Cole
Dan Brody, Robinson & Cole
David Lavery, Connecticut Fair Housing Center
Jody Erdfarb, Wiggin and Dana
Caroline Park, Wiggin and Dana
Richard Luedeman, Wiggin and Dana
Graham Moller, Cramer & Anderson
Blake Driscolli, Trantolo & Trantolo
Bridget D'Angelo, Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
Isis Irizarry, IMI Law
Unsung Hero
Conrad Seifert, Seifert & Hogan
Barbara F. Green, Law Offices of Green and Gross
Cullen Guilmartin, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani
Ashleigh Backman, Connecticut Veterans Legal Center
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Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
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Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
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David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
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Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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