5 LITI6ATION DEPARTMENT OF T1 E YEAR General Litigation - .Large Connecticut Law Firm •Earning The Trust Of Global Brands Member 5 of D.-ry Pitney's litigation team. Seated, left to right: Glenn Dod, Beth Balton, Jay Nolan, Al Zakar ran. Dan Fitz1Viaurice, E nie Mattel, Tom Goldberg, Helen 1-1Ju is, Felix Springer. Standing. left to right: John Cruet.. DAY PITNErS Tom O'Neill, Mitch Hauls. Paul Willrams, Dan Wenner mei edith Long, Clifl Nichols, Rene 01 toga, Jim Rotondo. Joe Scully, Beth Alcrtrist. Eric Sussman, Ken clients include national companies and Connecticut icons Rot, Elizabeth Latif, Dan Schtvoitz, Erick Sandler, Rich Colbert, Mike Polio' vlo, Jaime Bachkach, Ashley Hai rison. rvLtt Shitoma, Ben Nissim, Harold Blinder- By JAY STAPLETON Bryan Orticelli ay Pitney's litigation department has rep- are in Connecticut offices in Greenwich, addressed by having the law changed by the Following a jury trial before U.S. District Dresented some of the best-known compa- Hartford, New Haven, Stamford and West Legislature, or by bringing a complaint to the Judge Alvin Thompson in September a jury nies in the state. Hartford. state insurance commissioner." found the developer liable for the previous Core dients have included national and Day Pitney's litigators keep busy: they cur- To prepare that case for argument, the litiga- judgment. The case remains pending while global brands, such as Priceline.com and Wells rently have more than 160 cases ready for trial. tion department put together a team of four key Wells Fargo seeks an additional $10 million in Fargo bank, not to mention some of Ccenecti- The litigation departments approach is to staff partners, five key counsel and five associates, punitive damages. cufs most venerable institutions, such as Yale each case with a team consisting of key part- Twardy said. "It was an interesting opportunity Twardy said the case was unique in its sheer University. ners, counsel and associates. James Rotondo, a to work together in ways we don't always do," volume of documents. 'Discovery in the case "I think one of the real strengths of our liti- litigation partner, said the key first step is to l'wardy said. "It was a big group effort" was staggering:' Twardy said, "involving the gation department is our diversity' said Stanley identify evidence and legal issues that will ben- Among other appellate victories, Day Pit- production of approximately 1 million paper Twardy Jr., the firms managing partner. 'Were efit their clients, "Up front, we try to analyze ney's commercial litigation team won a vic- and electronic documents and more than 40 split up into six areas of litigation, induding the cases," he said. tory for Yale University, fending off a defama- depositionsf torts, white collar and Intellectual property; and "We try to find out the dispositive issues, tion claim of $50 million brought by South The matter, he said, "was a prime example of the amount of work we have in each will vary the leverage issues, and we try to drive it Kora& Dongguk University. The Korean the ability of Day Pitney to handle large-scale from year to year." there," Rotondo said. "That's what any good school was upset that Yale had erroneously and complex litigation from the filing of the The firm keeps a dose eye on its caseload so trial lawyer will do. We try to use our un- confirmed the academic credentials of an art complaint, through contentious discovery and it can shift attorneys to areas of current need. derstanding about the facts and our under- professor eventually hired by Dongguk, even pretrial motions, all the way through trial and "One thing that's important is. being able to re- standing about the law to make good choices though she never attended the Ivy League postale' motions" • spond to different developments," Twardy said. early on. We have lawyers on the case to schooL The professor was later involved in a "We have a very deep bench, and a significant make good choices:' scandalous relationship with a South Korean number of lawyers with talent and experience In terms of assigning lawyers to the cases, he presidential aide. in all of matters we handler said, "we put together teams on a particular case Dongguk said Yale's mistake caused a situ- That depth of experience and breadth based on relationships with the clients." ation that "severely tarnished" the school's illitGRACE of skill sets has made Day Pitney the Con- Department leaders, including Dennis reputation, sparked a criminal probe, and led necticut Law Tribune's 2014 Litigation De- LaFiura, chairman of the litigation depart- to a decline in donations and student applica- partments of the Year overall winner in the ment, identify which lawyers are available with tions. Yale called the error simply an admin- Legal Staffing Services large law firm category All told, the firm the most experience in particular types of cas- istrative mistake and argued the lawsuit was employs 139 litigators, including 62 litiga- es. "We build from there, depending on what