PRESS RELEASE: Pullman & Comley Welcomes Judge Anne C. Dranginis (Ret.) and Meghan M. Sweeney To Family Law Practice
BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut: Pullman & Comley is pleased to announce the addition of Retired Appellate Court Judge Anne C. Dranginis and Attorney Meghan M. Sweeney to the firm’s Family Law Practice. Judge Dranginis will alternate her time between Hartford and Fairfield County, while Ms. Sweeney will be based in Bridgeport and Stamford.
“We are delighted that Judge Dranginis and Attorney Sweeney have joined our firm,” said Timothy Ronan, chairman of the firm’s Litigation Department. “They are well recognized as skilled negotiators and outstanding litigators, and will be a tremendous asset to our rapidly expanding Family Law Practice.”
Judge Dranginis, a Member of the Firm, focuses on litigation matters involving matrimonial law, corporate compliance and governance, trial strategy, appellate law, arbitration and mediation. In addition to Family Law, she will also be a member of the firm’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Practice. She retired in January 2006 as an Associate Judge of the Connecticut Appellate Court after serving for more than 21 years on the Superior and Appellate Court bench to become a principal at a Hartford law firm.
Judge Dranginis served in all capacities as a trial judge, including serving as Presiding Criminal Judge in Waterbury and Litchfield. From 1990-1994, she was the Administrative Judge in Litchfield where she heard and decided the declaratory judgment action testing the constitutionality of the assault weapon ban, and the challenge to the state's "hunter harassment" statute. She was specially assigned to preside over Connecticut's so-called "Right to Die" case, McDonnell v. Beverly Enterprises-Connecticut. In 1994, she was appointed the Chief Administrative Judge for Family Matters for the Connecticut Superior Court, and led the changes in family practice that provided for automatic orders upon the filing of dissolution or custody complaints and allowed the family dockets statewide to adhere to the American Bar Association guidelines. During her tenure on the Appellate Court, she sat by designation on the Connecticut Superior Court, including the death penalty phase of State v. Michael Ross.
Judge Dranginis is a recognized leader in the legal community, and has earned numerous professional awards for her accomplishments, most recently receiving a Professional Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award from the Connecticut Law Tribune. She serves in leadership positions of many prestigious organizations, including serving as chair of the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee since 2012; in 2016 she was elected to serve as the president of the Hartford County Bar Association. She received her A.B. degree from Manhattanville College, and her J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Meghan M. Sweeney, Associate, focuses her practice in the area of family and matrimonial law, representing clients statewide in matters involving divorce, property division, alimony, child support, child custody and parenting access, both in litigation and in the non-adversarial processes of collaborative divorce and mediation. She has first-chair trial and mediation experience related to complex marital assets and post judgment modification of financial and custody orders.
Ms. Sweeney has expanded her practice into collaborative divorce and divorce mediation, allowing her to offer divorcing individuals a private, non-adversarial alternative for resolving divorce and other family disputes. Prior to joining the firm, she worked in the family law and litigation departments of a mid-size firm in Hartford and Stamford. In addition to her family work, Ms. Sweeney has experience in matters involving foreign and domestic business disputes, appellate matters, insurance defense, and civil litigation, areas that inform her family work. Earlier in her career, she served as a Law Clerk at the National Chamber Litigation Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Sweeney received her B.A., with distinction, from the University of Virginia, and her J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
About Pullman & Comley:
Pullman & Comley celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2014 and is one of Connecticut’s largest firms, providing a wide range of legal services to clients in the New England region, as well as throughout the United States and internationally. Pullman & Comley’s major practice areas include business organizations and finance; environmental, energy and telecommunications; government finance; health care; labor, employment law and employee benefits; litigation; property valuation; real estate and lands use; regulatory, and trusts and estates. The firm has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, Stamford, Waterbury, Connecticut and White Plains, New York. The firm is an active member of the Law Firm Alliance, an international affiliation of law firms. For more information, please visit www.pullcom.com.