October, 2008 The Supreme Court released Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, S.C. 17716, on the Judicial Branch website, www.jud.ct.gov, on October 10, 2008. Concluding that sexual orientation is a quasi-suspect class under the Connecticut Constitution, the Court held that denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples violated the equal protection provisions in the Connecticut Constitution. The Court directed the trial court to grant the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and application for injunctive relief. The decision will be officially released on October 28, 2008. Attorneys Bartschi and Dowd were cooperating counsel on the case with lead counsel Bennett C. Klein and Mary Bonauto of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders of Boston, Massachusetts. For more information about the case, go to www.glad.org.

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August, 2008 Attorney Wesley W. Horton became President of the American Counsel Association, an International Association for lawyers.

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May, 2008 Attorney Kimberly A. Knox attended the ABA's Fifth International Conference of the Association of Professional Responsibility Laywers held in Amsterdam.

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June, 2008 Attorney Kimberly A. Knox is featured in the Connecticut Law Tribune Special Section, Women in Law.

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March, 2008 Attorney Wesley W. Horton's book, The History of the Connecticut Supreme Court, was published by Thomsen/West. Attorney Brendon P. Levesque co-authored two of the chapters with Attorney Horton. On March 26, 2008, Dean Jeremy R. Paul of the University of Connecticut Law School and the University of Connecticut Law School Alumni Association, Inc., are hosting a panel discussion, reception and book signing for attorney Horton's book. Panelists include Attorney Horton, Professor Christopher Collier, Chief Justice (ret.), Ellen Ash Peters and Professor Colin Tait with professor Hugh Mac Gill as moderator.

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October, 2007 Attorney Kimberly A. Knox spoke on “Ethics in Connecticut”, a presentation of the Lorman Education Services. Attorney Kimberly A. Knox argued National RR Passenger Corp. v. O & G Industries, 04-cv-1318 to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. With her for the argument was Attorney Michael S. Taylor. Attorney Karen Dowd was recognized by the Litigation section for her service as chair of the section for the past two years. Attorney Kenneth J. Bartschi won Durrant vs. Board of Education, in an en banc decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court. 284 Conn. 91 (2007). Attorney Wesley W. Horton, as President-Elect of the American Counsel Association, spoke at the European Circuit of the Bar annual program, held this year in Luxembourg.

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August, 2007 Wesley W. Horton was elected President Elect of the American Counsel Association at their annual meeting in San Francisco. The ACA was formed for the purpose of improving and enhancing standards of practice, the administration of justice and the discharge of the responsibilities of the profession, ACA objectives and purposes. Membership is limited to one firm per city, as determined by the membership committee.

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June, 2007 As incoming Chair of the CBA Young Lawyers Section, Daniel J. Krisch hosted the Annual YLS Retreat. Attorney Krisch, who served as Chair-Elect for the 2006-2007 Bar year, plans to make pro bono legal service by young lawyers the focus of his year as Chair. Kenneth J. Bartschi was the featured speaker at the “Annual Review of Appellate Cases with Kenneth Bartschi” at the Connecticut Bar Association Annual Meeting. Kimberly A. Knox was the moderator at the program “Mammoth Changes to the Ethics Rules” presented at the Connecticut Bar Association Annual Meeting. Karen L. Dowd ended her second, and final, year as Chair of the Connecticut Bar Association Litigation Section. The Section, which has over a thousand members, focuses on the procedural issues of litigation. The Section also reviews proposed legislation relevant to litigators in all practice areas. Seminars over the past year have focused on ethical issues facing the bar, changes to the ethics rules, and electronic discovery. Several taskforces were created to address long-term issues before the litigating bar. Kimberly A. Knox spoke on ethics to the Connecticut Association of Municipal Attorneys.

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May, 2007 Daniel Krisch wins Cogswell v. American Transit Insurance Co., 282 Conn. 505 (2007). Daniel J. Krisch attended the Annual Meeting of the American Law Institute in San Francisco. The highlight of the meeting was a speech by Dame Sian Elias, Chief Justice of the New Zealand Supreme Court, on the interwoven nature of U.S. and N.Z. law, and on the need for greater codification of international human rights law. In addition Dan participated in drafting sessions for two important, ongoing ALI projects: the new Model Penal Code on Sentencing, and the Restatement (Third) of Torts. Kerrigan v. Comm’r of Public Health, the marriage equality case, was argued before the Supreme Court. Kenneth J. Bartschi and Karen L. Dowd are cooperating lawyers with Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders on the case. For further information, see www.glad.org. The 4th Annual Connecticut Appellate Advocacy Institute was held at the Connecticut Bar Association. The three-day program which provides practical instruction was initiated in 2004 year by Attorneys Kimberly Knox and Wesley Horton.

