The Connecticut State Supreme Court. August, 2021.
Some Mondays are bad, some are better, but very few are supreme.
Today was a Supreme Monday.
Today I had the honor to accompany my dear friend Jim Fogarty as he argued before the Connecticut Supreme Court. While the case was interesting and his argument compelling, the back story is even better.
Jim graduated from Fordham Law School in 1967; I graduated in 1986. He was an accomplished trial attorney when we met that year; I aspired to be one someday. Over the years, we became friends and colleagues through gatherings of the American Board of Trial Advocates and the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has always been available to offer advice on perplexing issues of civil procedure or the yardage of a difficult golf shot – he was always helpful on the former, less so on the latter.
Last year Jim wrote and published a wonderful book about his life and legal career, Greenwich and Connecticut Courts: 82 Years of Memories and Change.
When we connected to talk about the book, he mentioned that he was retiring and had wrapped up all his pending matters except one case on the docket of the Connecticut Supreme Court. I extended an offer to help in any way. He took me up on the offer and I assisted him in drafting and filing the Reply brief and getting ready for argument.
So, today we walked into that courthouse together, stood in the sunshine by one of the east windows and shared a story about the start of his legal career in 1968 as a law clerk for Justice Alcorn in that courthouse.
Today, nearly 60 years later, was his last argument at the Court. He closed the circle of a very special career.
A Supreme Monday spent with a supreme lawyer and friend.
Stephen Fogerty
Westport, CT