|   | | Law Firm in Bridgeport, Connecticut | |
|
| | Address | | 1057 Broad Street | | Bridgeport, Connecticut 06604-4219 | | (Fairfield Co.) | | | |
| | | |
(Main Office)
| Durant, Nichols, Houston, Hodgson & Cortese-Costa, P.C. practices in the following areas of law:
Labor and Employment Law (Management Only), Occupational Safety and Health, Pension and Employee Benefits, Civil Rights, Education, General Civil Litigation and Trial Practice. | | Year Established: 1987 | Firm Profile:
Durant, Nichols, Houston, Hodgson & Cortese-Costa, P.C. was founded on November 1, 1987. We have eleven attorneys and four paralegals on our staff. Our practice is concentrated on representing management in non-union and union environments. The Firm's clients include both private and public sector employers. Our services span the full range of counseling, preventative labor relations, contract negotiation, grievance resolution, arbitration, maintenance of the union-free environment and decertification, employment discrimination, unfair labor practice, occupational health and safety, employee benefits and wage-hour issues. Durant, Nichols' litigation and trial attorneys have defended numerous labor and employment files involving claims brought before federal and state equal employment agencies and labor boards, labor arbitrators, and the federal and state courts. | | Firm Size: 15 | Clients:
Our private sector clients include employers in the health care, manufacturing, construction, commerce, finance, and service industries. We also represent educational facilities at both the secondary and university levels. The Firm's client roster includes large national and multi-national enterprises as well as many middle and small-sized businesses. |
Our experience and capabilities in the public sector are broad. Our attorneys have represented Connecticut cities, towns and school boards since the 1960s. We advise our public clients on contract negotiation, mediation, interest arbitration, staff reduction, employee dismissal, Freedom of Information Act, special education, constitutional, procedural due process and other critical public law issues. | | DIRECTORS | | E. Terry Durant (Director) born Great Barrington, Massachusetts, January 28, 1932; admitted to bar, 1959, Virginia; 1965, Connecticut; 1966, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut; 1969, U.S. Supreme Court. Education: Colgate University (A.B., 1954); University of Virginia (LL.B., 1959). Listed in: The Best Lawyers in America, all editions. Legal Advisor to the Chairman and Supervisory Trial Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, 1959-1964. Member, Executive Committee, Bridgeport Diocesan Health Care Corporation. Member: Greater Bridgeport Bar Association; Virginia State Bar; Connecticut (Chairman, Labor Law Section, 1973 and 1977) and American Bar Associations; Visiting Nurses Association (Member, Executive Committee, St. Joseph's Manor). [Lieut., USNR, 1954-1961]. Practice Areas: Labor Law; Employment Law. Email: E. Terry Durant | | Donald F. Houston (Director) born Bridgeport, Connecticut, March 4, 1946; admitted to bar, 1973, Connecticut; 1974, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut; 1975, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit; 1981, U.S. Supreme Court. Education: Yale University (B.A., 1970); University of Virginia Law School (J.D., 1973). Listed in: The Best Lawyers in America. Member, Labor Advisory Committee, American Arbitration Association, 1983—. Assistant Town Counsel, Fairfield, Connecticut, 1984-1997. Regent, Fairfield College Preparatory School. Past President, Connecticut School Attorneys Council. Arbitrator, Boards of Education under the State Teacher Negotiation Act. Member, Board of the McGiveny Community Center. Former Board Member, Inner City Foundation for Charity and Hope. Member: Connecticut (Member, Executive Committee, Labor Law Section, Education Law Committee, 1981-1982, 1983-1985, 1996—) and American Bar Associations; Greater Bridgeport Bar Association. Practice Areas: Labor Law; Employment Law; Education Law; Occupational Health and Safety Law. Email: Donald F. Houston | | Christopher M. Hodgson (Director) born Boston, Massachusetts, December 24, 1959; admitted to bar, 1985, Connecticut; 1986, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut. Education: Choate-Rosemary Hall (1978); University of Vermont (B.A., 1982); University of Richmond School of Law (J.D., 1985). Moot Court Board. Member, University of Richmond Law Review. Member: Connecticut (Member, Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment Law Section) and American (Member, Labor and Employment Law Section) Bar Associations; Greater Bridgeport Bar Association; Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce (Member, Executive Committee); Barnum Museum Board of Directors; Yale Youth Hockey Association (Board of Directors). Practice Areas: Labor and Employment. Email: Christopher M. Hodgson | | Loraine Cortese-Costa (Director) born Brooklyn, New York, December 29, 1960; admitted to bar, 1986, New York and Connecticut; 1987, U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; 1989, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut; 1990, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit; U.S. Supreme Court. Education: State University of New York at Albany (B.S., magna cum laude, 1982); Albany Law School of Union University (J.D., 1986). Associate Editor, Albany Law Review, 1985-1986. Quarterfinalist, National Moot Court Competition. Trial Referee and Arbitrator, Connecticut Superior Court. Member: Bridgeport (Former Chair, Labor and Employment Law Section); Connecticut and American (Member, Labor and Employment Law Section) Bar Associations; Greater Bridgeport Bar Association. Practice Areas: Labor and Employment Law; Civil Litigation. Email: Loraine Cortese-Costa | | Natale V. Di Natale (Director) born Wallingford, Connecticut, August 9, 1968; admitted to bar, 1994, Connecticut; 1995, New York and U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut. Education: Choate-Rosemary Hall (1986); Tufts University (B.A. in Economics and Political Science, 1990); Emory University (J.D., with distinction, 1994). Order of the Coif. Recipient, Georgia State Bar Award in Labor Law. Managing Editor, Emory International Law Review, 1993-1994. Law Clerk to the Honorable Francis X. Hennessy, Appellate Court of the State of Connecticut, 1995-1996. Author: "Chaos in the Aftermath of the Panama Invasion-Constitutional Law Implications of an Action for Damages Arising from a Breach of Treaty: Industria Panificadora, S.A. v. United States," 8 Emory International Law Review 399, Issue 1, Spring 1994. Contributing Editor, The Developing Labor Law. Member: Greater Bridgeport, Connecticut and American (Member, Labor and Employment Law Section) Bar Associations. Practice Areas: Labor and Employment Law. Email: Natale V. Di Natale | | Lisa Grasso Egan (Director) born New Haven, Connecticut, July 23, 1963; admitted to bar, 1988, Connecticut and U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut; 2002, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Education: Providence College (B.A., magna cum laude, 1985); Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 1988). Member, Journal of Law & Technology, 1987-1988. Former Director, Labor Relations, City of New Haven. Member: Greater Bridgeport, Connecticut and American (Member, Labor and Employment Law Sections) Bar Associations. Practice Areas: Labor Law; Education Law; Employment Law; Civil Litigation. Email: Lisa Grasso Egan | | Stephen M. Sedor (Director) born Rancocas, New Jersey, 1969; admitted to bar, 1995, Connecticut; 1996, New York; 1997, U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York; 2000, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut. Education: Clarkson University (B.S., 1991); Quinnipiac College (J.D., 1995). Recipient: Distinguished Academic Achievement Award; American Jurisprudence Award, Labor Law. Business Managing Editor, Connecticut Probate Law Journal. Member: Connecticut Bar Association; Greater Bridgeport Bar Association. Practice Areas: Employment Litigation; Litigation. Email: Stephen M. Sedor | | —————————— | | Peter Dagostine (Associate) admitted to bar, 2002, Connecticut. Education: Boston College (B.A., 1998); University of Connecticut School of Law (J.D., 2002). Recipient, The Honorable M. Joseph Blumenfeld Prize. Notes and Comments Editor, Connecticut Journal of International Law. Law Clerk, Honorable C. Ian McLachlan, Connecticut Appellate Court. Email: Peter Dagostine | | Rachel V. Kushel (Associate) born Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, October 14, 1974; admitted to bar, 2000, Pennsylvania; 2001, New Jersey, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey and U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania; 2002, U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit; 2006, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut; 2007, Connecticut. Education: University of Pennsylvania (B.A. cum laude, 1996); Beasley School of Law at Temple University (J.D., cum laude, 2000). Member, Political and Civil Rights Law Review, 1998-2000; Beasley School of Law Student Mentor, 2001-2003; University of Pennsylvania Alumni Interviewer, 1996—. Member: Greater Bridgeport Bar Association. Practice Areas: Labor and Employment. Email: Rachel V. Kushel | | Sandra Cruz Kennedy (Associate) admitted to bar, 2004, Connecticut; 2005, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut. Education: Connecticut College (B.A., 2000); Northeastern University School of Law (J.D., 2004). Member: Connecticut Bar Association; New Haven Bar Association; Greater Bridgeport Bar Association. Email: Sandra Cruz Kennedy | | Michel Bayonne (Associate) admitted to bar, 2002, Connecticut; 2003, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut. Education: Fairfield University (B.A., 1998); University of Connecticut (J.D., 2001). Member: Connecticut Bar Association; Greater Bridgeport Bar Association; Fairfield County Bar Association. Email: Michel Bayonne | | Jarad Lucan (Associate) born 1976; admitted to bar, 2007, Connecticut. Education: Villanova University (B.A., 1998); Quinnipiac University (J.D., cum laude, 2007). Member: Connecticut Bar Association; New Haven Bar Association. | | Jeffrey Mogan (Associate) born 1982; admitted to bar, 2007, Connecticut. Education: University of Massachusetts (B.A., summa cum laude, 2004); Western New England College School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2007). Member: Connecticut Bar Association. | | OF COUNSEL | | George N. Nichols (Of Counsel) born Stamford, Connecticut, October 13, 1940; admitted to bar, 1965, Connecticut and U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut; 1967, U.S. Court of Military Appeals. Education: Amherst College (B.A., 1962); Harvard University (LL.B., 1965). Author: "An Investigation by the EEOC," 68 AWWA Journal 484, 1976; "Pregnancy and Childbirth Problems in the Workplace," Englewood Cliffs, 1985. Listed in: The Best Lawyers in America. Past Member, Local Chapter, Industrial Relations Research Association. Member, Panel of Arbitrators, American Arbitration Association. Member: Bridgeport, Connecticut (Member, Section on Labor and Employment Law) and American (Member, Section on Labor and Employment Law) Bar Associations. [Lieut., JAGC, USNR, 1966-1969]. Practice Areas: Labor Law; Employment Law. | | PARALEGALS | | Megan L. Krom Education: Southern Connecticut State University (A.A.); Teikyo Post University. Practice Areas: Labor and Employment. Email: Megan L. Krom | | Kimberly Marini Education: Branford Hall Career Institute (Paralegal Certificate). Practice Areas: Litigation. Email: Kimberly Marini |
|