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March, 2007 Wesley Horton spoke to the California Spilt Districts, a land use organization, on Kelo v. New London at a conference in Laguna Cliffs, California. Kenneth J. Bartschi and Wesley W. Horton publish their annual Supreme and Appellate Court review in the Connecticut Bar Journal. Kimberly A. Knox gave a presentation on the new ethics rules to the CBA Family Law Section.

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February, 2007 Wesley Horton and Kenneth J. Bartschi win a Connecticut Supreme Court appeal upholding a pre-nuptial agreement in a multi-million dollar appeal. Friezo v. Friezo, 281 Conn. 166 (2007). Kenneth J. Bartschi and Brendon P. Levesque win a Connecticut Supreme Court appeal in Ramin v. Ramin, 281 Conn. 324 (2007). The decision changes the standard by which attorney’s fees may be granted in dissolution cases.

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February, 2007 The first Journal of the Connecticut Supreme Court Historical Society was published. Wesley W. Horton is the President of the Society. The 2007 Editions of the Connecticut Superior Court Civil Rules Annotated and the Connecticut Rules of Appellate Procedure are published. The Civil Rules Annotated are authored by Wesley W. Horton and Kimberly A. Knox with various chapters annotated by Karen L. Dowd, Michael S. Taylor, Kenneth J. Bartschi and Daniel J. Krisch, all members of the firm. The Honorable Alexandra DiPentima also annotates one of the chapters of the Civil Rules Annotated. Wesley W. Horton and Kenneth J. Bartschi author the Rules of Appellate Procedure Annotated. Daniel J. Krisch and Kimberly A. Knox also author the Juvenile Rules Annotated. Attorneys Krisch and Taylor taught the Interterm Moot Court at the University of Connecticut Law School. This is their third year teaching Moot Court at the Law School. Kimberly A. Knox was lecturer at the Connecticut Bar Association Litigation Section Meeting on the New Ethic Rules Attorney Knox was also Chair and presenter of “The Changes in the Ethics Rules,” a CLE program through the CBA.

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2007 Karen L. Dowd was appointed to the Judicial Reform Task Force by Connecticut Bar Association President, Norman Janes. Kimberly A. Knox was appointed a Life Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation.

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December, 2006 Kenneth J. Bartschi’s article “Civil Unions and the Jurisdiction of the Superior Court to Adjudicate the Rights and Responsibilities of Same-Sex Couples,” was the cover story on the newly revived Connecticut Family Lawyer

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November, 2006 Kenneth J. Bartschi was a featured speaker on Marriage Equality at the Western New England Law School forum discussing the recent Massachusetts Judicial Supreme Court decision holding that the denial of marriage licenses to same sex couples violated the Massachusetts constitution.

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September, 2006 Kimberly A. Knox was appointed by CBA President Lou Pepe to the Taskforce on Appellate Advocacy Certification, investigating accreditation for appellate practice.

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July, 2006 Karen L. Dowd is reappointed as Chair on the CBA Litigation Section for her second year. Kimberly A. Knox is appointed Co-Chair of the newly created Appellate Advocacy Committee of the CBA. Wesley W. Horton is reappointed as Chair of the Professional Ethics Committee of the CBA. Daniel J. Krisch is elected Chair-Elect of the Young Lawyers Section of the CBA.

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May, 2006 Kenneth J. Bartschi is co-recipient of the 2006 Judge Maxwell Heiman Memorial Award by the Hartford County Bar Association. The award is given annually to an outstanding Hartford County Lawyer in his or her first ten years of practice who exemplifies the high standards of service to the profession, ethics, scholarship and devotion to clients which were the hallmarks of the late judge Heiman. Daniel J. Krisch elected a member of the American Law Institute. The ALI consists of judges, practicing lawyers and legal scholars “selected on the basis of professional achievement and demonstrated interest in the improvement of the law. ALI, through a careful and deliberative process, drafts and then publishes various Restatements of the Law, model codes, and legal studies to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to encourage and carry on scholarly and scientific legal work.” ALI Mission Statement.

