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The Specialists
Three of the region's innovative specialty attorneys
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Business New Haven
3/3/2003
By: Melissa Nicefaro
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An attorney isn't just an attorney by any other name.
There are lawyers who specialize in intellectual property, environmental issues and employment law. Others concentrate on product liability or Native American Indian issues. For every specialty area, there is an attorney who has a deep interest and understanding.
These three local attorneys have found their niche in the legal world.
Name: Jamie Johnson Fitzgerald
Born: New York, N.Y., November 16, 1947
Residence: Guilford
Specialty: Intellectual property: trademarks, Internet law and unfair competition
Firm: Cummings & Lockwood, New Haven
Personal: Married to Stephen Fitzgerald, manager of market development for Sikorsky Aircraft; two Irish terriers; classical pianist; published short story writer and "neophyte watercolorist"; summer bicycle commuter and former Connecticut Masters Cycling and Biathlon Champion; Gold Medal, Time Trial, Connecticut Senior Olympics.
Education: A.B. (cum laude), Middlebury College, Phi Beta Kappa, with high honors in English Lit., 1969; J.D., University of Chicago (National Honor Scholar), 1972
First job: Gardner Carton & Douglas, summer 1971, hired at age 24 as firm's first practicing female attorney since it was founded in 1910. "For an interview lunch at the University Club in Chicago, [the interviewer and I] walked [to the club] together and then parted briefly so that I could enter through the ladies' side entrance," Fitzgerald recalls. "It never occurred to me to protest. We rendezvoused in the ladies' dining room, where the cottage cheese/chopped steak plate was on offer as the favorite of the 'ladies who lunched.'"
Why chose specialty: "At GC&D I found myself constitutionally unsuited to securities law," she says. "Antitrust, which I'd actually liked in law school, was off-limits to me because travel was essential, and it was deemed unsuitable for me to travel alone with a partner. I might have dropped out of the practice of law altogether had it not been for an unsolicited headhunter call sending me over to [Chicago-based] Playboy Enterprises. I was thrilled: I interviewed the day I got the call - and accepted a position by the end of that day. Playboy had its eccentricities, but it was there that I discovered trademarks, copyright, licensing and libel law. I had found my niche: words and pictures.
Most memorable case: "And most exasperating: I represented [hip-hop clothing manufacturer] B.U.M. International against a mentally disturbed counterfeiter from Bridgeport who defended himself before the Connecticut District Court, Second Circuit, all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. The defendant was utterly oblivious of procedure, submitting mendacious, scurrilous and incoherent briefs, never on time. It's not every day one gets called a 'Nazi' in federal court pleadings."
What would do if no longer could practice law: "What wouldn't I do! For starters, resume masters bike racing, write, paint, play the piano daily, raise more Irish terriers and, above all, see my husband during daylight hours.
Personal motto: "It's taped to my computer: 'Resting never hurt anybody.'"
Name: Jonathan Orleans
Born: Washington, D.C., August 9, 1954
Residence: Fairfield
Specialty: Employment law, civil litigation
Firm: Zeldes, Needles & Cooper, Bridgeport
Personal: Married to psychologist Linda Liefland; two daughters, ages 8 and 12, three fish; one hamster. Interests include American traditional music, sports ("enthusiastic but unskilled" golfer) and history
Education: B.A., Hampshire College in 1977; M.P.A. from Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs, 1984; J.D. (cum laude) from New York University School of Law ("where I received a Dean's Award and was named to the Order of the Coif"), 1984
First job: "My very first job was a newspaper route," Orleans says. "My first job after college was at a guitar repair shop. First job after law school was as a law clerk to senior U.S. District Judge M. Joseph Blumenfeld, Hartford. After clerking for Judge Blumenfeld from September 1984 though August 1985, I joined Zeldes, Needle & Cooper and I've been here ever since. I'm now the managing partner of the firm."
Why chose specialty: "From the individual's point of view, the employment relationship is often the most important relationship other than family. From an employer's perspective, nothing is more important to business success than good relations with productive employees. So employment law is an area where a lawyer can have a positive impact whether representing employees or employers."
MMost memorable case: "Actually, my most memorable case is not in the employment area at all. As a cooperating attorney with the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, I represented the Stewart McKinney Foundation in a dispute over its proposal to establish a residence for homeless people with HIV/AIDS. We won an injunction in U.S. District Court under the Fair Housing Act that prohibited zoning authorities from treating the home differently due to the HIV status of the occupants."
What would do if no longer could practice law: "Spend more time with my kids. Read. Make music. Play golf. Probably starve.:
Personal motto: "'Work fast. Change speeds. Throw strikes.' - Ray Miller, former pitching coach and manager, Baltimore Orioles."
Name: Christopher P. McCormack
Born: Pittsburgh, Pa., January 16, 1957
Residence: Trumbull
Specialty: Environmental litigation, environmental law, environmental insurance coverage litigation and commercial litigation
Firm: Tyler Cooper & Alcorn, New Haven
Personal: Married to Sarah Doyle McCormack; children Benjamin (11) and Elizabeth (8); "canine child" Chloe (14 people years)
Education: Yale University, B.A., 1978; Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, M.A. 1981; Fordham University, J.D., 1987
First job: Clerkship for Second Circuit Judge (and former Connecticut governor) Thomas J. Meskill, 1987-88
Why chose specialty: "My undergraduate and graduate degrees were in music, and I went to law school after making the difficult choice not to pursue a career as an orchestra conductor," says McCormack. "I was looking for an intellectually interesting and challenging practice that would be as engaging and fulfilling as music. I gravitated toward environmental law because it involves sophisticated legal issues that have to be integrated with complex technical and scientific analysis. I enjoy the challenge of working with clients and technical professionals to solve problems, whether they relate to compliance, responsibility for contamination or putting brownfield properties back into productive use. No two sites or compliance problems are the same, so I'm constantly learning new things. It's impossible to be bored."
Most memorable case: The Laurel Park Superfund cases [involving a Naugatuck landfill], in which I've been involved virtually since starting in practice with Tyler, Cooper in 1988. We eventually became lead counsel for parties that were pursuing contribution claims against scores of defendants. I led the Tyler, Cooper team that tried the case to a federal Special Master, who heard over 60 days of evidence and then denied our clients any recovery. We persuaded the District Court to turn that decision around. I argued the appeal of that case to the Second Circuit, affirmed in October 2002. When you work on one case for over 14 years, it makes an impression.
What would do if no longer could practice law "Play the viola and write."
Personal motto: "Never tell me why it can't be done; let's figure out how it can."
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