Annual Awards
The University of Connecticut Law School Alumni Association presented its 2022 awards at the Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner on Tuesday, October 25, 2022. The awards recognize service to the law school, the legal profession and the community. See photos from the event.
2022 Award Winners
Distinguished Graduate Award: Kathleen Nastri BUS ’83, JD ’86
Kathleen Nastri is a partner with Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder P.C. in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She practices exclusively on behalf of plaintiffs, primarily those who have suffered from medical malpractice. She was the first female president of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association. Nastri has served as president of the American Association for Justice. She is a fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, American College of Trial Lawyers and International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and a member of the Summit Council, American Board of Trial Advocates, the Inner Circle of Advocates, and the International Society of Barristers, where she serves on the Board of Directors.
Public Service Award: The Hon. Lubbie Harper MSW ’67, JD '75
Lubbie Harper was sworn into office as a justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court in 2011. He previously served on the Connecticut Appellate Court from 2005 to 2011, and Connecticut Superior Court from 1997 to 2005, after more than 20 years in private practice. Harper currently sits by designation on the Connecticut Appellate Court. He also serves as chairman of the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparity in the Criminal Justice System, as well as Connecticut’s representative to the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts. He has been a long-time community activist and volunteer who has served as a board member of many civic and professional organizations. Read Justice Harper's remarks
Distinguished Service Award: Marilda Gandara JD '78
Marilda Gandara had a 30-year career at Aetna, where she practiced as a commercial real estate attorney and served as president of the Aetna Foundation. She is currently a member of the UConn Board of Trustees, serves on the board of The Bushnell Performing Arts Center and has long been active in the Hartford community. Gandara emigrated from Cuba to the United States with her family as a child and is passionate about philanthropy. In July 2022 she was inducted into Connecticut's Immigrant Heritage Hall of Fame.
2022 Graduates of the Last Decade Impact Awards
Rebecca KellyG JD '12
Rebecca KellyG (she/her) is an equity and justice strategist, sound artist, and founder of Rebecca KellyG LLC. Through her practice, Rebecca supports individuals and groups in challenging conditioned beliefs and behaviors, transforming policy, embracing accountability, and cultivating self-care for our personal and collective liberation. With over a decade of experience in the arts and social change, she engages in this work through workshops, organizational consulting, sound experiences, and retreats. She has taught as an adjunct professor for merican University Washington College of Law and Wagner College. She co-founded the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project chapter at UConn Law while a law student.
Claire Howard JD ’13
Claire Howard is an attorney at Madsen, Prestley & Parenteau LLC, where she handles a wide span of employment disputes on behalf of individuals, ranging from tenure denial, wage and hour overtime claims, retaliation, and contractual disputes. She has been selected by Best Lawyers as “One to Watch” and is active in the Connecticut Bar Association, serving as a member of the Professionalism Committee and the Pandemic Recovery and the Future of Court Technology Task Force.
Douglas Dalena JD '12
Doug Dalena is the corporation counsel and director of legal affairs for the City of Stamford. He previously served as deputy general counsel to Gov. Ned Lamont, where, among other duties, he was the governor's representative in the successful settlement of the Sheff v. O'Neill school desegregation case and helped lead the state's legal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also served as deputy general counsel and general counsel to Gov. Dannel Malloy, practiced energy and environmental law at Brown Rudnick, LLP, and served as a judicial clerk at the Connecticut Appellate Court. Prior to his law career, he served on active and reserve duty in the U.S. Navy, retiring as a commander, and spent eight years as a newspaper reporter.