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2006 “The Wheeler Court,” an article by Wesley W. Horton and Brendon P. Levesque was published in the Quinnipiac University Law Review. The article is part of a continuing series of articles discussing the history and decisions of the Connecticut Supreme Court. This article focuses on the Connecticut Supreme Court from 1910 through 1930 and concentrates primarily on the opinions of Justices George W. Wheeler, Samuel O. Prentice, and John K. Beach.

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December, 2005 Daniel J. Krisch, a partner at Horton, Shields & Knox, was invited to be a featured speaker at a Brown University forum on Kelo v. New London entitled “The Death of Private Property?” Brown's Political Theory Project, a new interdisciplinary research initiative housed within Brown's Department of political science, sponsors the forum.

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November, 2005 Kenneth J. Bartschi, a principal at Horton, Shields & Knox, was a featured speaker at Western New England Law School forum discussing the recent Massachusetts Judicial Supreme Court decision holding that the denial of marriage licenses to same sex couples violated the Massachusetts constitution. Wesley Horton, a partner with Horton, Shields & Knox, was one of only two Connecticut lawyers that was invited to the 2005 National Conference on Appellate Justice in Washington, D.C. The conference, which is co-sponsored by the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, the Federal Judicial Center, the National Center for State Courts, and the Institute of Judicial Administration, featured almost 200 appellate judges, practitioners and academics, including some of the most distinguished judicial minds in the country.

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October, 2005 Wesley Horton, a partner at Horton, Shields & Knox, was a featured speaker at the Hawaii State Bar Association in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, in a session titled, “Comparative Taking and Regulation of Land (Eminent Domain),” where he discussed Kelo, et al. v. City of New London.

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September, 2005 Wesley Horton was a featured speaker at the Third Annual Urban Forum in Philadelphia. The topic of the forum, which was sponsored by the Urban Land Institute, was the future of eminent domain after Kelo, et al. v. City of New London, et al., a case concerning the scope of the Public Use Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Federalist Society of Harvard Law School invited Daniel Krisch, a partner at Horton, Shields & Knox and attorney for New London Development Corporation, to participate in a debate on Private Property Rights & Eminent Domain after Kelo, et al. v. City of New London, et al.

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August, 2005 Michael Taylor, a partner at Horton, Shields & Knox, was named Co-Chair of the Litigation Section of the Hartford County Bar Association.

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July, 2005 The Connecticut Bar Association Litigation Section named as its 2005 Chair Karen Dowd, a partner at Horton, Shields & Knox. Attorney Dowd will serve in this position until June 2007. Daniel J. Krisch is elected Treasurer of the Young Lawyers Section of the CBA. Wesley W. Horton is reappointed as Chair of the Professional Ethics Committee of the CBA. The Committee provides formal and informal opinions on ethical issues facing members of the Bar.

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June, 2005 Horton, Shields & Knox, wins CT Supreme Court Case and reverses $32 Million award. The Connecticut Supreme Court announced its unanimous opinion in the case of Alan M. Glazer et al.v. Dress Barn, Inc., and reversed a lower court ruling that originally awarded Glazer and Bedford Fair, Inc. (BFI) over $30 million in damages for allegedly breaching a loan agreement with BFI. On appeal, Dress Barn's counsel at the Hartford law firm of Horton, Shields & Knox argued that the evidence was not sufficient to support the plaintiff's breach of contract, misrepresentation and unfair trade practice claims. In a decision written by Justice Joette Katz, the Connecticut Supreme Court agreed.

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May, 2005 Connecticut Lawyer Magazine Announces its 2004 Distinguished Volunteers, and Horton, Shields & Knox attorney, Daniel Krisch is recognized.

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February, 2005 Wesley Horton argued before the United States Supreme Court in Kelo, et al. v. City of New London, et al., a case concerning the scope of the Public Use Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

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January, 2005 The state Supreme Court reversed assault convictions against a Meriden man in a child abuse case and ordered his immediate release from prison. Members of the firm, including Daniel J. Krisch, Kenneth J. Bartschi and Susan M. Cormier, handled the case through several remands on a pro bono basis.

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