🔒Boston emerges as key growth market for Connecticut law firms

Connecticut law firms are increasingly targeting Boston as they compete for clients and top legal talent across the Northeast. The latest example came June 29, when Harris Beach Murtha announced it is combining with Boston-based Peabody & Arnold, adding 39 attorneys to its existing Boston office and bringing the firm’s total headcount to more than 300 lawyers across New England and New York. Harris Beach Murtha is not alone. Shipman & Goodwin entered the Boston market late last year by adding attorneys from Tarlow Breed Hart & Rodgers, while Hartford-founded Robinson+Cole has expanded both its office and leadership presence in the city. Robinson+Cole relocated its Boston office late last year from One Boston Place to larger quarters at 53 State St., increasing its footprint from about 25,000 square feet to 28,000 square feet under a new 10-year lease. Earlier this year, the firm also named Boston-based business transactions partner J. Michael Wirvin as its managing partner, making him the first leader in the firm’s history to be based outside Connecticut. For law firms in Connecticut, Boston offers access to New England’s largest economy and a deep concentration of life sciences, healthcare, higher education, financial services and technology companies. While Connecticut economic development officials have long promoted the state’s proximity to Boston as a competitive advantage, the city is also a formidable competitor for companies and talent. Danish toymaker LEGO recently relocated its U.S. headquarters from Enfield to Boston, joining General Electric and Alexion Pharmaceuticals among companies that have shifted operations there.

For Harris Beach Murtha, expanding in Boston builds on a broader growth strategy following the combination of New York-based Harris Beach and Hartford’s Murtha Cullina at the beginning of 2025. Beyond expanding the firm’s geographic reach, CEO Chris Jagel said adding Peabody & Arnold brings new capabilities in transactional and management liability coverage practices, insurance coverage litigation and professional liability defense. “We think that Boston is going to continue to be really a hub of growth and development over time,” Jagel told the Hartford Business Journal. Jagel said the firm expects to continue growing, including through lateral hires in its Connecticut offices in Hartford, New Haven, Stamford and Bantam, as well as other markets. “We have no particular targets, but logically to head down the mid-Atlantic would probably make sense,” he said.

Hartford office shift

In a separate move, Shipman & Goodwin is relocating its Hartford office. The firm recently announced it will move from One Constitution Plaza to One Financial Plaza, better known as the Gold Building, in the second half of 2027. Shipman will occupy nearly 70,000 square feet across three floors, down from the roughly 110,000 square feet it currently leases at Constitution Plaza. The firm said the new office will emphasize collaboration, flexibility and technology while supporting its long-term commitment to downtown Hartford. The move will reduce Shipman’s Hartford footprint by roughly 40%, reflecting how many professional services firms have traded larger offices for newer space designed around hybrid work. HBJ Staff Writer David Krechevsky contributed to this story.