New law firm makes a play for professional liability work in Connecticut

A newly formed law firm, Cohen Vaughan LLP, has established a presence in Connecticut, and says it’s looking for “aggressive growth” in the state.

Philadelphia-headquartered Cohen Vaughan was founded by Richard J. Cohen along with nine founding partners, including Stamford-based Jeffrey J. Cunningham.

The founders say their intention is to build a trial and litigation firm with the scale and resources to serve large corporations and insurers, with particular focus on construction and crane law, professional liability, directors and officers liability, employment counseling and litigation and government liability among other areas.

Cunningham will serve as the firm’s general counsel. He comes to Cohen Vaughan from MGC and previously Goldberg Segalla. He defends professional liability cases on behalf of lawyers, law firms, and other professionals, and also serves as outside general counsel to several small and mid-sized law firms.

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Cunningham will head up Cohen Vaughan’s Stamford office, at 112 Prospect Street.

“We ​have ​a ​lot ​of ​Connecticut ​​contacts ​in ​the ​insurance ​industry,” he said. “​So ​I ​think ​we’ll ​naturally ​develop ​those ​relationships ​and ​then ​I ​look ​to ​expand ​to ​law ​firms ​in ​Connecticut.”

He sees professional liability as the core market for the firm, but is looking to generate business in other areas.

“We ​have construction ​defect ​attorneys, ​we ​have ​premises ​liability, ​general ​liability, ​insurance ​coverage ​attorneys,” Cunningham said. “​So, ​given the ​insurance ​connection ​in ​Connecticut, ​I ​think ​we’ll ​see ​a ​lot ​of ​that.”

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Cunningham says he’s looking for “aggressive growth” in terms of attracting Connecticut-based lawyers to the firm within the first year of operations.
 

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