Annual Awards

Distinguished Graduate Award: Michael Cantor ENG ’80, JD ‘83

Michael Cantor leads one of the country’s largest and most productive intellectual property law firms. After graduating from UConn with a BS with honors in Chemical Engineering / Materials Engineering and then earning a JD from UConn Law, Cantor joined a two-attorney patent law firm. Forty years later, Cantor Colburn has grown exponentially to 100 attorneys and patent agents, with offices in Hartford, Washington, Atlanta, Houston and Detroit. Clients include Fortune 100 companies, select high-tech startups, universities, research centers and numerous mid-size companies in the United States and throughout the globe. Cantor has represented businesses from a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, high technology, entertainment, and consumer products. He is also active in supporting economic development and innovation and chairs the board of directors of Connecticut Innovations. UConn has remained important in Cantor’s life since graduation. His wife, Shari, is a UConn trustee, and two of their four sons are UConn graduates.

Public Service Award: The Hon. Christine Keller ‘77

Justice Christine Keller is an honors graduate of Smith College and an honors graduate of the UConn School of Law. On July 27, 2020, she was nominated by Gov. Ned Lamont to be an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, on which she served until her retirement in October 2022. She previously served on the Connecticut Appellate Court from 2013 to 2020 and Connecticut Superior Court from 1993 to 2013, after a career in government, private practice, and non-profit law. Keller has received numerous public service awards, including the 2008 Henry J. Naruk Judiciary Award, presented annually to a Connecticut judge for judicial excellence; the 2012 Connecticut Juvenile Court Innovation and Leadership Award; and in 2022 The Hartford County Bar Association's John M. Bailey Memorial Award for Public Service. Throughout Keller’s career, she has passionately advocated for juvenile justice reform.

Distinguished Service Award: Richard D. Pomp

Richard D. Pomp is the Alva P. Loiselle Professor of Law at UConn Law School. He is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. He has taught at Harvard, New York University, Columbia, University of Texas, and Boston College. In addition, he has been a distinguished professor in residence at Chulalongkorn Law School, Bangkok, Thailand, and a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo Law School and at Harvard Law School. In 2007, he received the NYU Institute on State and Local Taxation Award for Outstanding Achievement in State and Local Taxation. In 2011, he was awarded the Bureau of National Affairs Lifetime Achievement Award. He was the 2012 winner of the University of Connecticut’s Faculty Excellence in Teaching – Graduate Level. Tax Analysts selected him as its 2013 State Tax Lawyer and Academic of the Year. In 2014, he received the Council on State Taxation’s Excellence in State Taxation Award. The Connecticut Law Tribune selected him for a 2015 Professional Excellence Award. In 2017, he won the Perry Zirkel ’76 Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2022, he was appointed a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, the highest honor the University can bestow on a faculty member.

Andrés Jiménez-Franck '19
Andres Jimenez-Franck is a labor and employment attorney at Ogletree Deakins, where he focuses on management-side counseling and litigation. Before he joined Ogletree Deakins, Jiménez-Franck was an associate at the firm Pullman & Comley, where his practice included general commercial litigation. Jiménez-Franck is a former officer of the Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association, having previously served as its director of communications, secretary and treasurer. He is also an outgoing presidential fellow of the Connecticut Bar Association and is currently the secretary for the Labor and Employment Section of the Connecticut Bar Association. Jiménez-Franck is a former member of the City of Hartford’s Planning and Zoning Commission, having served as a member from 2020 to 2022. While a student at UConn School of Law, he was president of the Latino Law Student Association and membership editor of the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal.

Choity Khan BA '13, JD '16
Choity Khan is associate regulatory compliance counsel at STO Building Group in New York. She was previously an attorney at Robinson & Cole LLP, where she represented construction industry clients including owners, contractors, subcontractors and design professionals. In 2019, Khan was recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star. She has been a member of the South Asian Bar Association of Connecticut Board of Directors since 2019 and has been active in the Connecticut Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section since her admission to the Connecticut Bar in 2016. From 2017 to 2019, she served as a co-chair of the Women in the Law Committee of the Young Lawyers Section. Khan was recognized as a Star of the Year for the 2017-2018 bar year for her work as co-chair. She currently serves the Young Lawyers Section Executive Committee as the Connecticut and Rhode Island District Representative to the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division.

Francesco C. Mioli '17
Francesco C. Mioli is an attorney in Robinson Cole’s Real Estate and Development Group, where he concentrates his practice on commercial real estate transactions, including real estate finance, development and leasing matters. Mioli is president of the Connecticut Italian American Bar Association and has been a member since 2018. He is also an active member of the Connecticut Bar Association, where he served on the Building Committee and is currently serving on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and House of Delegates. He was a recipient of Robinson Cole’s 2022 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Award.

Sarah Dlugoszewski ’16
Sarah Dlugoszewski is an associate at Shipman & Goodwin and has worked as a member of the firm’s business litigation practice group since 2016. Her practice runs the litigation gamut, ranging from personal injury matters to product liability and insurance coverage disputes. In addition to her litigation practice, Dlugoszewski is a veteran’s advocate and coordinates with Connecticut Veterans Legal Center on pro bono matters aimed at securing benefits for deserving veteran clients. Dlugoszewski also serves as a member of the center's Pro Bono Advisory Council. In 2022, she received the Connecticut Bar Association’s Anthony V. DeMayo Pro Bono Award in recognition of her zealous advocacy for veterans.