Legal Services

Sullivan, Schoen, Campane & Connon LLC is committed to three principles of client service. First, the firm’s attorneys strive to provide prompt service to our clients. In furtherance of this objective, attorneys act as an integrated unit, rather than as individual practitioners. Consequently, while a principal lawyer is assigned to each client in order to provide the client with continuity, every lawyer in the firm is capable of responding to requests for legal advice should the primary lawyer(s) be unavailable. Second, we are dedicated to knowing our client's business. Even though we have extensive experience in representing boards of education, other municipal agencies, and private sector clients, especially in the areas of labor, employment and education law, we work with each client to learn the needs of its community. Our attention to clients has fostered many long-term relationships. The fact that so many of our clients have chosen to retain our services year after year attests to our dedication to providing services tailored to each client's unique needs. Third, we believe in preventive law. The most effective way to control legal costs is to ensure that decisions are made with foreknowledge of their legal implications.

Support Services

Our support staff consists of secretaries, administrative assistants, paralegals and a legal administrator. Where appropriate, work on behalf of our clients is performed by support staff at no cost. Our computer research facilities contain a vast amount of relevant and up-to-date economic data pertaining to teacher and non-certified collective bargaining. With these facilities we can quickly deliver almost any type of financial comparisons for collective bargaining purposes. Our computerized library provides all lawyers with the most recent case and statutory law.

Areas of Concentration

Assisting and counseling clients in dismissal of employees, employee hiring, grievance hearings, disciplinary actions, and related proceedings involving personnel matters

Drafting and review of policies and agreements

Representation in contract negotiations, mediation, interest arbitration, and grievance arbitration

Providing written opinions on specific legal issues

Maintaining employment data for collective bargaining, including a comprehensive computer database of wage and contract statistics

Serving as procedural advisors and consultants in various settings such as grievance hearings, student expulsion hearings, and employee disciplinary proceedings

Advising clients regarding construction agreements, building projects and real estate acquisitions

Advising clients in connection with commercial agreements with outside vendors and agencies

Advising clients whenever an important case is decided or statute enacted which could have a significant impact on the client's business

Conducting seminars and workshops on all aspects of labor law, employment law, and education law (including special education)

Naturally, as a full service firm, we are often called upon to litigate cases. We are prepared to take a case to verdict whenever necessary. Attorneys in the firm have practiced in all state and federal courts (on both the trial and appellate court levels) and state and federal administrative agencies. This firm has been involved in countless cases of great import, especially in the areas of labor, employment, municipal, education and civil rights law. These cases have not only been important to the clients that we presented, but also have been of great value as precedent and interpretive guidance for entities and practitioners alike. Upon request, this firm would be happy to provide you with a detailed list and summary of such cases. In addition, we have been retained through insurance companies to represent the interests of both public sector and private sector bodies. This practice includes the following:

Litigation in all Connecticut state trial and appellate courts, the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, the Second Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court

Labor union and employee matters before the State Board of Labor Relations, and the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration

Construction and labor arbitrations before American Arbitration Association arbitrators

Discrimination cases before the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Minimum wage, overtime, retaliation and equal pay issues before both the U.S. and State Departments of Labor

Occupational safety issues before the U.S. Department of Labor

Discrimination cases before the Office of Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education

Unemployment Compensation cases before the Division of Employment Security

Cases involving access to public agency records and meetings before the Freedom of Information Commission

Various education law cases before State Department of Education hearing officers, including special education hearings, residency hearings, and transportation hearings

Of course, preventative law can often be the most cost effective path. All the attorneys in the firm can provide general legal advice. Lawyers in this firm are in constant communication through e-mail and regular office meetings. We have an index of written legal opinions to our clients covering the last twenty-eight years. Before expending time and money on research for a particular legal matter for a client, the lawyers in our firm check with other lawyers and our database of legal opinions. In this way, we do not “reinvent the wheel” at our client’s expense. In light of our experience, attorneys in this firm have been participants in and presenters at numerous conferences and seminars on labor, employment and education law matters, including conferences sponsored by the Connecticut Bar Association, and have authored numerous articles on labor, employment and education law issues.

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