Mr. Avena received his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the University of Connecticut in 1977, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut in 1980. He has practiced law in southeastern Connecticut for forty years and is pleased to bring his legal expertise to the firm as a Director in the areas of municipal, real estate, planning and zoning, and administrative law.
Mr. Avena is admitted to the bar of the State of Connecticut (1980), U.S. District Court (1981) and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court (1992). He is a member of the Connecticut and New London County Bar Associations, and was recently elected Treasurer of the Connecticut Association of Municipal Attorneys, and is a former member of the CBA Board of Governors and House of Delegates.
Mr. Avena’s practice focuses primarily on municipal and planning and zoning law. He has served as a Waterford town attorney for the past 19 years and has served as town attorney in numerous southeastern Connecticut towns throughout his legal practice. He has advised municipalities regarding aspects of municipal law and litigated substantial cases in the Superior and Appellate Court of Connecticut, principally representing Town tax assessors, planning and zoning commissions, wetlands commissions, and zoning boards of appeal. During his practice for individual clients, Mr. Avena was involved in the permitting process for the Pfizer Research Campus expansion and opening of the Mashantucket Pequot Casino.
A lifelong resident of southeastern Connecticut, he has served on local boards and commissions, and is presently on the Board of Pierce Care Nursing Facility (past president), Connecticut Baptist Homes, Groton Pequot Land Trust, and counsel to the Avalonia Land Conservancy and Colchester Land Trust. Outside of work, Mr. Avena enjoys hiking and swimming along the Connecticut shoreline with his four children and his wife Erica, all manner of sports, and leisure reading of historical non-fiction and biographies.