LSAA Annual Meeting & Awards Dinner 2022 Sponsors
Ruel Ruel Burns and Britt LLC
Locke Lord LLP
Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
Capital Strategies Group LLC
Carlton Fields PA
Connecticut Bar Association
Shipman & Goodwin LLP
Law Offices of Pat Brown
Pullman and Comley LLC
Attorneys from the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney
Dear Friends of Lubbie Harper
McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP
Robinson and Cole LLP
Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder PC
McCarter & English LLP
$1000 Sponsors
Locke Lord LLP, Hartford
Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
$500 Sponsors
Tiana Gianopulos '94
$250 Sponsors
Michael Bellafiore '97
Professor & Dean Emeritus Timothy Fisher
Guy Evans
Watch the 2021 Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony
Past Awardees
Distinguished Graduate Award Winners
2021 Michael J. Callahan ’95
2020 Curtis Tearte ’78
2019 Henry S. Cohn ’70
2018 Anne C. Dranginis ’72
2017 Cheryl A. Chase ’78
2016 Kathleen A. Murphy ’87
2015 Andrew J. McDonald ’91
2014 James T. Shearin ’86
2013 Michael L. Aresco ’76
2012 Evan D. Flaschen ’82
2011 James K. Robertson, Jr. ’74
2010 James Sicilian ’81
2009 Christine S. Vertefeuille ’75
2008 Kevin J. O’Connor ’92
2007 Christopher F. Droney ’79
2006 Hope C. Seeley ’89
2005 Alphonso E. Tindall, Jr. ’81
2004 John H. Durham ’75
2003 Thomas J. Groark, Jr. ’65
2002 Dona D. Young ’80
2001 William H. Trachsel ’71
2000 Joette Katz ’77
1999 Daniel F. Flynn ’62
1998 Rosemary E. Giuliano ’78
1997 Richard N. Palmer ’77
1996 Randall Pinkston ’80
1995 Members of the Judiciary
1994 Thomas D. Ritter ’77
1993 Hubert J. Santos ’69
1992 Robert R. Googins ’61
1991 Thomas H. Dooley ’64
1990 Francisco L. Borges ’78
1989 John F. Droney ’73
1988 Dale P. Faulkner ’63
1987 Richard D. Tulisano ’69
1986 James J. Kennelly ’59
1985 Hugh F. Keefe ’67
1984 William R. Davis ’55
1982 James F. English, Jr. ’56
1981 Lewis B. Rome ’57
1980 Robert N. Giaimo ’44
1979 Joseph W. Bogdanski ’40
1978 T. Emmet Clarie ’38
1977 Carmine R. Lavieri ’48
1976 Anthony V. DeMayo ’51
1975 Carl W. Nielsen ’52
1974 Alva P. Loiselle ’43
1973 Louis Shapiro ’32
1972 Douglass B. Wright ’37
1971 Thomas J. Meskill ’56
Distinguished Service Award Winners
2021 Constance Belton Green ’72
2020 Timothy Fisher
2019 Ingrid Moll ’99
2018 Jon Bauer
2017 Steven M. Greenspan ’85
2016 Lewis S. Kurlantzick
2015 Martha Stone
2014 Barbara J. Collins ’78
2013 Willajeanne F. McLean
2012 Jeremy Paul
2011 Alexandra Davis DiPentima ’79
2010 William R. Breetz
2009 Laurie S. Werling
2009 Alan E. Green ’74
2008 Rafael A. Santiago ’83
2007 Kurt A. Strasser
2006 Nell Jessup Newton
2005 Alfred V. Covello ’60
2004 James D. Bartolini ’75
2003 Donna F. Martinez ’78
2002 Barbara B. Kennelly
2001 Dr. Henry C. Lee
2000 Hugh C. Macgill
1999 John C. Brittain
1998 Robert J. Callahan
1997 David W. Collins ’58
1994 Robert C. Zampano
1993 Ellen Ash Peters
1992 Cornelius J. Scanlon
1991 Peter A. Lane ’67
1990 George Schatzki
1989 Ethel S. Sorokin ’53
1988 Thomas C. McKone ’49
1987 Howard R. Sacks
1986 Phillip I. Blumberg
1975 George F. Sherwood ’66
1974 Aaron Nassau
Public Service Award Winners
2020 Robert W. Clark ’97
2020 Michelle Duprey ’93
2019 Charles Luckey ’85
2018 Perry Zinn-Rowthorn ’97
2017 Eric D. Coleman ’77
2016 Linda J. Kelly ’76
2015 Susan B. Handy ’80
2014 Harry D. Weller ’79
2013 John A. Danaher, III ’80
2012 Pedro E. Segarra ’85
2009 Nora R. Dannehy
2007 Michael R. Sheldon
2006 Joan Glazer Margolis ’78
1990 Thomas P. Smith ’72
1989 Robert I. Berdon ’57
1988 Eunice S. Groark ’65
1987 Anne M. Hamilton ’73 & Rosalind S. Katz ’78
1975 William D. Graham ’49
1974 Robert C. Leuba ’60
Medal of Excellence Award Winners
2019 Karen DeMeola ’96
2015 Robert M. Langer ’73
2012 The Honorable Ellen Ash Peters
2010 Anthony V. DeMayo ’51
2008 William F. Gallagher ’63
2004 Ralph Gregory Elliot
1990 William B. Rush ’59
1989 Wesley W. Horton ’70
1988 William S. Zeman ’41
1987 Robert W. Fiondella ’68
1975 William R. Davis ’55
1974 George F. Muir ’39
Graduates of the Last Decade Impact Award
2020: Alexandra J. Cavaliere ’16, Franklin E. Perry ’13, Bianca Scherr ’16, DeVaughn L. Ward ’11
2020: Dan Brody ’15, Aigné Goldsby ’16, Lisa Marie Rivas ’11
2019: Alfredo Fernández ’12, Ellen Messali ’10, Erick Russell ’12
2018: Donald J. Bell ’13, Walter Menjivar ’12, Meredith O’Keefe ’08, Matthew Ritter ’07
Lifetime Achievement Award
2016 Julia Brezina Dunlop