without merit tion partners and 56 litigation associates. A we need and what the lawyers' strengths are," The Korean university was represented by We find world-class legal little fewer than half of those professionals LaFiura said. one of the world's largest law firms, McDer- talent for law firms and The litigation team also touts its use of cut- mott Will & Emery. But last year, the U.S. corporate legal departments. ting-edge e-discovery methods, which reduce Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit af- the amount of time corporate clients have to firmed the ruling of a district court judge, who TR Grace Is a CT based legal staffing agency active In all counties throughout the State. spend on document preparation and review. had sided with Yale in granting a motion for We facilitate individual and group placements The firm has a lawyer, Cliff Nichols, who works summary judgment of legal professionals In all areas of law. full time on e-discovery matters. Day Pitney also won a federal court ruling • Attorneys /moil dismissing a class action against Norwalk-based • Paralegals • Doc reviewers/E-discovery staff FT Broker Allegations Priceline.com, in which plaintiffs sought recov- 0 • Specialty legal personnel Ly-e. In terms of significance, one of the most ery of millions of dollars in fees they claimed important cases handled last year involved a were improperly collected by the travel website • Direct hire/permanent placement trip to the Connecticut Supreme Court. Day when consumers reserved hotel rooms online. • Temporary placement Pitney's client was an insurance broker sued Plaintiff claims were rejected in their entirety, • Temp to perm DAY PITNEY • Group placements by the state over claims the broker violated and the dismissal was affirmed in 2013 by - the • Law firm mergers the Connecticut Unfair Insurance Practices Second Circuit Total cr Act (CUIPA). Firm Office(s) The violation, the state claimed, was based A Million Documents Masa contact us: on allegations that the broker did not disclose The firm had several other notable out- Sine Amarell, Esq. Litigation Director of Legal Placements 62 29 compensation arrangements with insurance comes, in ch iding a jury verdict of $23 million in Partners [email protected] companies, which the state asserted was a favor of Wells Fargo against a shopping center (1160) 658-5587 violation of the broker's fiduciary duty. When developer. 245 Hoprneadow Street Litigation 56 21 the lawsuit went to trial in Superior Court, the In that case, Day Pitney's commercial liti- Simsbury, CT 06089 Associates trial court ruled in favor of the state. That de- gators were hired to pursue the developer of a www.trgrceegaI.com cision was overturned in August 2013 by the Baltimore shopping center. In 2005, a Mary- TR Grace is a State of CT Certified Other 21 7 Connecticut Supreme Court, which found that land court had ruled that several companies Women-Owned Business and was voted Attorneys breathes of fiduciary duty are not actionable controlled by the developer had committed one of the best Legal Recruiters In under the statute. fraud in obtaining a loan from Wells Fargo Connecticut by the CT Law Tribune Readers % Total Twenty said the decision "is likely to have for the shopping center. The developer was Revenue significant impact on insurance litigation ordered to pay, but never did so. Day Pitney 51% 45% From In the state. The Supreme Court ruled that filed a federal lawsuit in Hartford on behalf )14 Litigation WM. i,Dt. since a claim of breached fiduciary duty is of Welts Fargo, which claimed the developer Nriitv Mb= 4 not among CUIPA:s list of specifically pro- had transferred assets from his companies to scribed practices, such a claim could only be avoid paying the judgment. 4- ' APRIL 28,2014 6 CONNECTICUT LAW TRIBUNE LITIGATION DEPARTMENT OF THE. YEA General Litigation - Small Law Firm —41k- Good Sports Make A Strong Firm CONWAY STOUGHTON operate. After the initial hire, the lead partners He said that opposing counsel was pushing for uses teamwork to gain a competitive edge Instill the firm's philosophy in the new recruits. the acceptance of new science and it was a chal- "We cultivate our attorneys through our own lenge in learn enough to argue its shortcomings. minor league program. Ifs like everyone buying Conway believes the decision will likely play By ROBIN DeMERELL PROVEY into the same system on a team; Conway said. a role in future traumatic brain litigation. 'After going through the derkship, where the fo- The firm has had a significAnt amount of suc- A A Then former hockey teammates Matthew of Conway Stoughton handles every type of civil cus is on researching and writing, the firm pro- cess in insurance defense cases, including one V V Conway and Paul Stoughton opened a litigation, from personal injury and property vides extensive trial wadcshops and file-handling complex and precedent-setting matter involv- law firm together 11 years ago, they decided to damage cases to insurance disputes.